Prolinnova featured at EFARD conference, April 2005
Coordinators of the Prolinnova Country Platforms in South Africa and Nepal presented experiences in North–South partnerships in agricultural research for development (ARD) at the EFARD (European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development) conference held in Zurich, Switzerland on 27–30 April 2005. In the session on “Innovation through ARD partnerships”, the GFAR (Global Forum on Agricultural Research) organised a workshop on North–South research partnerships: guidelines, challenges, success stories and the way forward. Posters and presentations were made for this session by Monique Salomon, Farmer Research Group, South Africa, and Pratap Shrestha, LI-BIRD, Nepal.
In a plenary session of the conference, Ann Waters-Bayer from the Prolinnova International Support Team gave a paper on “Social dimensions in ARD: how civil society fosters partnerships to promote local innovation by rural communities”, in which she outlined the justification for and the approach of the Prolinnova programme.
Abstract: “Agricultural innovation to alleviate poverty and achieve food security is a social process involving many actors and needs to take full account of social dimensions – referring to the motivations, attitudes, behaviour and beliefs not only of farmers but also of scientists and policymakers. Using the example of an international partnership programme, we show how the R&D capacities of resource-poor farmers can be strengthened and agricultural services can support them. It is based on the realisation that farmers, on their own initiative and using local resources, are innovating, that their innovations can provide a focus to examine development opportunities and research needs, and that recognition of this local creativity is a prerequisite for genuine partnership in R&D.”
