Addressing 21st century development challenges requires investments in innovation, including the use of new approaches and technologies. Currently, many development organisations prioritise investments in isolated innovation pilots that leverage a specific approach or technology rather than pursuing a strategic approach to expand the organisation's toolbox with innovations that have proven their comparative advantage over what is currently used.
For most development organisations and funders, innovation remains a sprawling collection of activities, often energetic, but largely uncoordinated. To a dregree, this has also been the case for Iceland's development co-operation. Iceland, a comparatively small but energetic player in the international development co-operation system, provided the equivalent of 0.28% (roughly 67 million Euro) of it 2021 gross national income towards Official Development Assistance.
The OECD Mission Action Lab critically examines the practice of missions and mission-oriented policies as well as their suitability to different problem contexts. Addressing complex challenges comes first, methods come second. The Lab is, thus, not promoting "missions" as the one and only instrument to address complex problems or societal transitions. Rather, we aim to understand when and how mission as an approach to public policies is useful and, sometimes more importantly, when it is not.
This case study in the development of hot pepper marketing in the Caribbean covers the period from the early 1980's to 2000. During the period several partnerships were forged among a host of public and private research institutions, export agencies, private companies and farmer groups to solve major constraints along the commodity chain.
More and more, development organizations are under pressure to demonstrate that their programs result in significant and lasting changes in the well-being of their intended beneficiaries. However, such "impacts" are often the product of a confluence of events for which no single agency or group of agencies can realistically claim full credit. As a result, assessing development impacts is problematic, yet many organizations continue to struggle to measure results far beyond the reach of their programs
Agrifood systems generate significant benefits to society, including the food that nourishes us and jobs and livelihoods for over a billion people. However, their negative impacts due to unsustainable business-as-usual activities and practices are contributing to climate change, natural resource degradation and the unaffordability of healthy diets.
Holding a vision of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), and with a target of net-zero carbon emission by 2070, India plans to usher in a green industrial and economic transition through a movement with an environmentally conscious lifestyle. One of the credible options for a continuous, predictable, accessible and cost-free green energy source is solar power. In the agricultural sector, one of the key innovations in promoting solar irrigation was the initiation of the world's first ever Solar Cooperative - Dhundi Solar Energy Producers' Cooperative Society (DSEPCS) - in Gujarat, India.
This paper addresses four questions: · What lessons can be drawn from the "rise and decline" of NARS in Africa? · What can African research managers learn from some of the successful reforms of NARS in Asia and Latin America over the past 10 to 15 years? · What are the major challenges facing the NARS in the ASARECA region in the coming 10-20 years? · What are the critical reforms and the incentives needed to develop pluralistic, accountable, productive and financially self-sustaining NARS in AFRICA?
The challenges faced by agricultural innovation systems (A.I.S.) are complex to solve, however, the authors consider that understanding the processes of innovation and development (R&D), sustainability, use of information and communication technologies, training, and outreach, as the focus of discussion in this review, have great potential to close the gaps in the system; as well as exploring strategies, projects and best practices that dynamize the operation of the system. The objective of this article is to review the literature on A.I.S.A.
Agrifood value chains of small and medium-sized producers in the Near East and North Africa region have the potential to generate more value through improved access to high-value markets. Limited logistics capacity in the region, coupled with lack of access to continuous cold chain, has resulted in weak supply chain management, high level of food loss, lack of compliance with food quality and safety standards; information asymmetries; and unfair value distribution, affecting income and livelihood of small and medium-sized producers.