Updated:May 2007

Kenya Country Programme

Summary

In January 2007, partners involved in agricultural research for development came together and initiated Prolinnova–Kenya. This is an initiative with the goal to recognise the dynamics of indigenous knowledge and to enhance the capacities of farmers to adjust to change by developing their own innovations and appropriate systems of natural resource management (NRM) so as to achieve food security, sustain their livelihoods and safeguard the environment. This initiative will provide a platform through which farmers, researchers, agricultural extensionists and policymakers can share experiences, methods and technologies so as to contribute to alleviating poverty and combating resource degradation in Kenya.
Through Prolinnova–Kenya, an inventory and database of existing local innovations, innovators and partner organisations in Kenya will be developed; and capacities of stakeholders to use participatory approaches in agricultural research and development will be built. In addition, the initiative will foster strengthening of partnerships between stakeholders (i.e. farmers, development agents, researchers and the private sector) to engage in joint innovation processes. Key stakeholders that have already shown interest in taking part in Prolinnova–Kenya are institutions of higher learning, non-governmental organisations, farmer organisations, community-based organisations, research institutions as well as individual farmers and researchers. They see Prolinnova–Kenya is an innovative way of bringing together stakeholders in agriculture and NRM to collaborate and learn from each other, as well as from experiences in other countries in the region and in the wider international Prolinnova community. For more information on Prolinnova–Kenya, read on.

Introduction

The Prolinnova network in Kenya was initiated in January 2007. Its secretariat is currently hosted by the Kenyan NGO SACRED–Africa (Sustainable Agriculture Centre for Research, Extension and Development in Africa). The broad goal of Prolinnova–Kenya is to recognise the dynamics of indigenous knowledge and enhance the capacities of farmers to adjust to change by developing their own innovations and appropriate systems of natural resource management (NRM) so as to achieve food security, sustain their livelihoods and safeguard the environment. Participatory approaches will be used to identify innovations and to promote innovation processes. The focus will be on smallholder farmers and other land users as pro-active creative sources of good ideas and real partners in agricultural research and development.

Objectives of Prolinnova–Kenya

The specific objectives of Prolinnova–Kenya are to:

1. Develop an inventory and database of existing local innovations, innovators and partner organisations in Kenya;

2. Build the capacity of stakeholders (farmers, researchers, extensionists and policymakers) in using participatory approaches in agricultural research and development;

3. Develop a strategy on advocacy and lobbying in order to create awareness among stakeholders on local innovation processes;

4. Create and strengthen partnerships between stakeholders to engage in joint innovation processes;

5. Set up multi-stakeholder platforms for reflection, analysis and learning about in-country experience in promoting local innovation, and the strengths and weaknesses in developing and promoting local initiatives in Kenya;

6. Develop a framework through which monitoring and evaluation of local innovation processes and joint validation of local innovations can be done.

Prolinnova–Kenya intends to achieve the following objectives in the first year: set up and operationalise the Prolinnova–Kenya chapter; build and enhance the capacity of stakeholders in promoting local innovation in Kenya; document and disseminate information on local innovation processes and their outcomes; and elaborate Prolinnova–Kenya’s strategy on advocacy and lobbying policies relevant to promotion of local innovation. To ensure that the objectives are achieved, a Task Force is in place to oversee implementation of the planned activities in the first year.

Activities

In the first year, Prolinnova–Kenya will carry out the following activities:

• Organise a two-day sensitisation workshop to make farmers, researchers, development workers and policymakers aware of local innovation. At this workshop, Prolinnova–Kenya will be officially launched and publicised through the media. Before the workshop, a baseline survey will be conducted to assess stakeholders’ understanding of local innovations and participatory innovation processes.

• Organise follow-up training and dissemination workshops focused on participatory innovation development (PID), monitoring and evaluation of innovation processes and joint validation of local innovations. These will encourage farmers, researchers and extensionists to engage in joint experimentation.

• Recruit and register people interested in becoming members of Prolinnova–Kenya. This will be an ongoing process. Interested parties can register as members of the network either as individuals or as institutions.

• Identify and document innovations, innovators and processes leading to local innovation in Kenya: Participatory approaches will be used to identify them. When farmers see themselves as creative and researchers in their own right, they are encouraged to be more innovative. During this process, local knowledge will be combined with external knowledge, with the aim increasing capacities within the local innovation system to adapt quickly to changing conditions and thus to improve local livelihoods. Efforts will be made to discover and document especially how women have innovated in agriculture and NRM.

• Give recognition to innovative farmers through various ways so as to raise their self-esteem, so that farmers begin to see themselves not as the poor who have to be helped to solve their problems but rather as people who are rich in knowledge, ideas and ingenuity.

• Develop and publish educational materials on local innovation processes and local innovations for sharing widely with farmers, development workers, researchers, policymakers and even politicians. Partners will try out different ways of documenting, depending on the purpose, the audience or readership, the equipment and skills available, the cultural context, the coverage, the funds at hand and other considerations. Examples includes: catalogues of farmer innovations, posters, magazines, participatory video, digital images and PowerPoint, and photographs.  Prolinnova–Kenya will set up a resource centre where the public can access information on available and documented innovations and innovation processes in Kenya.

• Develop a policy to protect local innovators: When celebrating and recognising farmers’ innovativeness, issues of intellectual property rights (IPRs) arise. First steps to deal with this will be to understand how farmers perceive their rights and to stimulate reflection among development workers and farmers about how they can preserve a spirit of free sharing and prevent appropriation of knowledge.

• Monitoring and evaluation of the Prolinnova–Kenya activities to ensure that they are implemented as planned and that the set objectives are achieved. Also local innovation processes and local innovations will be monitored and evaluated. This process will involve farmers, development workers and scientists.

• Build partnership with various government agencies, including Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and NRM; research centres and institutions of higher learning. Scientists from institutions such as the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) will collaborate directly with farmers in farmer-led research. Researchers and students from institutions of higher learning, especially those offering courses in agriculture and NRM, will work with farmers in PID. In addition, training in PID will be integrated into current university education so as to equip students with skills and knowledge that will allow them to respond better to issues faced by smallholder farmers, and to collaborate with other stakeholders in more effective research and development. Through the interaction of farmers, researchers and development agents, the local people will be able to influence policies that directly impact on their livelihoods.

• Mobilise resources both locally and internationally to support the activities of Prolinnova–Kenya. Until now, the network has been operating through contributions of the different stakeholders interested in innovation systems. SACRED-Africa has also set aside some of its resources to ensure that the Secretariat is operational. Prolinnova–Kenya, with support from the International Prolinnova Secretariat, will approach various donors to seek funds for implementing its activities.

Conclusion
To accelerate innovation development at local level, effective collaboration between resource users and farmers, researchers, extensionists, marketing agents and other organisations is required. They need to pool their knowledge and resources to find ways of developing agriculture and NRM. Partners are needed at different levels: at farm and community level, regional, national and international levels. NGOs are in a unique position to help build partnerships in research and development in agriculture and NRM. These partnerships are instrumental, for they can promote the sharing of expertise and other resources, enhance learning and sharing knowledge, create opportunities for policy dialogue, and offer platforms for coordinating approaches in agriculture and NRM. Prolinnova–Kenya is an innovative way of bringing together stakeholders in agriculture and NRM to share information and build partnerships so as to improve people’s livelihoods and food security while conserving the environment. Through this collaboration, as well as sharing experiences with other countries in the region and with the wider international Prolinnova community, this initiative will contribute to poverty alleviation in Kenya.