As a component of Prolinnova activities, partners have chosen curriculum development and the integration of Participatory Innovation Development (PID) approaches in higher education systems as a specific area of attention. This commitment was first emphasised during the International Partners’ Workshop (IPW) in Cambodia in March 2006, where the Centre for International Cooperation of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (CIS-VUA), then one of the partners in the Prolinnova International Support Team (IST), was asked to conceptualise this issue further and facilitate the development of a curriculum development component under Prolinnova.
The aim of the Curriculum Development (CD) component of Prolinnova is to address one of the most critical weaknesses in Higher Educational Institutes (HEI) curricula today: current teaching of agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) fails to provide students with the necessary skills and sensitivities to contribute creatively to farmers' and natural resource users' own innovation systems. Many curricula in HEIs in developing countries are outdated, inflexible and largely irrelevant to current socio-economic needs that address local people’s creativity and ability to find their own solutions. The CD component tries to address these issues by influencing higher education policies and practices and facilitating ways in which teachers and curriculum developers can meet and learn from each other.
