Innovation platforms as spaces for
rural change – some experiences
from ILRI
Alan Duncan
FAO West Africa Regional Workshop on Crop Residues, Dakar,
10-13 December 2012

The conventional approach to livestock feed
development
Technologies

Why Innovation Platforms?
Or...
From Cullen and Ergano 2011

What is an innovation
platform?
Many definitions but one we like at ILRI:
An innovation platform is a needs-based
network bringing together stakeholders from
different interest groups, disciplines, sectors
and organizations to exchange knowledge,
generate innovation and develop joint action.
Platforms are more than just places to talk;
they create opportunities for stakeholders to
test solutions to common problems (Cullen &
Ergano, 2011)

From Cullen and Ergano 2011

Input
supplier
Collector Processor
Research Extension Rural
farmer
Consumer
Conventional Coop
approach:
research to Innovation
farmer Systems
Approach:
research inside

How we have gone about
setting up innovation
platforms?

Identify the focal issue
– In the case of the
Fodder Adoption
Project: feed for
livestock
– In the case of the
Nile Basin
Development
Challenge: rainwater
management

Identify relevant stakeholders –
these become potential IP members
Local
Research
R4D
NGO
project
District Champion
admin farmers
Water Private
office sector
Extension

Convene meetings

Joint identification of
constraints and actions
Constraint Action Timescale Who is
responsible?
Seed supply Meet with By next week Research
private seed Institute
supplier
Lack of Identify local By March Office of
improved sources Agriculture
animals
Technical Develop By June NGO
know-how on training
forage materials
cultivation

Follow up on actions
Review action plan at each meeting

Some Lessons

Lesson 1
Demonstrating benefits of
technological options through on-farm
trials and other approaches proved to
be an effective means of stimulating
interest of farmers and other
stakeholders which then made
convening and establishing multi-
stakeholder networks easier.

Lesson 2
For actors to participate in multi-
stakeholder networks it is necessary
for clear, tangible incentives to exist.

Lesson 3
Linking fodder technologies to
livestock value chains is essential to
ensure their successful adoption.

Lesson 4
Diverse actors, including farmers,
researchers, extensionists, local
policy makers and the private sector,
are needed in networks to enable
knowledge to be turned into action
and benefits.

Lesson 5
To ensure fit with national policies
and to enable scaling up from local to
national levels, mechanisms need to
put in place to engage with policy
makers at different levels.

Links
http://ilriclippings.wordpress.com/cate
gory/innovation-systems/
http://fodderadoption.wordpress.com/
http://nilebdc.org/news/