The report on progress in the Misereor-funded project “Scaling Up Local Capacity to Innovate for Food and Nutrition Security” (SULCI-FaNS) in the period from 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021 summarises activities and outputs achieved by the four Country Platforms involved (in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana and Kenya), by the Subregional Coordinators in Africa and by other International Support Team members. It includes updates about farmer-led research on local innovations as well as about outreach and policy-influencing activities, including the virtual Global Farmer Innovation Fair held in February 2021. See the progress report here.

Participants à l’atelier / Workshop participants (Photo: Mass Photo-Video)

English below

Mise en place d’une plateforme multi-acteurs de promotion de l’innovation locale au Bénin

Le samedi, 15 mai 2021, s’est tenu à Parakou au Nord-Bénin l’atelier de mise en place d’une plateforme multi-acteurs de promotion de l’innovation locale et du développement participatif d’innovation (DPI) du Bénin.

The March 2021 issue of the Appropriate Technology magazine (Vol. 48, No. 1) published two articles on women innovators in Kenya and Nepal. Prolinnova partners in the two countries have been working with these women in farmer-led joint research and helping them share their experiences within and beyond their communities. Both women presented their innovations at the virtual Global Farmer Innovation Fair hosted by Prolinnova and A Growing Culture in February 2021. Read the articles here:

   Farmer-researcher Angie Koch, EFAO (Photo: Stills Motion Content)

On 12 March 2021, students of the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development of the University of Guelph in the province of Ontario, Canada, organised a webinar on “Farmer-led research in the resilience of rural communities”. The webinar examined farmer-led research (FLR) from the perspectives of farmers in the Global North and South.

Angie Koch, a farmer researcher with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), made a keynote presentation on her experiences in FLR. She stressed how important it is in her research to follow her own curiosity and seek answers to her own questions for her farm. She enjoys learning from other farmer-researchers' methods and results as much as she appreciates the opportunity to share her own.

Sharad Rai is not a stranger to Prolinnova. He joined Prolinnova–Nepal in 2005 representing Practical Action and was an active member of the National Working Group (NWG). Sharad was involved in identifying and documenting farmer innovation and supporting farmer-led joint research in Nepal.

During his time in the NWG, he developed guidelines for Participatory Innovation Development in Nepal, which was awarded a prize as the Knowledge contest winner for Best Knowledge Product by Practical Action Headquarters in the UK in 2007. Sharad played a key role as part of the Prolinnova Nepal’s organising team of two key events in Kathmandu in 2007: the first national-level Farmer Innovation Fair and the Asia-Pacific Innovation Symposium.