About Prolinnova

PROmoting Local INNOVAtion in ecologically oriented agriculture and NRM

In several countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific, diverse organisations have joined forces to promote local innovation in agriculture and natural resource management (NRM). After analysing their own experiences in agricultural research and development (ARD), they have formed Country/Regional Platforms (CPs/RPs), designed their own programme and agreed on joint international activities for mutual learning and policy dialogue. This Global Partnership Programme (GPP) is a Community of Practice that is built from the bottom up, in the spirit of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR).

Prolinnova is an NGO-initiated multistakeholder programme to promote local innovation in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management (NRM). The focus is on recognising the dynamics of indigenous knowledge (IK) and enhancing capacities of farmers (including forest dwellers, pastoralists and fisherfolk) to adjust to change – to develop their own site-appropriate systems and institutions of resource management so as to gain food security, sustain their livelihoods and safeguard the environment. The essence of sustainability lies in the capacity to adapt.

The programme builds on and scales up farmer-led approaches to development that start with finding out how farmers do informal experiments to develop and test new ideas for better use of natural resources. Understanding the rationale behind local innovation transforms how research and extension agents view local people. This experience stimulates interest on both sides to enter into joint action.

Strengthening Farmer-led Research Networks in the Sahel

The Sahel is an environmentally sensitive region and climate change is likely to worsen the situation. Farmers therefore need to adapt their agricultural methods and practices to the changing climatic conditions and their effects. Agro-ecological intensification leads to higher productivity and improved food and nutrition security without having negative environmental impacts. Formal ARD gives little attention to farmers’ own innovation and focuses on experimentation led by scientists. A new initiative under the umbrella of the Prolinnova community of practice seeks to strengthen and support farmer-led research networks in which smallholders take the lead in joint experimentation by farmers and formal researchers for agro-ecological intensification, building on local knowledge and innovation.

McKnight Foundation (USA) has provided funds for this project to strengthen farmer-led research networks for agroecological intensification in Burkina Faso and Mali – called FaReNe for short. Its objectives are: 

Brussels Briefing 34: Farmer-driven research

Experiences and policy messages from Prolinnova and various other initiatives – including JOLISAA (Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture) and CoS-SIS (Convergence of Sciences: Strengthening Innovation Systems) – were presented at the CTA Brussels Briefing on "Farmer-driven research to improve food and nutrition security" on 14 November 2013. This was co-organised by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) Brussels office and INSARD (Including Smallholders in Agricultural Research and Development), an EU-funded project coordinated by ETC Foundation in the Netherlands.

Joint learning in innovation in Eastern Africa

The Sept 2013 issue of the Baobab Magazine includes an article on joint learning in agricultural innovation in Kenya and another on social learning at the Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair in May 2013.

Joint learning in agricultural innovation cases: Researchers are making advances in seed and fertiliser technologies, but creative solutions are also needed to improve market access, as well as to mitigate the impact of climate change among smallholder farmers. Africa’s ability to improve sustainable agriculture will depend largely on processes of interactive learning and innovation in practice … (Baobob 68: 16–18).

Social learning at the Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair: Learning can take many forms and happen in many different places, not only – and indeed, not primarily – in institutions of formal education. A particularly effective way for people to learn is through exposure to something new and unexpected, which stimulates them to rethink … (Baobab 68: 24–27).

Discussing promoting local innovation with CGIAR CRPs

CGIAR Research Program (CRP) leaders, donors and external stakeholders met in late June 2013 in Montpellier, France, to discuss the CGIAR research portfolio. Prolinnova was invited to join the discussion on the “system” CRPs: Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS), Dryand Systems and Humidtropics Systems. The CRPs outlined their work and plans for setting targets and gauging impacts in reducing poverty, increasing food security and improving nutrition, health and sustainable management of natural resources. More details about the discussions and CGIAR plans can be found under http://www.cgiar.org/events/cgiar-research-program-engagement-with-donors-and-external-stakeholders/ Ann Waters-Bayer brought Prolinnova experiences into the discussion and was encouraged by the AAS approach to maximising local innovation capacity (http://paepard.blogspot.de/2013/07/global-alliance-to-boost-local-capaci...).

2013 meeting of LINEX–CCA partners

Members of the Prolinnova Country Platforms (CPs) in Cambodia, India and Nepal involved in the LINEX–CCA (Local INnovation and EXperimentation for Climate Change Adaptation) project supported by Misereor, Germany, met on 25 May 2013, before the Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW). The coordinators Suman Manandhar (LI-BIRD, Nepal), Sonali Bisht (INHERE, India) and Sam Vitou (CEDAC, Cambodia), and Chesha Wettasinha (ETC Foundation, Netherlands) took part. The main issues discussed were: community perceptions on effects of climate change identified through the field studies; local innovation to adapt to these effects and how it can be supported through a process of participatory innovation development (PID); and capacity building of communities and local stakeholders to engage in a process of PID.

Fair and workshop recognises farmer innovation in eastern Africa

The EU-funded project JOint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture (JOLISAA); Prolinnova; the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the AusAID-funded project Food System Innovation for Food Security (FSIFS) held an international workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA) in the last week of May 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. Experiences from various institutions and initiatives were shared to gain a better understanding of multi-stakeholder innovation processes in agriculture, with a focus on recognising the role of smallholders – both men and women – in innovation. The workshop helped develop messages for research, practice and policy about strengthening innovation processes in smallholder agriculture.

Synthesis report on piloting LISFs in 8 countries in Africa and Asia

The synthesis report on Farmer Access to Innovation Resources: Findings and lessons learnt on facilitating Local Innovation Support Funds has now been published by Prolinnova. It describes the process and results of the action research in eight countries in Africa and Asia to answer the following central questions:

  1. Can the LISF be an effective farmer-led funding mechanism?
  2. Is the LISF a cost-efficient funding mechanism?
  3. What could be sustainable institutional arrangements with farmer co-management?

It also brings the main results of the participatory impact assessment and draws lessons for scaling up this approach to changing the power balance in decision-making about decentralised agricultural research and development. Further information about piloting LISFs can be found here. 

Prolinnova International Partners Workshop 27-28 May 2013 in Kenya

The Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW) in 2013 was hosted in the final week of May 2013 by Prolinnova-Kenya. Part of the IPW 2013 programme was devoted to sharing experiences on strengthening community resilience to (climate and other) change, e.g. from the new Prolinnova initiatives on this in Asia (LINEX-CCA) and East Africa (CLIC-SR). The Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) also met in this week. 

Week on Agricultural Innovation in Africa (WAIA) 25-31 May 2013

Together with the EU-funded project JOint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture (JOLISAA), the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the AusAID-funded project Food System Innovation for Food Security (FSIFS), Prolinnova organised an International Workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA). Workshop participants from various institutions and initiatives in Africa and Asia examined the role of smallholders in innovation processes in African agriculture and identified key messages for research, practice and policy to strengthen these processes.

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