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.
This review studied a selection of projects from the Research Into Use (RIU) Africa portfolio: the Nyagatare maize platform in Rwanda; the cowpea platform in Kano state, Nigeria; the pork platform in Malawi, the Farm Input Promotions (FIPS) Best Bet in Kenya, and the Armyworm Best Bet in Kenya and Tanzania. For each of the selected projects, assessments were made on how it changed the capacity to innovate, the household level poverty impact, whether the intervention off ered value for money, and what were the main lessons learned.
This review seeks to assess the usefulness of innovation systems approaches in the context of the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) in guiding research agendas, generating knowledge and use in improving food security and nutrition, reducing poverty and generating cash incomes for resource-poor farmers. The report draws on a range of case studies across sub-Saharan Africa to compare and contrast the reasons for success from which lessons can be learned.
This report describes issues presented and discussed at a workshop held in Rwanda from 6 - 8 September 2012, focused on strengthening capacity in agricultural innovation in post-conflict and protracted crisis (2PC) countries. It was the first workshop of its kind that attempted to bring participants from 2PC countries around the globe to rally around a common cause.
Starting with background information, the report presents a summary of the plenary presentations of the workshop, which includes a brief on the post-conflict and protracted crisis environment in the 15 participating countries (Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan). Some countries like Afghanistan qualified all in one as conflict, post-conflict and protracted crisis country.
Growing empirical evidence suggests that innovation platforms can be effective in enhancing agricultural research impact by creating an enabling environment for scaling of innovations such as novel technologies, practices and busines models . However, efforts to understand how these innovation platforms operate to scale innovations are insufficient. Such knowledge is critical for improving the design of agricultural innovation systems, specifically within the context of a rising interest in the innovation platform approach to support the transformation of agriculture across Africa.
The present study was designed with the following objectives: i) to evaluate selected stress-tolerant maize hybrids developed by CIMMYT in eastern Africa under farmers’ conditions; ii) to identify farmers’ selection criteria in evaluating and selecting maize hybrids; iii) to let farmers evaluate the varieties and score them for the identified criteria and overall.
Esta guía práctica se preparó en el marco del proyecto Desarrollo de capacidades para sistemas de innovación agrícola (CDAIS), una asociación mundial (Agrinatura, FAO y ocho países piloto) que tiene como objetivo fortalecer la capacidad de los países y las partes interesadas clave para innovar en sistemas agrícolas complejos. lograr mejores medios de vida rurales. CDAIS utiliza un enfoque de ciclo de aprendizaje continuo para apoyar los sistemas nacionales de innovación agrícola en ocho países de África, Asia y América Central.
Esta guía fue producida por la FAO como parte del Proyecto de Desarrollo de Capacidades para Sistemas de Innovación Agrícola (CDAIS). El objetivo de este documento es proporcionar pautas prácticas para implementar ferias para fortalecer la innovación agrícola. Una feria de innovación es un evento organizado para facilitar la correspondencia de la demanda y la oferta y para promover el aprendizaje, y el intercambio de información, conocimiento y experiencia práctica sobre temas específicos.
Este manual fue producido como un recurso para los Facilitadores Nacionales de Innovación (NIF) en todos los países del Proyecto de Desarrollo de Capacidades para Sistemas de Innovación Agrícola (CDAIS). El objetivo de este manual es guiar el nivel de organización de las actividades y capacitar a los facilitadores nacionales de innovación. Les ayudará a aumentar su comprensión de las diferentes etapas del proceso de coaching.