At a day-long workshop in Brussels on 7 Nov 2014, the European Commission Directorate General Development and Cooperation (DEVCO) presented its new approach to research and innovation for sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security. Among several speakers, Ann Waters-Bayer from the Prolinnova International Secretariat at ETC Foundation presented the lessons learnt in the EU-funded project Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture (www.jolisaa.net) and the continuing work of Prolinnova (www.prolinnova.net) along the same lines.
Prolinnova is a Global Partnership Programme of the GFAR (Global Forum of Agricultural Research). The GFAR Executive Secretary, Mark Holderness, likewise spoke on how the global multistakeholder forum is promoting agricultural research in development. During the workshop, the book by FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) on maximising impact from agricultural research through application of the IAR4D (Integrated Agricultural Research for Development) concept was launched in Europe.
The workshop stressed that agricultural research for development requires not only high-quality science but also effective partnerships to ensure that the research has impact in addressing challenges of poverty, hunger and undernutrition. Several donors attended the workshop, which was held immediately after meetings of the CGIAR Fund Council and Funders’ Forum to deliberate on the mid-term review of the CGIAR reform and on the CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework, which is intended to link the outputs of CGIAR research programmes to development outcomes.
The presentation on JOLISAA and Prolinnova can be found here.
