A long-time member of the Prolinnova network, Fetien Abay, won the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award 2014 for the Eastern African Region in the Earth and Life Sciences category. The award ceremony was on 19 December 2014 at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Fetien was given recognition for her outstanding achievements in science and technology. She is the Director of the Institute of Environment, Gender and Development Studies at Mekelle University in northern Ethiopia and is the scientific coordinator of various community-based projects.
Fetien was a pioneer is recognising farmer innovation in Ethiopia as co-coordinator of the second phase of the Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation (ISWC2) programme that started in 1997 in Tigray Region. Since then, she has been very active in facilitating and promoting local innovation and farmer participatory research and development. In this work, she has put special emphasis on innovation by women and on local documentation and use of ICT in innovation processes. She has published peer-reviewed articles on her participatory research and development work (e.g. “Farmers’ seed management and innovation in varietal selection” in Ambio) and in Prolinnova booklets (e.g. Farmer-led documentation) and policy briefs (e.g. Promoting local innovation in managing agricultural biodiversity).
The Prolinnova International Secretariat congratulates Fetien upon receiving this prestigious award!
