In Kenya, the Prolinnova network and the EU-funded JOLISAA (Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture) project are jointly coordinated by Teresiah Ng'ang'a, based in KARI (Kenya Agricultural Research Institute). At a JOLISAA-Kenya workshop in November 2011, farmers, extension agents and researchers involved in 2 cases of innovation in Baringo District – controlling the invasive weed Prosopis and producing soap from Aloe – learned how to explore jointly the innovation processes and the linkages between all actors. In the next months, the workshop participants will involve still more local actors and university students to assess the cases more deeply and draw lessons about innovation for practice and policy. The workshop report brings initial findings about the 2 cases and about the joint learning during the workshop.
The experience of Prolinnova-Kenya partners was presented at a session on “Learning networks” at the international conference "Innovations in Extension and Advisory Services" held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 15-18 November 2011. The conference was organised by CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU) and GFRAS (Global Forum on Rural Advisory Services). Geoffrey Kamau of KARI (Kenya Agricultural Research Institute) and co-coordinator of Prolinnova-Kenya, presented a paper on how a farmer-developed innovation of growing millet seedlings in nurseries is being spread in an innovative way: “Adult literacy classes as a pathway for outscaling innovations: the case of finger millet in eastern Kenya”.
