In June 2025, the NaviNut project “Enhancing women’s agency in navigating changing food environments to improve child nutrition in African drylands” finalised its report to the funder: the German Federal Ministry of Food & Agriculture (BMEL). NaviNut took a transdisciplinary approach to research & development: co-creation of innovations by local people and scientists from different scientific disciplines. The institutional partners involved were the German Institute for Tropical & Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL), the Center for Research & Development in Drylands (CRDD, member of Prolinnova–Kenya); the Universities of Parakou (host organisation of Prolinnova–Benin) and Abomey-Calavi in Benin; Tropical Institute of Community Health & Development and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology in Kenya; South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences in Germany; and Prolinnova.
Since 2020, NaviNut investigated food systems in agropastoral drylands of northern Kenya and northern Benin. It aimed to strengthen women’s capacity to adapt to changing food environments, by identifying and building on “positive deviance”: innovation by women who use locally available resources to feed their children better than do other women in the same area. It was designed to integrate the knowledge of mothers, processors and sellers of traditional foods, community health workers, consumers and various scientific disciplines.
The action-research project increased accessibility of locally available, highly nutritious food for small children, also by co-developing innovations in small-scale processing and packaging so that women could sell healthy, safe, tasty and acceptable convenience foods based on traditional foods. Ten small-scale processing companies in Benin and seven in Kenya benefited from action-research funding for joint product development and marketing. Some groups received support in certifying their products through the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), enabling them to sell their products not only locally but also in supermarkets, thus reaching more customers.
To share their learning, members of six women’s groups in Kenya – after training in participatory video – documented various innovations from nutrient-rich local recipes and healing foods to creative hygiene solutions in their daily lives. In Benin, 21 radio broadcasts (20–30 min. each) were prepared together with local women to facilitate peer-to-peer learning. Topics covered included diversity and nutritional content of traditional foods, best practices and local innovations in enhancing traditional foods, and producing and marketing traditional foods to generate income for women.
In addition, information materials such as a recipe book, herbal tea handbook, guidelines for hygienic food production, and policy briefs were produced and disseminated. Five articles were published in Prolinnova’s section in the Appropriate Technology magazine, and 17 in peer-reviewed journals such as Ecology of Food and Nutrition and Food Security – and more are in the pipeline.
The project facilitated learning by university staff and students about how to engage in transdisciplinary research, in line with Prolinnova’s aim to integrate a participatory innovation approach into university education. Throughout the project, Prolinnova provided methodological support in participatory innovation processes working with women innovators.
The NaviNut team now presents the final report on the project, a final project summary and a list of NaviNut publications. It also prepared three policy briefs:
