Stories of Change

This first book on Stories of Change highlights how research is reshaping the way we think about innovation and innovation systems, offering a portfolio of critical innovations for transitioning pathways. Focusing on systemic approaches and transition management, it illustrates the need for more inclusive, responsive, and user-centred innovation methodologies if we want to address problems at the heart of sustainability transitions.

The stories presented showcase the real-world impact of these research-supported innovations, highlighting both the successes and lessons learned when results were not achieved. They emphasize the importance of national Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) equipped with the right governance mechanisms, policies, and support services to accelerate the scaling of solutions that benefit farmers, rural communities, and vulnerable populations.

The collection serves two key objectives: 

1. Enhance understanding of research as an activating force for agricultural innovation and transitions.
2. Support learning and reflection within the DeSIRA projects through these stories.

Developed through a participatory process with DeSIRA-LIFT, this collection showcases the journeys of DeSIRA project teams as they mobilized capacities, built partnerships, and acted as facilitators to create lasting, system-level changes.

PART 1: From transfer to co-innovation: new frontiers between researchers and farmers: The challenges of co-innovation 

• STORY 1: Learning together: Farmers as active researchers, and researchers as active listeners. Fair Sahel project, Senegal
• STORY 2: Nurturing forgotten crops, a journey towards resilient agriculture. SUSTLIVES project, Burkina Faso and Niger
• STORY 3: The resilient journey of livestock transformation. LIPS-Zim project, Zimbabwe
• STORY 4: Sowing innovation among smallholders for Climate-Smart Agriculture. Climate-smart innovations project, Malawi

PART 2: Research co-innovating with private sector, civil society and policy makers: The challenges of inter-organisational partnerships 

• STORY 5: Agricultural Innovation Lab: cultivating a greener future. TRANSFORMA-INNOVA project, Costa Rica
• STORY 6: Sustainable land management and native açaizais in the Marajó region of Pará. Sustenta e Inova project, Brazil
• STORY 7: From Transactional to transformative Partnerships. GRAPE project, Nepal
• STORY 8: An innovative financial model for equipping farmers with small irrigation systems. IRRINN project, Burkina Faso

PART 3: Facing tensions and dilemmas through multi-stakeholder collaboration: The challenges of collective solutions to collective problems

• STORY 9: Growing opportunities, the impact of The Bawan Rural Resource Center (RRC). ReSI-NoC project, Cameroon
• STORY 10: Unleashing alliances for resilient farmers in Forest Coffee Ecosystems. Yayu Coffee project, Ethiopia
• STORY 11: Elevating Livestock Health through Innovative Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration. LIDISKI project, Nigeria
• STORY 12: Flavors of jungle and sea. ABRIGUE project, Colombia