The first output of the collaboration between Prolinnova and the CGIAR Research Programs on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has been published:
Wettasinha C, Waters-Bayer A, van Veldhuizen L, Quiroga G and Swaans K. 2014. Study on impacts of farmer-led research supported by civil society organizations. Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Working Paper: AAS-2014-40 (http://pubs.iclarm.net/resource_centre/AAS-2014-40.pdf)
A paper based on this study has also been published in the peer-reviewed journal Agriculture & Food Security:
Waters-Bayer A, Kristjanson P, Wettasinha, C, van Veldhuizen L, Quiroga G, Swaans K & Douthwaite B. 2015. Exploring the impact of farmer-led research supported by civil society organisations. Agriculture & Food Security 4:4 (http://www.agricultureandfoodsecurity.com/content/4/1/4/#ins3)
Background:
Many of the efforts to transform scientific knowledge into sustainable agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) have brought only limited benefits to smallholder farmers, including fishers, livestock-keepers and other resource users. Donors, policymakers and civil-society organisations (CSOs) are urging the formal agricultural research and development (ARD) sector to make its research more directly useful to smallholders. Several ARD institutions are seeking ways to engage more closely with smallholders and supporting organisations in the field in order to conduct research that is more relevant for and accessible to them. These institutions are open to learn from examples of ARD driven and co-managed by smallholders in processes facilitated by CSOs outside of the formal ARD sector, in what could be called “informal” ARD.
The CGIAR Research Program (CRP) Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) is taking an approach that seeks to embed research in development processes and thus strengthen capacities of stakeholders to innovate and adapt. Similarly, the CRP Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) seeks to translate knowledge into action for change through social-learning processes. AAS and CCAFS have linked up with Prolinnova to explore the approaches, experiences, outcomes and impacts of “informal” ARD in the CSO sector.
