Prolinnova-Ethiopia, coordinated by PANE (Poverty Action Network Ethiopia), hosted the International Partners Workshop (IPW) on 27-30 April 2015 in Axum, Ethiopia. This was a return visit to Ethiopia, where the first IPW took place in March 2004 in Yirgalem.
The IPW 2015 provided a good platform for the Country Platforms (CPs) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to share some of their lessons learnt from the ongoing CLIC-SR (Combining Local Innovative Capacity with Scientific Research) project with other Prolinnova CPs in Africa and Asia, as well as with members of the Prolinnova International Secretariat in the Netherlands and guests from the USA and from the GFAR (Global Forum for Agricultural Research ) Secretariat in Rome. It was also a good opportunity for the CPs in Africa and Asia to reflect on the findings of the detailed stocktaking of Prolinnova’s achievements over the past more than 10 years, an activity being supported by the Global forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). In addition, the participants discussed plans and progress on several initiatives, as follow-up to current projects, that are being developed, e.g. on upscaling Participatory Innovation Development at district level, in-depth studies on CSO approaches to farmer-led research and development in selected countries and a study on grassroots perspectives on what enhances local capacity to innovate. during the “traditional” Open Space sessions for participant-driven spontaneous exchange and planning, plans were made to do multinational documentation of innovation and experimentation in finger-millet transplanting, to develop a better framework for documenting institutional innovation, and to set up a “Friends of Prolinnova” group, among other topics.
The Prolinnova-Ethiopia Axum Platform handled the local logistics for the meetings and arranged the study visits to farmer innovators in the Axum area.
On the weekend before the IPW, i.e. on 25-26 April, the partners in CLIC-SR held their annual sharing and learning workshop. Parallel to this, the Prolinnova Oversight Group (POG) held its annual face-to-face meeting.
The report on the 2015 IPW can be found here.
