As part of the celebrations for marking 80 years of advancing global food security, FAO convened the Science and Innovation Forum 2025 at FAO headquarters in Rome on 13–18 October 2025 with the aim of driving collaboration, knowledge exchange and transformative action for sustainable agrifood systems. The forum, organised under the theme: “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future”, emphasised the critical role of science, innovation – especially grassroot/community innovation – and partnerships in shaping a more resilient and equitable food future. Prolinnova participated in several processes and activities prior to and during the forum.
Prior to the forum, the Global Farmer Field School platform under the Office of Innovation at FAO organised the Farmer Field School Innovation Challenge, to which innovators around the world were invited to submit applications. Prolinnova was asked to name a representative to be on the panel of judges for this competition: Daudi Ssentongo from Prolinnova–Uganda.
As a member of the panel, Daudi undertook the following tasks:
- Reviewed the pre-selected applications of qualified applicants, and listened to and led question sessions during pitching events carried out for two days
- Contributed to selection of three laureates from 14 preselected applicants for the 2025 award of the best farmer field school innovation by grading the best innovations.
The three laureates for the 2025 farmer field school innovation award were:
- The Uganda digital Farmer Field School Alliance from Uganda with their innovation “Agro-ecological digital hubs: empowering smallholder coffee farmers with ICT-driven climate-smart practices”
- Durrell Wild Life Conservation from Madagascar with their innovation “Composting for lemurs and livelihoods: harnessing invasive plants through Farmer Field Schools to build healthy soil, support local communities”
- North East Society For Agroecology Support (NESFAS) from India with their innovation “Agroecology learning circles: a community-led innovation rooted in Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and Farmer Field School principles”.
During the innovation award ceremony held during the Science and Innovation Forum, Daudi Ssentengo made a brief address on community innovation, highlighting some specific examples of innovation documented by Prolinnova’s partners in Uganda and Kenya and their impact on the resilience of agrifood systems. He also spoke about support systems that help farmers to turn their ideas into practical solutions – emphasising the critical role played by local/ community extension actors, research agents and local NGOs and community members in the success of local innovation.
Aside from the main events at the Science and Innovation Forum, Prolinnova participated in two other sessions. The first was on “Scaling together FAO’s evolving role in innovation for impact’’, organised by Imago Global Grassroots together with FAO, during which Prolinnova underscored the need to recognise local innovators and to increase funding for local innovation support structures as critical factors for making agrifood innovation truly inclusive. In this meeting, Daudi Ssentengo was joined (online) by Prolinnova member Brigid Letty, who served as a panelist.
Daudi also represented Prolinnova in an informal discussion organised by the Grassroots Innovation Assembly for Agroecology and Schola Campesina on “The agroecology approach: grassroots innovations lead to resilient food systems”. Prolinnova shared experiences on documentation of innovations and innovation processes and their impact on communities as a means for placing grassroots innovation at the center of public policies. The discussion included diverse experiences of more than 20 grassroots agroecology practitioners and will serve as a basis for future conversation and collaboration.
The key lessons and messages from this conversation were:
- Grassroots innovation promoters need to strengthen documentation in order to provide more evidence to policymakers and the donor community in order to attract more investment and funding for local innovation.
- Globally, agroecological practices are still being considered as low-output practices and their products are considered expensive in comparison to industrial products. This is largely a mindset issue. Practitioners need to strengthen sensitisation about the capacity of agroecological practices.
- There are many agroecology actors who are working in isolation and are moving in separate circles. There needs to be more stakeholder conversations, collaboration and resource sharing.
Prolinnova was recognised for its contribution to documentation and promotion of grassroots farmer-led innovation. This visibility is likely to spark more collaboration and recognition.
