In mid-October 2011 in Yaoundé, Prolinnova–Cameroon celebrated farmers' innovativeness during three international days: the Rural Women’s Day (15 October), the World Food Day (16 October) and the International Day for Eradication of Poverty (17 October). As part of their process of identifying and giving recognition to local innovations and innovators, Prolinnova–Cameroon facilitated “Farmer Innovation Matinees”, where farmer innovators presented their work. Also GLEN (Global Education Network) interns from France and Germany presented local innovations that they had recorded.

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The Prolinnova International Secretariat presented experiences with piloting Local Innovation Support Funds (LISFs) to representatives of African farmer organisations, European civil society organisations, research and the private sector at a workshop in Brussels, Belgium, on 27 September 2011. The workshop was organised by the Belgian NGO Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA) in the framework of PAEPARD (Platform for African-European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development). During this meeting, participants explored the roles and complementarities of farmer organisations and other stakeholders in ARD in Africa. CSA invited Prolinnova to bring in the LISF as an example of a mechanism through which smallholder farmers can influence funding, governance and choice of topics in ARD. The PPT presentation “Farmers call the tune: toward a farmer-governed approach to ARD through LISFs” is available as a PDF file.