A farmer innovation fair (FIF) is an event that recognises and celebrates the creativity, ingenuity and innovativeness of smallholder men and women farmers. By bringing together regional or national farmer innovators in one place for several days, they have a rare opportunity to get to know each other, share their experiences and learn from each …
Prolinnova–Cameroon organised the first Farmer Innovation Fair in the country on 27–29 May 2021. A total of 50 farmers, including 21 women, from 10 regions in the country displayed their innovations and networked with other farmers, formal researchers and agricultural advisors. Local innovators and other stakeholders in agricultural research and development also took part in panel discussions …
NaviNut: Promoting women’s innovation in child-feeding in Benin & Kenya The project NaviNut “Enhancing women’s agency in navigating changing food environments to improve child nutrition in African drylands” (Sept 2021–Oct 2023) takes a transdisciplinary research approach: co-creating knowledge across different scientific disciplines and societal stakeholders. The German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) coordinates …
GLOBAL FARMER INNOVATION FAIR 2021 A VIRTUAL EVENT CELEBRATING THE LOCAL CREATIVITY OF SMALL-SCALE FARMERS HOSTED BY PROLINNOVA + A GROWING CULTURE 10 – 11 FEBRUARY 2021 HERE IS THE SUMMARY BROCHURE WITH THE VIDEOS FROM THE EVENT! On 10–11 February 2021, Prolinnova and A Growing Culture (AGC) celebrated small-scale family farmers through …
Virtual Global Farmer Innovation Fair, 10–11 Feb 2021 Read More »
Introduction At the International Partners’ Workshop in Cambodia in 2006, Prolinnova partners decided to give more attention to curriculum development and the integration of Participatory Innovation Development (PID) approaches into higher education systems. They asked the Centre for International Cooperation of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (CIS-VUA), then a partner in the Prolinnova International Support Team (IST), to …
Ethnovet Project: Promoting Ethnoveterinary Medicine for Sustainable Livestock Husbandry in Northern Ghana Introduction The 3-year Ethnovet Project (October 2019–September 2022), funded by Misereor/KZE (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid, Germany), is being implemented by the Association of Church-based Development Projects (ACDEP), an NGO in northern Ghana. It is working in four districts in the Northern, …
See English translation below Promotion de l’innovation locale dans la gestion de l’eau en agriculture familiale au Sahel (Proli-GEAFaSa) Un projet de 3 ans « Promotion de l’innovation locale dans la Gestion de l’Eau en Agriculture Familiale au Sahel » (Proli-GEAFaSA) a commencé en janvier 2020. Il est financé par Misereor/KZE (Agence centrale catholique pour l’aide au …
Farmer-led joint research with other actors in agricultural research and development is central to the Prolinnova approach. It builds on local innovation processes by farmers and is often referred to as “Participatory Innovation Development” (PID). Although PID is integral to all projects and initiatives under the umbrella of the Prolinnova network, some projects focus specifically …
Traduction française ci-dessous The “Promoting local innovation for Food and Nutrition Security” (Proli-FaNS) project ran from 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2019 in five African countries in the international Prolinnova network – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya – with funding from Misereor/Katholische Zentralstelle e.V. (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid – KZE, …
At the International Partners’ Workshop (IPW) in Cambodia in 2006, Prolinnova partners decided to give more attention to integrating the Participatory Innovation Development (PID) approach into higher education. They asked the Centre for International Cooperation of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (CIS-VUA), then part of the International Support Team (IST), to facilitate creation of a Curriculum Development component. The aim …
Engaging youth in agriculture and related businesses can keep rural areas vibrant and counteract the tendency of migration of youth from rural to urban areas. It is vital that young people are offered education and training in agriculture, have a voice in influencing agricultural and rural policy, and are encouraged to engage in rural innovation. …
Promoting innovation by youth in agriculture & agri-food enterprises Read More »
The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the African Development Bank and the CGIAR Consortium organised a workshop on 8-9 September 2015 in Montpellier, France, on “Mobilizing Youth within Phase 2 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs)”. One member of the Prolinnova International Secretariat, Ingrid Flink, took part in this meeting, representing both theProlinnova network and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), which now hosts the Prolinnova International Secretariat. With growing numbers of …
Prolinnova at Workshop on Mobilising Youth in CGIAR Research Programs Read More »
An increasing number of projects promote the role of farmers – smallholders, herders, forest people, fisherfolk and other local resource users – in conserving natural resources and agricultural biodiversity. However, these projects often do not recognise the efforts made by local people themselves to make new uses of and enrich genetic resources. The long history …
Farmer-led documentation (FLD) is an empowering process in which local communities take the lead role in the documentation process. The results are used by community members for learning within the community and for exchange between communities (horizontal sharing) and among communities, development agents and policymakers (vertical sharing). Many development agents are interested in FLD but are …
During the International Partners Workshop in Cambodia in 2006, Prolinnova partners expressed their interest in looking into the link between climate-change adaptation and participatory innovation development (PID). After all, if farmers are constantly having to adapt to changes in local conditions, whatever the cause of these changes may be, some of their innovation efforts will …
The role of local innovation in supporting climate-change adaptation Read More »
Prolinnova piloted a new mechanism to make funds for agricultural research and development accessible to farmer experimenters and local agencies supporting them. The Local Innovation Support Funds/Facilities (LISFs), as described in IK Notes 85 and a policy brief, are managed and used by farmers and community-based organisations (CBOs). The LISFs give farmers a chance to …
The 3-year LINEX-CCA project supported by Misereor in the group of three Asian countries – Cambodia, India and Nepal – was completed in December 2014. The Prolinnova Country Platforms (CPs) in these three countries were engaged in facilitating local innovation and experimentation as a means of helping smallholder farmers adapt to climate change. Women’s innovation was a …
The first national Farmer Innovation Fair (FIF) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 2-4 May 2009. LI-BIRD (Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development), the local NGO that coordinates the Prolinnova network in Nepal, organised this event together with several partner organisations, with support from the Prolinnova International Secretariat at ETC Foundation in the Netherlands. …
Learning from the National Farmer Innovation Fair in Nepal, 2009 Read More »
Building on the experiences and lessons from the Farmer Innovation Fair (FIF) in Nepal in 2009, the Eastern African FIF took a step further to include farmer innovators from several countries in a region: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – a challenge that demanded even more collaboration and coordination than the fair in Nepal. The …
Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair, Kenya, 2013 Read More »
On 12-14 May 2015, the West African Workshop on Approaches to Farmer-Led Research and Development in Francophone West Africa was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop was an initiative of a diverse group that included civil-society organisations partnering with Germany-based Misereor, members of the Prolinnova/PROFEIS[1]network in the region, the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research …
In collaboration with CGIAR Research Programs for Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the Prolinnova International Support team made a study of the longer-term impacts of various farmer-led research and development approaches facilitated by civil-society organisations (CSOs). Background Many of the efforts to transform scientific knowledge into sustainable agriculture …
Study on impact of farmer-led research and development Read More »
An initiative funded by the McKnight Foundation (USA) under the umbrella of the Prolinnova community of practice seeks to strengthen and support farmer-led research networks (FaReNe) in which small-scale farmers take the lead in joint experimentation by farmers and formal researchers for agro-ecological intensification, building on local knowledge and innovation. FaReNe objectives are: to identify …
Strengthening Farmer-led Research Networks in the Sahel Read More »
Local innovation and experimentation: an entry point to climate-change adaptation for sustainable livelihoods in Asia Progress report from INHERE / Prolinnova-India for January-June 2013. PDF file: 95 KB
Members of the Prolinnova Country Platforms in Cambodia, India and Nepal involved in the LINEX–CCA (Local INnovation and EXperimentation for Climate Change Adaptation) project supported by Misereor, Germany, met on 25 May 2013, before the Prolinnova International Partners Workshop (IPW). Suman Manandhar (LI-BIRD, Nepal), Sonali Bisht (INHERE, India), Sam Vitou (CEDAC, Cambodia) and Chesha Wettasinha …
During the first year of implementation of the LINEX-CCA project, partners in Cambodia, India and Nepal were involved in: selecting appropriate sites, conducting studies to assess the perceptions of local communities on climate change and identifying local innovations to adapt to climate change. They also had meetings with local-level stakeholders and conducted awareness sessions on …
LINEX-CCA regional project progress report for 2012 Read More »
Local innovation in the development of smallholder agriculture: a literature review and case study in the Department of Cochabamba Boliviaby Markus Frank, BSc thesis, University of Kassel / German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, Witzenhausen. 2012.The first part of the thesis is a review of literature on different approaches to understanding and supporting local innovation, and …
Despite frequent gender-sensitivity training given to staff members of agricultural research and development (ARD) organisations, many of them still seem to regard agriculture – growing crops / trees and keeping livestock – as primarily the domain of men. Still today, most scientists in research stations, teachers at universities or agricultural colleges, and advisors in agricultural …
Promotion de l’innovation locale en Gestion de l’Eau dans l’Agriculture Familiale au Sahel (Proli-GEAFaSa) Rapport Annuel 2021 (février 2022) Promoting local innovation in water management by family farmers in the Sahel (Proli-GEAFaSa) Annual Report 2021 (February 2022) Rapport-An2-proligeafasa
Prolinnova West & Central Africa a organisé une foire d’innovation paysanne à l’Hôtel de Ville de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, du 18 au 20 juillet 2022, avec une exposition d’innovations locales liées à la gestion de l’eau agricole au Sénégal et au Burkina Faso. Pour plus d’informations, consultez le poster. Prolinnova West & Central Africa held …
The SULCI-FaNS project funded by Misereor and coordinated by ACDEP (Ghana) is in its third and final year. The semi-annual progress report highlighs the activities and acheivements in the first half of Year 3, the period from October 2021 to March 2022. The project partners in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana and Kenya are now working …
During the SULCI-FaNS project, the partners in Prolinnova–Ghana documented local innovations to improve food and nutrition security of small-scale family farmers in the Upper East and North East Regions. Five innovations and related farmer-led joint experiments are described in the following 3-page briefs on: Nutritious porridge flour for infants Fattening small ruminants and cattle …
The 51-page publication “Le projet FaReNe et l’approche participative” (in French only) is the product of a reflection on experiences made by Prolinnova partners in Burkina Faso and Mali in supporting farmer-led research networks to promote local innovation and farmer-led joint research as well as in facilitating the use of Local Innovation Support Funds (LISFs). …
FaReNe and the participatory approach / FaReNe et l’approche participative Read More »
English version below Le projet de réseaux de recherche dirigé par les agriculteurs en phase II En juin 2019, le projet de réseau de recherche dirigé par les agriculteurs (FaReNe) a entamé une deuxième phase de trois ans, avec un financement de la Fondation McKnight (États-Unis). L’objectif général est de renforcer les réseaux de recherche …
Farmer-led Research Networks project in Phase II Read More »
For better sharing of experiences about farmer innovation, facilitating joint experimentation, setting up farmer innovator networks and managing Local Innovation Support Funds, an exchange visit between Burkina Faso and Mali was held on 6–8 October 2017 in the villages of Zeimbougou Mangoni, Nampasso, Kanouala, Nabougou and Nayo (Mali). The delegation from Burkina was made up …
Exchange visit to Mali between FaReNe project partners Read More »
Two articles about Prolinnova work in Eastern Africa and in West Africa were published in the March 2022 issue of the Appropriate Technology magazine: “Learning from Covid-19 to improve food and nutrition security”, about how Covid-19 has drawn attention to the importance of home-grown solutions to deal with effects of the pandemic, and thus increased also recognition …
Articles in “Appropriate Technology” on local innovation in Kenya & Senegal Read More »
The second year of the 3-year Misereor-funded project Scaling Up Local Capacity to Innovate for Food and Nutrition Security (SULCI-FaNS) was completed in September 2021. Prolinnova Country Platforms (CPs) in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana and Kenya continue to strengthen the innovation capacities of small-scale farmers, especially women and women’s groups, to improve food and nutrition …
Year 2 report on Scaling Up Local Capacity to Innovate Read More »
Prolinnova–Ghana is involved in the 3-year Misereor-funded project Scaling Up Local Capacity to Innovate for Food and Nutrition Security (SULCI-FaNS). The second year of this project was completed in September 2021. The coordinator of the project work in Ghana, Ms Margaret Kyiu, reports on Year 2 activities to strengthen the innovation capacities of small-scale …
