Brigid Letty, a member of the Prolinnova International Support Team, participated recently in a number of events organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The first of these was the Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, which was held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 29 September to 1 October 2025. Brigid represented the global Prolinnova network in a panel discussion on the second day, titled ‘Successful institutional and Social Innovations’. She provided input about how multi-stakeholder and participatory processes contribute to fostering innovation in small-scale livestock production. Brigid participated online in another panel discussion that took place on 15 October, which was titled ‘Scaling together: FAO’s Evolving Role in Innovation for Impact’. This was part of FAO’s Science and Innovation Forum. Her input largely drew on her experiences from Prolinnova around ensuring that agrifood innovation systems are truly inclusive, and scaling the development impact of innovation, which focused on scaling the ethos of innovation, rather than just scaling particular innovations.
Daudi Ssentonga, Prolinnova Uganda, participated physically in the Science and Innovation Forum, not only attending the session where Brigid was a panelist, but also the Innovation Awards event, focused on innovation related to farmer field schools, where he gave a brief speech on community innovations – highlighting some specific examples of innovations documented under Prolinnova Uganda and Kenya and their impact on the resilience of agrifood systems. He also remarked on support systems that help farmers to turn their ideas into practical solutions – emphasizing the critical role played by local/ community extension actors, research actors and local NGOs and community members in the success of local innovations. A report by Daudi on the event and associated activities is available here.
