2004 Mid-year Report
Ethiopia Country Programme
Organisation of PROLINNOVA International Workshop
The
Steering Committee of PROFIEET (Promoting Local Innovation and Experimentation
in Ethiopia) and the PROLINNOVA International Support Team organised
the first international workshop and launching of PROLINNOVA in
Yirgalem, Southern Ethiopia, in the second week of March. Agri-Service
Ethiopia (ASE), the secretariat of the PROFIEET platform, handled
all local arrangements, including visits to farmer innovators, and
presented a case study on multi-stakeholder partnership to promote
farmer innovation.
National
Steering Committee (NSC)
The
NSC of PROFIEET is made up of the major stakeholders involved in
agricultural research and extension activities in Ethiopia, with
the exception of farmers. Members are: Ministry of Agriculture,
Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organisation (EARO), Commission
for Science and Technology, Mekelle and Alemaya Universities, Institute
for Sustainable Development, SOS-Sahel, FARM-Africa, Pastoral Forum
Ethiopia and ASE. Although the SC members agree on the objectives
of PROFIEET, there are some differences regarding strategic issues.
The PROFIEET secretariat prepared several documents – background
note on PROFIEET, concept note on PROFIEET, Memorandum of Understanding,
draft Terms of Reference (ToR) for the PROFIEET platform and a comprehensive
country proposal – which were discussed during four meetings of
the SC this year. The members have now agreed to adopt the ToR and
to serve primarily as an oversight committee, while routine tasks
are carried out by the platform coordinator. EARO will continue
to chair the platform.
Coordination
and management
The
position of part-time programme coordinator was advertised. The
NSC selected Dr Habtemariam Abate for this work; he will sign a
contract with ASE as secretariat of PROFIEET.
International
workshop on facilitating PID
Two
persons recommended by the PROFIEET SC – one from Mekelle Univerity
and one from ASE – attended the two-week training of facilitators
in Participatory Innovation Development, held at IIRR in the Philippines.
Another staff member of ASE took part in the training; costs were
covered by ASE. The gap between expectations of the workshop organisers
and expectations of the participants was filled by facilitating
a session of experience-sharing by participants about farmer innovation
and PID.
Planning
regional activities
The
SC finalised the planning of introductory workshops on PROFIEET
in five regions of Ethiopia. These will start off the multi-stakeholder
partnership at regional level by identifying local innovators, who
will return with the other regional stakeholders to a second workshop
for planning PID experiments.
Communication
and information
The
PROFIEET secretariat supported the Ethiopian Society for Animal
Production (ESAP) in preparing their annual conference, focused
this year on “Participatory innovation and research: lessons for
livestock development”. Two papers by PROFIEET members and one paper
by a member of the PROLINNOVA International Support Team were presented
in the plenary session dedicated to this theme.
The proceedings of the PROFIEET national workshop held in August
2003 were printed in early 2004 and distributed at the international
PROLINNOVA Workshop, the ESAP conference and to various NGOs, government
offices and donor agencies based in Ethiopia.
National
television coverage of the international PROLINNOVA workshop was
arranged. In addition, Ethiopian TV made a 20-minute feature on
farmer innovation.
Members of the SC were involved in workshops and meetings related
to a new CIDA-financed project on market-oriented agricultural innovation,
the ISNAR programme on training in research management and institutional
change, and the ILRI "Enabling Innovation" research theme.
In these meetings, they introduced concepts and experiences in farmer
innovation and PID and explored possible linkages with PROFIEET
activities.
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