Prolinnova WCA coordinator makes media coverage of CFS44

On invitation by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), Georges Djohy, the Prolinnova Sub-Regional Coordinator for West and Central Africa, attended a training session on 5–8 October 2017 about designing and implementing communication strategies based on social media. Just after the training, he was integrated into the GFAR social reporter team for media coverage of the 44th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS44) held in Rome, Italy, on 9–13 October 2017. Georges had the opportunity to apply his new skills by sharing diverse information related to CFS44 on Facebook and Twitter and by publishing five interesting blogs in which he referred to the actions and achievements of Prolinnova. These publications are available on Facebook (Prolinnova WCA & WCA Prolinnova) and Twitter (@Prolinnova_WCA) pages of the West and Central Africa Prolinnova Platform (PPAOC/WeCAPP) and on the GFAR and CFS websites:

Prolinnova WCA coordinator attends GFAR social-media training


Georges Djohy, Prolinnova Subregional Coordinator for West & Central Africa (WCA), was selected by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) to take part in the training course on communication strategies through social media to be held on 5–13 October in Rome. This training, offered by GFAR and FAO, also gives him the opportunity to cover the 44th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS44) on 9–13 October. The use of social media is becoming increasingly important in Prolinnova’s strategy to disseminate and scale up our network's achievements and to stimulate policy dialogue about the role of small-scale farmers in agricultural research and innovation.

Farmer Innovation Fair in Ngogwe Sub-County, Uganda

On 3 September 2017, a Farmer Innovation Fair was held at the Youth Association for Rural Development (YARD) offices in Ngogwe Sub-County in Buikwe District of Uganda. It was supported by HORIZONT3000, the Austrian Organization for Development Cooperation, under the auspices of their programme on “Enabling Rural Innovation (ERI) East Africa Project” in Uganda and Tanzania. The briefing note on the Fair includes information about YARD, HORIZONT3000, Environmental Alert and Prolinnova–Uganda and lists the 26 farmer groups that exhibited their innovations.

Update from the Proli-FaNS project in Africa

The mid-year progress report of the Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS) project up to July 2017 gives an overview of activities accomplished by the five Country Platforms involved – in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya. These include preparations for farmer-led research, advocacy and documentation activities, and the work of the two new subregional coordinators in Western & Central Africa and in Eastern & Southern Africa to strengthen South–South learning and collaboration.

Proli-FaNS is funded by Misereor/Katholische Zentralstelle e.V. (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid – KZE, Germany) through a grant from the “One World No Hunger” (SEWOH) initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Two new Prolinnova Oversight Group members elected

The Prolinnova Country Platforms have elected two new members in the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG): Elske van der Fliert to an independent seat in the POG and Joe Ouko to the seat for farmer organisations.

Pratap Shrestha new Prolinnova Oversight Group co-chair

Pratap Shrestha of USC Canada has replaced Ann Waters-Bayer as co-chair of the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG). He is a founder member of Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), a Nepal-based NGO that initially hosted Prolinnova–Nepal, and was Executive Director of LI-BIRD in 2003–09. He was instrumental in setting up Prolinnova–Nepal and was its coordinator for five years. In 2010, he joined USC Canada Asia as Regional Representative and is now their Program Specialist on Seed Systems and Plant Genetic Resources. He is based in Pokhara, Nepal.

In the POG, Pratap shares responsibilities with Chris Macoloo, who has already been serving as co-chair for the last two years and has agreed to serve for an additional year. Chris is the Regional Associate Vice President for Africa at World Neighbors, and is based in Nairobi, Kenya. 

For more information about the POG (including biosketches of all POG members), see www.prolinnova.net/content/prolinnova-oversight-group

New Prolinnova Subregional Coordinators in Africa

From the over 150 candidates that applied to be Subregional Coordinator (SRC) of Prolinnova activities in Africa, the two persons selected by the Country Platforms in the respective subregions and the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) were Amanuel Assefa for the Eastern & Southern Africa subregion and Georges Djohy for the West & Central Africa subregion.

New Prolinnova Country Platform in Timor Leste

The Prolinnova Oversight Group welcomes Timor Leste (East Timor) as a new Country Platform within the Prolinnova community of practice as of May 2017. The CP comprises NGOs, government agencies and two universities. The host NGO – RAEBIA (Resilient Agriculture and Economy through Biodiversity in Action) – grew out of work supported by USC–Canada for several years, when it introduced the participatory land-use planning approach that is now used widely in the country. The group has gained support through the Timor Leste Government’s Civil Society Organisation Fund to launch the CP. Government funding also made it possible that Xisto Martins (RAEBIA) and Joaquim da Costa Freitas (Prime Minister’s Office) could travel to Ghana to join the Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW) in May 2017.


Emily Monville (Philippines) with Xisto Martins & Joaquim da Costa Freitas (Timor Leste) at IPW 2017

Proli-FaNS launched in Bongo District of Upper East Region of Ghana

The Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Office (NABOCADO), in collaboration with the Association of Church-based Development projects (ACDEP), has launched a three-year project in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region to promote local innovation for food and nutrition security (Proli-FaNS) under the umbrella of the international Prolinnova network.

The project will focus on developing the effective and innovative capacities of smallholder farmers in rural communities to improve food security and nutrition, as well as nutritional diversity.

Speaking at the project launch in Bongo-Soe, NABOCADO Human Development Coordinator, Joseph Ayembilla, explained that the project is aimed at strengthening the innovation capacity of farmers in rural communities, particularly women, to sustain their farm and livestock productivity and to increase local resilience to climate change.

Proli-FaNS partners meeting

Partners from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya in the Proli-FaNS (Promoting local innovation in Food and Nutrition Security) project met in Tamale, Ghana, immediately after the 2017 Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW). Both events were hosted by ACDEP (Association of Church-based Development Projects), which coordinates the Prolinnova-Ghana multistakeholder platform and the Proli-FaNS project. The report can be found here: http://prolinnova.net/sites/default/files/documents/thematic_pages/food_...

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