The 2009 Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW) took place on 8-11 May in Pokhara, Nepal. It allowed participants to visit cases of Participatory Innovation Development (PID) in the field and to share and learn on the basis of concrete experiences of the Country Platforms (CPs). The workshop was hosted by the Prolinnova-Nepal National Steering Committee, which entrusted the actual hosting to the NGO that coordinates the multistakeholder Prolinnova activities in Nepal, LI-BIRD (Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development) based in Pokhara. The International Secretariat of the Global Partnership Programme at ETC EcoCulture, Leusden, Netherlands is responsible for facilitation of the IPW. The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in Silang, Philippines, coordinated the documentation. These organisations within the Prolinnova International Support Team (IST) prepared and organised the event in close collaboration with the Nepalese hosts and the other CPs.
The IPW 2009 took place immediately after the Nepalese Farmers Innovation Fair (1–4 May 2009) and the Innovation Asia-Pacific Symposium (IAPS, 4–7 May 2009), both of which were held in Kathmandu. The IAPS was organised jointly by LI-BIRD and Practical Action from Prolinnova–Nepal and by ICIMOD, CIAT-Asia and the Prolinnova International Secretariat with primary funding support from Research Into Use (RIU) in the UK and additional funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada and the organising partners.
The IPW 2009 was shorter and smaller than the usual annual meetings of programme partners. Invited participants included one person each from the CPs in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and one person from the regional programme in the Andes. Some members of the IST took part, as well as members of the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG), which held a meeting on 7 May 2009 in Kathmandu. Primary funding for these meetings came from the Netherlands Government. Immediately after the IPW, a smaller workshop dedicated to reflection on and learning from experiences of eight CPs in piloting Local Innovation Support Funds was held in Pokhara. This component of Prolinnova was supported by Rockefeller Foundation.
