In February 2018, the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) welcomed Prolinnova–Peru as a Country Platform (CP) within the international community of practice.
Prolinnova activities began in Peru already in 2005, when the regional network Prolinnova–Andes (composed of partners in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador) was created to promote local innovation processes and to learn from each other about farmer-led participatory innovation development (PID). Since then, some activities at regional and national level activities were carried out, including two regional workshops in 2005 and 2008 and an International Seminar on Participatory Methodological Processes in Peru in 2008. The activities in Peru were coordinated by the RAAA (Red de Acción en Agricultura Alternativa / Network for Action in Alternative Agriculture) based in Lima.
The regional collaboration then went dormant for a few years but, in 2017, the NGO World Neighbors invited people from farmer organisations, Peruvian NGOs, academia and government agencies to two workshops to discuss re-activating collaboration within Peru in the form of an independent national platform or CP. The workshop participants set up a Working Group and a National Steering Committee, agreed on common aims and joint activities, and applied to the POG to be recognised as a CP. This application was officially accepted by the POG in February 2018.
Prolinnova–Peru seeks to learn more about how indigenous communities use their knowledge to find solutions to improve their food security and livelihoods through agriculture and natural resource management, and how international and local NGOs, academia, government agencies and the private sector can support indigenous communities in addressing these issues. The CP partners will engage in action research with indigenous peoples around local knowledge and innovation and help policymakers incorporate this approach into national policies.
Current partners in Prolinnova–Peru are Los Chakas Savings & Credit Cooperative, Villa Hermosa Farmers Association, Centre for Agricultural Development (CEDAP), National University of San Cristobel de Huamanga, Asociación Bartolomé Aripailla (ABA), Lamlama Farmers Association, Solid Perú and World Neighbors, which is the host organisation for the CP. The coordinator is Lionel Vigil of World Neighbors. The group is open to further partners with similar interests and aims.
