We are very happy to announce that Suman Manandhar from Nepal has joined the POG as an independent member. Suman will occupy the seat that fell vacant with the departure of Pratap Shrestha, also from Nepal, who had served the POG for several years. Suman has been a committed member of the Prolinnova network and we look forward to drawing on his expertise and extensive experience. Read more in his bio-sketch.

Project of promoting ethnoveterinary medicine for sustainable livestock husbandry in Northern Ghana    

A 3-year "ethnovet" project (Oct 2019–Sept 2022) funded by Misereor / KZE (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid, Germany) is being implemented by the Association of Church-based Development Projects (ACDEP) with four Ghanaian partner institutions and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPA) under the Prolinnova network umbrella.

During the virtual meeting of the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) on 8 April 2020, a new Country Platform (CP) was welcomed into our Community of Practice. The CP in the UK is the first one in the Global North. It consists of the Farmer-Led Innovation Network (FLIN), currently active in England, Scotland and Wales. The coordinator Lisa Williams van Dijk of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) already presented FLIN by Skype during the International Partners Workshop (IPW) in Senegal in May 2019, so some Prolinnova partners are already familiar with it.

FLIN brings together over 20 organisations that are promoting farmer-led participatory research and innovation in the UK. They joined forces to share best practices with this approach; to build capacity of existing and new organisations to support farmer-led innovation and research initiatives; to motivate scientists, agricultural advisors and farmers to interact in such initiatives; and to develop collaborative projects/programmes in the UK and internationally.

Prolinnova is seeking a new coordinator (part-time) in Eastern & Southern Africa (ESA). The key responsibility is to coordinate the setting up and operation of the ESA subregional platform for mutual learning and joint action in promoting local innovation and farmer-led participatory research and development, particularly within institutions of agricultural research, advisory services and higher education.

      The Subregional Coordinator (SRC) will work with a taskforce that represents the various Prolinnova Country Platforms in ESA. S/he will also work together with Abdel Ali Mahamane, the SRC for West & Central Africa, to coordinate mutual learning, South–South mentoring and policy dialogue at subregional and regional level.