DeSIRA-LIFT Service Area 1 (SA1) provides on-demand support services to country-based DeSIRA projects to help project teams prove and improve their impacts on climate-oriented innovation systems in line with more sustainable food systems transitions.
A Community of Action & Reflection (CoAR) has been set up with the twofold goal of sharing DeSIRA projects’ challenges and practices, and bridging projects’ support needs with adequate international expertise.
To better understand Service Area 1 service offer, please visit the DeSIRA LIFT website here. See also Service Area 1
Service support through cycles
Our support of projects started with the conduction of inception workshops to fully assess the needs of the projects. This was followed by a first cycle of support, ending in June of 2023.
A menu of on-demand support services is gradually adjusted based on the feedback received from projects and their support requests to prove and improve their impacts.
Cycle 1 was mostly targeted at upgrading the 5 managerial capacities of projects to prove and improve their contributions to outcomes and impacts at the country level, particularly on national agricultural innovation systems. Project implementers’ five core managerial capacities are considered to be enablers of projects’ outcomes and impacts.
This first cycle consisted of online training courses; CoP webinars; one-on-one mentoring sessions; and online and in-person coaching sessions. Recordings, presentations and other tools that were used during these trainings and sessions can be found here.
In cycle 2, our support is organized into 4 services:
Service 1: Facilitating the DeSIRA Community of Action & Reflexion
Service 2: Training of innovation facilitators in DeSIRA project teams
Service 3: Self-paced trainings on the five core capacities to manage for impacts
Service formats
Support to DeSIRA projects
In cycle 2, our offer of group coaching support to projects is clustered by geography and language on the same approaches. Hybrid training sessions (virtual and in-person workshops) are offered to individuals in charge of designing, implementing, facilitating, and monitoring open and responsible innovation activities or events in their DeSIRA project. It entails MEL coaching and master classes on MEL and Communication.
Furthermore, we support multi-stakeholder innovation processes through Innovation Facilitation Training. The participants are certificated as “DeSIRA Innovation Facilitators”.
A self-paced training platform is been developed along training pathways based on the content developed during Cycle 1.
Support to the DeSIRA Community
This support is mostly provided through the Community of Action and Reflection (CoAR) which aims to enhance mutual learning and networking across DeSIRA projects by offering spaces and resources for:
- Discussion between projects in the same country (synergy of actors and outcomes)
- Discussions between projects working on similar topics (agroecological transitions; livestock management; living labs; innovative irrigation technologies; etc.)
- Networking between Agrinatura and international expertise on capacities for Research and Innovation and DeSIRA Projects.
DeSIRA CONNECT Days
The DeSIRA CONNECT Days are regional events to gather the DeSIRA projects that are being implemented in this region. They aim at taking stock of innovation advances in DeSIRA projects, enhancing synergies of actors and impacts between projects in countries and nurturing peer learning on open and responsible research and innovation for AIS transformation, and preparing the next steps beyond DeSIRA.
DeSIRA CONNECT Days events are organized together with DeSIRA implementers and in partnership with the agricultural innovation communities and EU delegations.
