What's New
Funding the blue revolution: Worldwatch features LISF-supported farmer innovator ! Prolinnova International Partners Workshop 2010 Report, Wageningen, The Netherlands (PDF file; size : 2,602 KB) FAIR Annual Meeting Report 2010, Wageningen, The Netherlands! (under Piloting LISFs page) LISF showcased at international symposium on innovation and agriculture! Keynote on pastoralist innovation and climate change at international conference in Kenya! Training local innovators in Farmer-Led Documentation in Ambo, Ethiopia! Policy Influencing Worskhop: Institute for Natural Resources/Prolinnova South Africa! An increasing number of institutions, research and development projects using PID and other Prolinnova tools in implementing their activities with their own resources! First National Farmer Innovator Conference organised by MAFF from 10 to 11 February 2010! International Partners Workshops held in the Netherlands 2010! JOLISAA launched! NGO Statement at GCARD 2010! International Partners Workshop 2010 subsite launched! Prolinnova International Partners Workshop 2010 News from Prolinnova-Niger programme Symposium on Innovation, Sustainability & Development, Sept 2009, Brighton, UK Prolinnova-Kenya hosted PID-ToF Refresher Course on 17-22 August 2009 Nepal hosted Prolinnova International Partners Workshop on 8–11 May 8th Prolinnova Oversight Group meeting held in Nepal on 7–8 May Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium successfully concluded!!! Nepalese Farmer Innovation Fair draws national and international visitors Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium, 4-7 May 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal International Partners Meeting 2009 Nepal Announcing two new books on farmer-first innovation Welcome to Prolinnova - Nigeria! World Conference on Animal Production, Nov 2008, Cape Town, South Africa Attention: Deadline for abstracts extended to 18 January 2009 First Call: Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium 2009 Starting up in Nigeria Pro-poor innovation highlighted at IFPRI conference Prolinnova Working Paper #18 - Innovation in communities confronting AIDS - now available for viewing / download New resource: PID in Spanish!! / Desarrollo Participativo de Innovación – publicación en Español! Climate Change and PID (under Thematic Projects) Section Now Available on the Website. Video Documentations of Farmer Innovations in South Africa. South Africa Event Announcement: Good Practices Exhibit Support from Rockefeller Foundation for continued piloting of Local Innovation Support Funds The 2008 International Partners Meeting successfully completed      n Prolinnova Working Paper #17 - PID in Water Management - now available for viewing / download  n Updated: Farmer-Led Documentation (FLD) section under Thematic Projects  n Innovation by communities confronting HIV/AIDS: new sub-project  n Shared Resource:Calendar of the International-level Activities of Prolinnova  n Prolinnova Working Paper #16 - Prolinnova: Building partnerships to promote local innovation processes  n Website for 2008 Int'l Partners Meeting created  n Welcome to new Country Programme in Mozambique  n Updated: Farmer First Revisited: reflecting on farmer innovation  n Sixth POG meeting in Brighton  n Relevance of Prolinnova for Asia-Pacific presented at APAARI consultation Other News   2008 News...   2007 News...   2006 News...   Past Achievements and events (2000 - 2005)...

Funding the blue revolution: Worldwatch features LISF-supported farmer innovator
Posted: August 2010

A recent blog from by Molly Theobald from the Worldwatch project Nourishing the Planet features the funding of local innovation in water management, including an example from the piloting of Local Innovation Support Fund supported by Rockefeller Foundation under the Prolinnova umbrella:

"As climate change worsens, and fresh water availability grows more erratic, the food security of small-scale farmers throughout Africa will increasingly depend on their water management abilities. Luckily, the tools for improving water management already exist. But, as a recent report from the Rockefeller Foundation notes, the key to getting these tools to the people who need them the most will be making sure that the funding, donor, and policy-making community understands what they are and why they need more support ....

On the ground, there are countless groups working to help farmers improve water management techniques and gain access to improved water management technologies. Many of these organizations will be highlighted in State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet as deserving of more resources and funding from the donor and policy making community in order to alleviate global hunger and poverty.

.... in Ethiopia, a farmer-priest named Kes Malede Abreha was able to develop a water management system on his farm with the help of funding from the global, NGO-initiated organization, Prolinnova. His system has allowed his family to move from a one room house to a larger home where he is now able to grow a diversity of crops, and raise, chickens, cattle goats, and bees (see also: Persistently Innovative: One Farmer Teaches by Example – http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/persistently-innovative-one-farmer-teaches-by-example/). He is also showing farmers in the community how small investments in technology, like those outlined in the Rockefeller report, can go a long way to improving a family’s quality of life."

(For full blog entry: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/innovation-of-the-week-funding-a-blue-revolution/)

Keynote on pastoralist innovation and climate change at international conference in Kenya!
Posted: July 2010

A member of the Prolinnova–Ethiopia Working Group – Yohannes GebreMichael from Addis Ababa University – represented the international Prolinnova network at an international conference on “Pastoralism and climate change adaptation in Africa” held on 24–28 May 2010 at Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya. The conference was organised by the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) programme supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada and the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK. It was attended by about 100 people, mainly from Africa and a few from Europe and the USA. About 60 papers were presented on issues related to pastoralism and climate change such as biodiversity, livelihoods, natural resource management, innovation, wildlife, biotechnology, conflict, application of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, and gender. Over half of the presenters were women! The conference was complemented with a theatre drama by pastoralist students, video shows and a field excursion to the university botanical centre, which focuses on traditional medicine. On behalf of Prolinnova, Yohannes presented an invited keynote address on "Emerging responses to climate change in pastoral systems" [CCAA final keynote address Emerging responses 150410].

LISF showcased at international symposium on innovation and agriculture
Posted: July 2010

Experiences of Prolinnova partners were presented at the international symposium on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food (ISDA) held on 28–30 June 2010 in Montpellier, southern France, as part of Hot Topic 4 “Acting collectively: what kinds of institutions, policies and forms of governance can strengthen society’s capacity for resilience”. The paper entitled “Towards a farmer-governed approach to agricultural research for development: lessons from international experiences with Local Innovation Support Funds” written by Mariana Wongtschowski, Bernard Triomphe (CIRAD), Anton Krone, Ann Waters-Bayer and Laurens van Veldhuizen, came in the session on “Financing innovation for sustainability”. It can be found on the conference website under http://www.isda2010.net/var/isda2010/storage/original/application/dbd28c4409af660dab81a257c2b00212.pdf. During the presentation made by Ann, the LISF experiences in Ambo, Ethiopia, were highlighted [ISDA_presentation LISF; PDF file: 805 KB] and sparked off several questions and comments, also from Prolinnova research partners in Uganda and Kenya who were also at the symposium.

Another presentation related to Prolinnova was made by Nqe Dlamini from South Africa, who showed some experiences with and results of farmer-led documentation and evaluation of LISFs. The paper, entitled “Photovoice as a tool for planning and measuring impact of community-based economic development initiatives”, by Anton Krone, Nqe Dlamini, Margaret Jack, Nancy Erbstein, Jonathan London, David Miller and Maxwell Mudhara can be found under http://www.isda2010.net/var/isda2010/storage/original/application/5ee07a63072facb0497ed114b8069a13.pdf.

Prolinnova was also represented at a roundtable organised by the World Bank and CIRAD (French Centre for Agricultural Research for Development) on “Innovation systems in practice: challenges and perspectives”. A two-page statement was prepared for this session [ISDA World Bank roundtable statement Prolinnova; Word file: 30 KB]. In addition, Prolinnova perspectives were brought into the final roundtable at the symposium, in which people from different stakeholder groups summarised emerging issues of “Innovation systems: links to be developed between research, policy and society” (http://www.isda2010.net/program/program2/round_tables).

In total, about 500 people from over 60 countries attended the ISDA symposium, which gave many opportunities for dialogue between researchers and others stakeholders in agricultural research and development in the North and the South – especially during the coffee and lunch breaks!

Training Ethiopian farmer innovators to do their own documentation in Ambo, Ethiopia!
Posted: May 2010

Farmer innovators who are piloting a Local Innovation Support Fund (LISF) in Ambo, Ethiopia, were recently trained in documenting their own experimentation and innovation. The LISF pilot is being coordinated by the Ethiopian Rural Self-Help Association (ERSHA), a local NGO that is part of the Prolinnova–Ethiopia network. The facilitators of the training were Fetien Abay, a female lecturer at Mekelle University in northern Ethiopia, and Lemlem Hailemichal, a female radio journalist, likewise from Tigray Region. Both had gained experience in farmer-led documentation (FLD) working with women farmer innovators in Tigray in 2008–09. This time, in Ambo, all of their trainees were men, who learned not only about FLD but also about innovation by women farmers. [Training local innovators in Farmer-Led Documentation in Ambo, Ethiopia; PDF file: 505 KB]

Policy Influencing Workshop: Institute for Natural Resources/Prolinnova South Africa!
Posted: May 2010

Following the RUAF/PROLINNOVA-organised workshop on “Influencing and Assisting National Policy Processes” held at Doorn, The Netherlands from 10-12 October 2009, PROLINNOVA SA organised a country workshop to broaden the understanding of policy influencing, mainly amongst its National Steering Committee members, and to begin planing how go about it. Attached is the report by the Workshop Facilitator [Report Policy Workshop PMB Apr 2010; PDF file: 313KB].

An increasing number of institutions, research and development projects using PID and other PROLINNOVA tools in implementing their activities with their own resources!
Posted: May 2010

Since 2009, it is noted that there is an increasing number of institutions, research and development projects using PID and other PROLINNOVA tools in implementing their activities with their own resources. Among others, in Niger there are INRAN, PPILDA, Faculty of Agronomy, NGO CDLD Gaya, Farmer Platforms and Misereor partners.

An important transborders (Niger and Nigeria) development project, Kano-Katsina-Maradi (KKM) of the Sub Sahara Africa Challenge Program (SSA CP) has engaged PROLINNOVA Niger and one of its partners PPILDA Aguie to train their members in PID and PPILDA approach in a 3-day regional workshop. The project was funded by Africa Agricultural Research Forum (FARA). [Programme_atelier project KKM_FARA; Word file: 26KB]

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) organized the first national farmer innovator conference 10-11 February in Phnom Penh!
Posted: May 2010

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) organized the first national farmer innovator conference 10-11 February in Phnom Penh. CEDAC was invited to participate in this conference as a guest.

The objectives of the conference were to: 1) enable farmer to share their innovations with each other as well as with MAFF officials; and 2) select the best farmer innovators for the national awards.

During the conference, selected farmer innovators specializing in five different subjects, namely System of Rice Intensification (SRI), Animal Husbandry, Aquaculture, Agricultural Tools and Machines, and Food Processing, presented their innovations to the assessment committee and other farmers. At the end, five best farmers from each subject were selected for the national prizes. In total, 25 farmers were selected for the national prizes, with 5 farmers for each subject. Mr. Tuy Phan from Tasourn Village, Tropaing Thum Khang Tbong Commune, Tramkok District, Takeo Province, received the award as best SRI farmer.

During the closing ceremony, H.E Chan Sarun, the Minister of Agriculture, emphasized the importance of local innovation and the roles of CEDAC in working with MAFF in promoting local innovation. The Minister also said that MAFF should organize this event again next year in order to show support and appreciation to farmers and their innovations.

CEDAC, as secretariat of Prolinnova Cambodia, and in cooperation with provincial departments of agriculture and other NGOs, has organized five national forums on local innovation since 2004. Now, MAFF and CEDAC are discussing the possibility of merging the National Farmer Innovator Conference organized by MAFF and the National Forum on Local Innovation organized by Prolinnova into one event in 2011. This would provide stronger momentum to the effort in promoting local innovation in Cambodia.

Prolinnova International Partners Workshop Successfully Conducted in 2010!
Posted: April 2010

The PROLINNOVA International Partners Workshop (IPW) is an annual event that gathers various members of the PROLINNOVA network. This year, the IPW was successfully held last March 22-26, 2010 at Hotel Nol in’t Bosch in Wageningen, Netherlands. Around forty participants coming from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe came to participate.

The workshop proved to be very insightful even at its first day where guests Frans Verberne: director ETC; Jim Woodhill, director Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen University and Research; and Ron Havinga from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs share their thoughts and inputs about the role of Prolinnova and its way forward as a growing, complex network. These are very much complemented by the market, which showcased materials that shares activities and achievements of PROLINNOVA network members.

The IPW provided an opportunity for the Country Programs, the International Support Team (IST) and the international secretariat of P rolinnova to review progress made and share and learn from reflections of last year’s experiences. Central to this was an assessment of each country programs in terms of where they are in terms of institutionalization of Participatory Innovation Development (PID). While various initiatives have been done, institutionalization is still far from being realized. Nevertheless, there are a lot of indications that are very encouraging for CPs to sustain their commitment to carry on their mission. One challenge that was posed to everyone was the need to involve the farmers themselves in the governance. Specific actions will be identified and implemented, even at the POG level to address this issue.

A field visit, which was fulfilling, at the same time enjoyable, was one of the highlights of the IPW. The participants were divided into four groups and four farms were visited. Group 1: organic dairy farm of Cor den Hartog; Group 2: conventional dairy farm + organic chicken of CeesJan and Marjan Nell; Group 3: conventional dairy farm – Henk and Marja Verweij; and Group 4: Regional rural development centre of Streekhuis Krommerijn, Marieke Leentvaar – Leader coordinator, Wytze Brandsma – LaMi. After some interactions with the farmers and ocular visit of the farms, the four groups converged at a Broadening farm of Leo and Ria van Doorn, where reflections were done and learning were processed. The field visit provided practical examples of farmers’ innovations and a better look at some issues that support or oppose innovativeness of the farmers.

Another important highlight of the IPW was a briefing from the PROLINNOVA Oversight Group (POG), where summary of the POG report was shared. Action Plan for 2010 was also agreed upon. Key planned activities include a customized course on Monitoring and Evaluation, where Fundraising session will be integrated, Annual Farmer Innovation Day, Regional Capacity building on PID etc.

Just before the IPW the P rolinnova Oversight Group (POG) met allowing it to brief the network during the IPW on its conclusions and decisions. Also before the IPW the Country Programs involved in the FAIR program came together in a separate meeting to review progress, share and plan work for 2010. After the IPW an afternoon meeting of the IST was held where planned activities in 2010 and relevant issues were discussed.

The weeklong workshop is truly an inspiring and enriching international learning event. Everyone came back to their countries with renewed energy and commitment to promote PID, with the farmers at the center of research and development.

JOLISAA: Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture
Posted: April 2010

The research project “Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture” (JOLISAA) is funded by the European Commission (EC) and led by Bernard Triomphe from CIRAD, France, working together with ETC EcoCulture / Prolinnova, ICRA (International Centre for development-oriented Research in Agriculture), Wageningen University and decentralised networks coordinated in West, East and Southern Africa by University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and University of Pretoria (UP) / Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in South Africa, respectively.

JOLISAA aims to increase understanding of agricultural innovation systems focusing on smallholders' livelihoods and integrating local and global knowledge. Lessons learnt about past and ongoing experiences with agricultural innovation in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa will be synthesised by combining joint case-study assessment with capacity-strengthening and networking. Joint learning will be fostered by engaging diverse stakeholders, including researchers, development practitioners and policymakers , in comparing and analysing these cases. The project will deliver recommendations to the EC and African decision-makers for future research, practice and policy in agricultural research and development (ARD).

JOLISAA starts with making an inventory of relevant experiences with multi-stakeholder innovation processes in small-scale farming. During workshops in Benin, Kenya, South Africa and an international meeting, several innovation cases will be selected for assessment. These will include 10–15 “ light” case studies per country/region, relying on available information in formal and grey literature, and 3–5 in-depth case studies per country/region. The latter will involve more intensive data collection and will be conducted with the help of local and foreign students.

Capacity strengthening in assessing innovation processes will be coordinated by ICRA and will take place through training, mentoring and exchange-and-learning workshops. Lessons on the potentials and limitations of the innovation processes studied will be drawn innational and international meetings involving not only those involved in making the case studies but also other stakeholders.

Prolinnova partners in Kenya and South Africa are directly involved. For the wider Prolinnova group, the networking activities to stimulate joint learning and sharing of lessons are particularly important. There are three main circles for networking:

• a global outreach circle for information sharing and dissemination of outputs;
• an international learning platform involving key resource persons engaged in discussion of project findings and lessons learnt; and
• a national-level networking and learning circle in Benin, Kenya and South Africa, respectively.

ETC EcoCulture is facilitating networking within the first two circles, working together with FARA (Forum on Agricultural Research in Africa), while UAC (Benin), KARI (Kenya) and UP (South Africa) facilitate networking within the third circle.

The project builds on existing networks, including Prolinnova, to seek synergies. It is hoped that many Prolinnova partners, also in countries other than the three focus countries, will engage in the information-exchange and joint-learning activities within JOLISAA, e.g. by suggesting interesting cases for the studies of innovation processes in small-scale farming and providing documentation on these cases. Some resources will be available to support participation of Prolinnova partners in the learning and sharing activities.

NGO Statement at Final GCARD 2010
Posted: April 2010

NGO participants in the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), 28-31 March 2010, in Montpellier, France, made a statement about the process and content of the consultations and pointed out some gaps. Among other issues, it called for inclusion of farmer organisations and NGOs in governance of agricultural research and development at international, regional and national level. The statement was read out by Assétou Kanouté from PROFEIS-Mali. Dr Monty Jones, the incoming Chair of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), reinforced this call in his closing speech at the conference.

We appreciate the support that enabled the participation of NGOs at this first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development. However, our presence here should not be seen as an automatic endorsement of the outputs of the conference.

While some of us participated in the electronic consultations and a handful were invited to the face-to-face regional consultations, these are not adequate. There should be more efforts in ensuring CSO participation in the regional processes, and good experiences in regional engagements should be replicated. There must be much more women in the regional and global processes.

There was no process that allowed CSOs to collectively prepare substantive inputs into the deliberations of the agenda of GCARD 2010. The planning and design of the subsequent GCARD must include support for self-organized preparatory processes that would allow civil society to deliberate our views and inputs among ourselves.

Our legitimacy and responsibility as a strong partner in agricultural research at different levels stand on our collective expertise from decades of experiences in directly working with peasants, rural women, fisherfolks, herders, pastoralists and indigenous peoples - the world’s food providers. There is so much to learn from our experiences and the innovative approaches that we have developed with rural communities to respond to local needs and realities which could contribute to reshaping agricultural research, building partnerships, and increasing investments in agricultural research.

Food providers must be at the center of agricultural research and equally so, in the governance of agricultural research at the international, regional and national levels. NGOs, as equal partners in this so-called “new era of agricultural research” should have a role in its governance too. We cannot selectively involve farmers and NGOs in discussing thematic programs, while completely shutting them out of the discussion of governance of agricultural research. The rhetoric on partnership with farmers and NGOs cannot go on, while the current trends point to the increasing emphasis on the role of players from the business and finance sectors.

Making the “new era of agricultural research” a reality requires a new paradigm with poor farmers and food providers at the center of WHAT we do and at the top of HOW we operate. Top-down agricultural research is history. Scientists must learn from poor farmers and with poor farmers, beyond lip service. The crucial role of women in agriculture can no longer remain invisible. Empowering farmers by enabling and supporting local organizations to become equal partners in all stages of agricultural research, development and extension is a responsibility. Agricultural biodiversity nurtured by farmers through millennia should be sustainably managed to attain economies of scope, not economies of scale. We welcome the efforts to balance increased productivity and increased added value on existing production. Agricultural research cannot delude itself that it can increase productivity and production indefinitely without addressing unsustainable production and consumption patterns and the unequal distribution of world harvests.

Responsive agricultural research cannot afford to ignore the realities facing farmers in developing countries today. Millions of hectares are currently being grabbed from peasants and farmers to produce energy crops and ensure food security in richer countries. Responsible agricultural research cannot close its eyes while farmers are being robbed of the land which their lives and future depend on.

We welcome opportunities to be able to engage constructively and contribute our expertise in future deliberations on substance and methodologies, and to play our role in the governance of agricultural research and development.

Prolinnova International Partners Workshop 2010
Posted: January 2010

From 22-27 March, the annual Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW) will take place in Wageningen, The Netherlands. This year’s IPW is organized by the Prolinnova international secretariat. The venue is Hotel Nol in’t Bosch (http://www.nolintbosch.nl/), a small hotel nicely situated in the forests of Wageningen.

The IPW provides an opportunity for the Country Programmes, the International Support Team (IST) and the international secretariat of Prolinnova to review progress made and to share and learn from each other. While the agenda is still being developed, the 2010 IPW will include discussions on Prolinnova beyond 2010, and particularly the development of the 5-year programme proposal for DGIS, and experiences around institutionalisation and mainstreaming of Participatory Innovation Development (PID). A day of field visits will provide practical examples of innovation by Dutch farmers and the related issues that support or oppose innovativeness of these farmers. A separate meeting is planned to interact with Dutch organisations involved in Rural Development and Agricultural Research and Development to discuss the relevance and implementation of PID in the Netherlands and compare experiences between Prolinnova partners in their respective countries and their counterparts in the Netherlands.

Just before the IPW, the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) will meet, allowing it to brief the network during the IPW on its conclusions and decisions. Also before the IPW, the Country Programmes involved in the FAIR initiative will come together in a separate meeting to review progress, share and plan work for 2010. After the IPW, an afternoon meeting of the International Support Team (IST) is planned, since this is the first time that almost all the IST members can be present.

News from Prolinnova-Niger program
Posted: January 2010

A new NGO partner called ‘Contribution au Développement Local Durable’ (CDLD) has joined recently Prolinnova-Niger. A farmer innovator day was held in Takalahia in October 2009. Participants were farmer innovators from Boumba, Garin Bourtou and Takalahia and members of the Union of farmer innovators who held its first meeting extended to Head of the village of Takalahia, President of CDLD, Vice Mayor of Dioudiou and representatives of technical services and coordination of Prolinnova-Niger. The farmer innovation day led to evaluate, and share the results of joint experimentations on Cassava in Takalahia and to implement new joint experiments. As a follow-up of the literacy training that was initiated by Prolinnova-Niger, two rural libraries are now opened in the village of Boumba and Takalahia with the support of Inspection of rural literacy, a partner of Prolinnova-Niger in Gaya (Pole West). These rural libraries will be managed by farmers themselves and open to all farmer villagers. In the framework of FLD project, four participatory videos have been produced in 2009. Joint experimentations are still on-going in Poles West and East. A PID refresher course had been organized end of 2009. Now Prolinnova-Niger is prepared to welcome next cross-visits from Nigeria, Ghana and Sudan.

Prolinnova-Kenya hosted PID-ToF Refresher Course on 17-22 August 2009
Posted: December 2009

As part of the ETC’s PSO-supported Learn Work Trajectory, a PID-ToF refresher course was organized on 17-22 August 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya. It was hosted by Prolinnova-Kenya with World Neighbours (WN), Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) as members of the Workshop Steering Committee. The event was organized for experienced PID trainers, former PID-ToF graduates, in order to share experiences and to critically review in-country PID training over the past years, the general capacity building strategy in the network including the role the international ToF plays in the process, and the support provided by ETC, IIRR and other international resource organizations as part of the IST. Click here [PID-TOF Refresher Course August 2009 Report] for Jean-Marie’s and Chesha’s report on the event. Then the international facilitation team reported lessons drawn on PID capacity building within the international network. Click here [Lessons Learnt on PID-TOF Refresher Course 2009] for Jean-Marie’s and Chesha’s report on lessons learnt.



Symposium on Innovation, Sustainability & Development, Sept 2009, Brighton, UK
Posted: December 2009

In September 2009, Monique Salomon from the Centre for Environment, Agriculture and Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a member of Prolinnova–South Africa represented the international Prolinnova network at the Symposium on Innovation, Sustainability, Development held at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. The event was organised by the STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre, an interdisciplinary research centre established by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit. The symposium brought together a wide range of people from different institutions and continents to discuss new approaches to the governance of science, technology and innovation for development and to articulate recommendations to broaden the scope of innovation policy to democratise innovation. The “old” Sussex Manifesto was drafted in 1970 to shape modern thinking on science and technology for development. The “new” Sussex Manifesto seeks to bring out new, cutting-edge ideas as well as address the challenges that have remain unchanged 40 years on. In the thematic session on Grassroots/Bottom-Up Innovation, Monique introduced the key characteristics of the Prolinnova network, its positioning within the global research and development arena, and a case to illustrate how farmers and scientists worked as research partners to improve a fish-smoking oven in Niger [M Salomon FINAL ppt PROLINNOVA Sep 2009] and engaged in lively debate following her and other presentations. Click here [Report STEPS Symposium 24 Sep 09] for Monique’s report on the event and here [STEPS-Manifesto-Symposium-Report-09] for the Symposium proceedings.

Nepal hosted Prolinnova International Partners Workshop on 8–11 May
Posted: August 2009

The annual Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW) took place on 8–11 May 2009 in Pokhara, Nepal, at the foot of the beautiful Annapurna range of the Himalaya Mountains. This year’s IPW was shorter than normal, because it came immediately after the Nepalese Farmer Innovation Fair (2–4 May) and the Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium (4–7 May), which demanded much time of Prolinnova partners involved as co-organisers and participants.

The IPW was hosted jointly by the partners in Prolinnova–Nepal. LI-BIRD (Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development) – the coordinating NGO in Nepal – was entrusted with the logistics. A total of 25 people (9 women, 16 men) from 16 countries took part in the workshop.

After overland travel from Kathmandu to Pokhara and the opening session of the IPW in the late afternoon of 8 May, Qureish Noordin from Kenya introduced ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) and its commonalities with Prolinnova’s approach of Participatory Innovation Development (PID). The following day was spent in field visits to farmer groups that are innovating in community-based wetland management, plant breeding and agrobiodiversity management.

There followed two days of mutual learning about addressing key challenges in promoting farmer-led research and development at national and international level. Various Prolinnova multi-country activities were discussed: farmer-led documentation, local innovation in the face of HIV/AIDS, local-level climate-change adaptation, curriculum development to incorporate PID, and country-to-country cross-visits and other forms of peer support. The participants also reviewed progress is achieving the network’s strategic plan for genderising its activities. The African partners learnt more about the newly approved European Community project on Joint Learning in Innovation System in African Agriculture (JOLISAA), in which Prolinnova will be involved. A major focus of the IPW was on evaluation and planning for beyond 2010. A further day of reflection was devoted to experiences in piloting Local Innovation Support Funds (LISFs), which has – with the support of Rockefeller Foundation – expanded to include eight Country Programmes.

The proceedings were recorded by the participants and by Bob Solar and Jenny Reyes from the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in the Philippines [International Partners Workshop 2009 Report final]. Jenny also provided coaching to partners in use of web-based communication tools.

8th Prolinnova Oversight Group meeting held in Nepal on 7–8 May
Posted: June 16, 2009

The Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) met in Nepal on 7–8 May 2009 for its 8 th face-to-face meeting since its establishment in February 2005. The current POG Chair, Scott Killough from World Neighbors welcomed the new members elected in early 2009: Magagi Saidou from Niger (for francophone Africa), Hector Velasquez from Bolivia (for Latin America), Sabina Di Prima from the Centre for International Cooperation at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands (for the Prolinnova International Support Team) and Susan Kaaria from Ford Foundation Nairobi Office as an independent member. Qureish Noordin from Prolinnova–Kenya took part in place of Monica Kapiriri, the elected POG member who was unable to attend this meeting. Oliver Oliveros, an independent member from Agropolis, France, connected with the meeting by telephone. To start things off, the group chose Susan to be Co-Chair together with Scott. The main points discussed during the meeting were the gender strategy of the Prolinnova network, communication between the POG and the Country Programmes (CPs), structure and roles of POG subcommittees (adding ones for Gender and for Farmer Organisations), the annual report on activities at CP and international level, outcomes of the internal e-evaluation of the network in January 2009 and the external evaluation completed in March 2009, and some key issues regarding long-term planning. The POG scheduled a second face-to-face meeting, this year, to be held in late August in Kenya. This will focus on the strategic plan for Prolinnova beyond 2010, which is currently being drawn up by a team consisting of partners from four CPs.

Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium successfully concluded!!
Posted: June 15, 2009