La concertation semble en passe de devenir une norme en matière de gestion des ressources naturelles et de l'environnement. Pourtant, son impact reste difficile à caractériser, ce qui génère une forme de désenchantement auprès de ses promoteurs. Au cours d'un projet de recherche concertée à La Réunion, nous avons cherché à mieux comprendre comment la concertation influence l'écologie territoriale.
Inclusive innovation is the means by which new goods and services are developed for and/or by the billions living on lowest incomes. Although a topic of increasing interest, it has been relatively under-researched and under-conceptualised to date. This article studies arguably the most successful new technology to reach low-income groups: the mobile phone, focusing specifically on its diffusion in Kenya. Systems of innovation are shown to be an appropriate frame for conceptualisation of inclusive innovation.
The authors surveyed small-scale farmers in the Kenyan Rift Valley province (Narok and Nakuru districts) to describe constraints to, and changes in, livestock production and to assess the extent to which farmers have adopted new technologies promoted by extension services. In the arid areas of southern Narok, farmer's main constraints were drought and disease. Farmers in Nakuru district, situated in the fertile highlands of the Rift Valley, were also affected by disease but also lacked markets and capital.
The building of sustainable innovation capabilities in Africa requires an innovation system capable of producing, disseminating and using new knowledge. This paper assesses the process of constructing the National Innovation System (NIS) in Rwanda. It is posited that consensus on and acceptance of the concept of NIS among stakeholders is crucial in the early process of constructing an efficient and dynamic innovation system. Primary empirical data are presented for the case of Rwanda and analyzed in a regional context.
In the Office du Niger large rice farming irrigation scheme in Mali, water management has been a permanent source of tension between the smallholder tenants and the administration. The transfer of tertiary canal maintenance to the tenant farmers was expected to improve water management but, in practice, that rather led to deterioration.
There is a broad consensus that farmers are not simply recipients of promoted techniques: rather, they are also an important source of agricultural innovations. They invent farm tools and equipment, develop new crop varieties, and add value to externally promoted technologies. When scouting, documenting and promoting such farmer-generated innovations, the thorny issue of intellectual property rights (IPRs) often emerges.
Le Mali a quadruplé sa population entre 1960 et 2020. Cette croissance démographique implique des besoins d’accès à la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle, à la santé, à l’éducation et à l’emploi pour les primo arrivants. C’est le secteur agricole qui est sollicité par les politiques publiques pour répondre à cette demande. Quelle est la tendance démographique dans la zone cotonnière du Mali ? Quelles ont été les réponses locales face aux implications de cette croissance démographique en termes d’accès à la santé et à l’éducation ?
Many initiatives to address contemporary complex challenges require the crossing of sector, domain, and level boundaries, which policy entrepreneurs are believed to facilitate. This study aims to enhance our understanding of how, why, and with what effect such entrepreneurs operate to cross boundaries. As this requires an account of both entrepreneurial strategy and the surrounding policy environment, we embed entrepreneurship in the policy frameworks of multiple streams, advocacy coalitions, and punctuated equilibrium.
This paper analyses a biotechnology-focused project which aims to promote the development and adoption of tissue culture bananas by small-scale farmers in Kenya. The paper highlights the generation of several important narratives that are used to justify the development and dissemination of this technology. First, a disaster narrative, a series of claims regarding rural livelihoods and banana production in Kenya, is generated. This creates a political and technical space for the creation of a new science that can solve these problems.
The Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future De-veloping Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) project conducted a three-country study on youth and EAS in Rwanda, Niger and Gua-temala. These case studies provided a land-scape analysis to inform actions to strengthen the inclusion of youth in EAS to improve their livelihoods and increase the effective-ness of EAS systems.