Networking for practical change through innovation platforms, Insights from African experiences

Networking for practical change through innovation platforms: Insights from African experiences Bertus Wennink, Femke van der Lee, Remco Mur Peter Gildemacher

Introduction
Innovation is the major driver of local economic development
Innovation system analysis has been instrumental in identification of systemic flaws
It has led to important insights:
Integration production & marketing innovation
Often a combination of technical, organizational and institutional changes is required for innovation
Innovation is likely to happen there where different experiences and points of view meet
How can we practically use these insights to stimulate innovation to occur?
Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

Introduction
Change is the major driver of local economic development
Change system analysis has been instrumental in identification of systemic flaws
It has led to important insights:
Integration production & marketing change
Often a combination of technical, organizational and institutional changes is required for change
Change is likely to happen there where different experiences and points of view meet
How can we practically use these insights to stimulate change to occur?

From analysis to action
How can we practically use these insights to stimulate change to occur?
Response: pilots with innovation platforms:
A set of stakeholders that are brought together by their interests in shared issues. It provides a physical or virtual forum for exploring opportunities to address those common issues, and investigating and implementing joint solutions. Stakeholders have a shared objective for coming together, which needs to be clear to all participating and translate into commitment to cooperate. This objective has to be tangible, realistic and achievable (FARA 2007). Innovation platforms are seen here as mechanisms to operationalize the agricultural innovation systems approach, and should therefore follow the main principles of the Agricultural Innovation Systems’ thinking, as defined by Otim-Nape (2009). (Nederlof et al, forthcoming)

From analysis to action
How can we practically use these insights to stimulate innovation to occur?
Response: pilots with innovation platforms:
A diverse group of people deliberately convening to realise change
Pilots:
COS-SIS, RIU, SSA-CP FARA, other commodity platforms

Lessons drawn from different pilots
International writeshop with practitioners and experts for case based analysis (RIU, CoS-SIS, SSA-CP, other)
Assessment of RIU platforms in Rwanda, Zambia and Tanzania
Documentation of case-stories by RIU innovation platforms members in Nigeria, Tanzania and Rwanda
CoS-SIS experiences
Outcomes:
RIU reports (to be transformed into book in 2012)
KIT bulletin: Agricultural Innovation platforms: lessons from and for practitioners (in print)
IP experiences CoS-SIS (early 2012)

Innovation platform impact pathways Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

Platform functions observed by members
1. Advocacy for change
2. Demand articulation
3. Access to financial services
4. Access to research and extension services
5. Access to inputs
6. Access to markets
7. Farmer collaboration
8. Innovation
9. Communication
10. Coordination of action between support organisations

Facilitation needed
Championing: Representing local stakeholders at a higher level by virtue of a leading role in a local organisation.
Brokering: Make connections between actors that can benefit form each other’s services or roles.
Facilitation: Stimulating and assisting the interactive process between stakeholders with the objective of improved quality of interaction.
Thematic leadership (thrust leadership in RIU): Taking the initiative on a certain topic
Mobilisation: Lobbying essential stakeholders to join a platform or local level organisation.

Facilitation needed cont’d
Mediation: Conflict resolution.
Advocacy: Promoting the network and ensuring support of and buy-in into the network by those individuals and organisations that matter.
Problem solving: Identifying, proposing and providing practical solutions for bottlenecks hindering progress of multi-stakeholder action.
Technical backstopping: Providing technical advice and training in order to ensure that opportunities discussed are economically, technically and socially viable.

Lessons on facilitation
Organisation, not an individual
Facilitation requires a wide-ranging set of skills
A person combining all required skills is rare, a team may be needed
Organisation assures more continuity
A change of style and approach can be refreshing
Level of independence / impartiality appreciated
Private sector perceived as biased
Other advisors do however also have biases
Once established the platform participants can over time assume facilitation roles
Facilitation is highly involving, and as a result costly

Platform levels
Middle level:
Most vibrant and practical
Diverse actors
Close enough for grassroots influence
Distant enough for eye on public interests and system overview
Local:
Fewer stakeholders
Action and individual interest focused
National / state:
Distant from action
Policy orientation
Risks to become talkshop
Only works if the ‘big fish’ participate

Joint stakeholder activities
Essential to attract initial interest of participants and maintain motivation
Essential to build trust between participants
Important for quick wins and direct success towards funders
Risk:
These activities take center stage
Innovation objective forgotten and routine management of activities becomes the mandate
Platform becomes a sort of project implementer and takes over mandate of its members

Dilemma’s
High cost of facilitation
Who pays?
Keeping an innovation focus
Scaling-up and out
Initiate many platforms?
Communicate and disseminate results and methods?
Impact assessment
Facilitation capacity

Cautious conclusions
Platform is the breeding ground for change
It provides stakeholders with a stimulating environment to reflect on change
Try out new things
Articulate needs to both in- and outsiders
Supports coordinated action between participating actors
This justifies the rather heavy time and resource investments provided that
Experiences are of above-local importance
Experiences feed into programs of extension / dissemination / communication
This would need to be substantiated with an ‘impact per dollar’ assessment

Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl Thank you for your attention

Networking for practical change through innovation platforms, Insights from African experiences

by CTA

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 5

Statistics

Networking for practical change through innovation platforms, Insights from African experiences Presentation Transcript