Once in the Prolinnova family... always in the Prolinnova family...

Dharma Dangol has been an active member of Prolinnova-Nepal from its inception. He was also the Country Platform (CP) coordinator in the period during which the CP secretariat was hosted by the Natural History Museum of the Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. Dharma retired in April this year but is committed to continuing the work of Prolinnova, especially in regards to integration of the approach into education at all levels. Dharma resides in the Kirtipur Municipality of Kathmandu and has started liaising with schools in the area, building on interactions he has had with some of them in the recent past.

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Farmer innovation fairs in Ghana for food & nutrition security

The local NGOs that are facilitating Prolinnova–Ghana’s work with farmers at the two action-learning sites in Bongo and Yendi held farmer innovation fairs at each site. Local media reported on the event organised by the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organization (NABOCADO) in Bongo in two articles: “Innovation fair held for farmers in Bongo district” in Citi Newsroom (3 May 2019) and “Bongo-Soe farmers boost food security” in Ghanaian Times (4 May 2019). These activities form part of the Proli-FaNS (Promoting local innovation in Food and Nutrition Security) project funded by the German Government through Misereor/KZE (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid).

New Subregional Coordinator in Eastern & Southern Africa

Brigid Letty has been appointed by ACDEP (Association of Church-based Development Projects), the NGO that coordinates the Proli-FaNS (Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security) project under the umbrella of the Prolinnova network, to take over the role as Subregional Coordinator (SRC) in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA). She replaces Amanuel Assefa, who resigned as SRC as of 31 March 2019 because of a very heavy workload from other assignments.

Brigid is an agricultural development specialist and Principle Scientist with the Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She has a BSc in Agriculture (majoring in animal science) and an MSc focused on range and forage resources. She is doing research for a PhD in agroforestry systems at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

FaReNE writeshop in Mali documents 3 years of experience

The Farmer-led Research Network (FaReNe) project is a joint project of Prolinnova partners in Burkina Faso and Mali with financial support from the McKnight Foundation and technical support from the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), host of the Prolinnova international secretariat. It looks at how best to organise and use farmer-led innovation approaches, such as Participatory Innovation Development (PID), Local Innovation Support Facility/Fund (LISF) and farmer networking, and how these can contribute to agro-ecological intensification. Approaching the end of the current funding cycle, key members of the partner organisations from the two countries – NGO staff, researchers and farmer organisation representatives – met for a writeshop to document their three years of experiences, share and analyse these together, and work towards well-written papers.

African farmer innovation in biopesticides against fall armyworm

Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, FAW) has recently appeared in Africa, where it is threatening food security, as it infests maize, which is a staple crop in many countries. Farmer innovators in Ethiopia and Tanzania (among surely many others) are trying out different ways to combat this new pest. The 4-page report “Towards farmer-led bio-management of fall armyworm in Tanzania” describes how a group of small-scale farmers in Tanzania has been trying out a sugar solution, pig fat oil and palm oil as substances to attract ants as a bio-control agent in maize infested with FAW. The 4-page report “Biopesticide to control fall armyworm: local innovation by Gebreyesus Tesfay” describes how a small-scale farmer innovator in northern Ethiopia developed a biopesticide against FAW.

Seeking external evaluator of Proli-FaNS project!

The Association of Church-based Development Projects (ACDEP), the Ghanaian NGO that is coordinating the implementation of the project “Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS), is seeking the services of a consultant to conduct an end-of-project evaluation. The terms of reference, deadline and procedure for submission of expression of interest are indicated here.

The expression of interest should be submitted to the Project Coordinator, Mr Joseph Nchor at nchor@acdep.org or nchor@yahoo.com by 17.00 GMT on Friday, 18 January 2019.

Farmer-led innovation promoted at FAO symposium

Subregional taskforce leaders in Africa

As part of the process of regionalisation of the Prolinnova network, subregional taskforces have been created in Eastern & Southern Africa (ESA) and in West & Central Africa (WCA). These taskforces recently agreed on who will coordinate the interaction within each taskforce and with the respective subregional coordinator, Amanuel Assefa and Georges Djohy, in order to agree on subregional and regional strategies and activities in Africa and to help set up subregional “oversight groups” that will eventually replace the taskforces. These are thus interim governance bodies of the network in Africa. Brigid Letty from the Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in South Africa has been elected as the chair of the ESA taskforce, while Do Christophe Ouattara from World Neighbors in Burkina Faso will chair the WCA taskforce.

West & Central Africa coordinator’s contribution to Proli-FaNS Year 2

In the 2nd year of implementing the “Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS) project, the Prolinnova Platform for West and Central Africa (WCA) played its part in seeking to achieve the overall objectives of the project. In this annual report in French and English, the Subregional Coordinator (SRC) for WCA recalls the SRC’s main tasks and responsibilities; his achievements in terms of policy dialogue and networking, documentation, M&E, South–South backstopping and fundraising; lessons learned; and challenges and perspectives for Year 3 of the project.

Lionel Vigil from Peru named to Prolinnova Oversight Group

In May 2018, the Prolinnova Country Platforms in Bolivia and Peru named Lionel Vigil as the Andes representative in the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG).

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