In late October 2013, two members of the Prolinnova International Secretariat joined the reflection workshop of PAEPARD (Platform for African-European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development), when the partners drew lessons from the current project phase (up to end of 2013).
PAEPARD is funded by the European Commission and is coordinated by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in collaboration with Agrinatura, a consortium of research and education organisations in Europe, on behalf of the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD). The project tries to facilitate partnerships between farmer organisations, NGOs, research and educational institutes, and private companies through capacity strengthening, providing information on funding opportunities, helping prepare research proposals that address farmers’ needs, and advocating for increased support for demand-led, multi-actor agricultural research for development (ARD).
The workshop participants reflected on what had been achieved and not achieved in PAEPARD, identified what should be continued and chose priorities for the next four years of the project. The focus was on increased engagement of African and European actors in ARD partnerships, the role of agricultural innovation facilitators, capacity strengthening, the user-led process of formulating research proposals and African-European funding mechanisms to support multistakeholder innovation processes.
PAEPARD hopes to involve ETC Foundation / Prolinnova more closely in its activities in the next four years, to capitalise on Prolinnova’s many years of experience in participatory research driven by local people.
