Training of Innovation Facilitators

At the heart of the DeSIRA project philosophy lies the idea that agricultural innovation is the result of the meeting and collaboration of multiple stakeholders (farmers, NGOs, service providers, researchers, decision-makers, etc.). These various stakeholders ‘sit around the table’ to co-construct innovative proposals, and then carry out the activities needed to make the innovation a reality and help it evolve.

Innovation facilitation is an essential tool for supporting these multi-stakeholder innovation processes. It enables the various players to be mobilised in a flexible and creative organisation in which different points of view are seen as assets. It is based on a posture as well as appropriate methods and tools for defining common objectives and supporting their achievement.

Innovation facilitation training aimed to build the capacity of key players in supporting multi-stakeholder innovation processes.

Training objectives

By the end of the course, participants had:

• Consolidated the skills needed to facilitate innovation (active listening, negotiation, conflict management, etc.)
• Tested the tools needed to guide the innovation process
• Constructed and put into practice an action plan to apply the new skills to innovation activities in the DeSIRA project.

Participants

The course was aimed at:

• Professionals involved in supporting innovation in DeSIRA projects
• As far as places were available, beneficiaries and local organizations whose role was to support innovation (farmers’ councils, network of facilitators, technical agricultural support services, private sector, etc.).

Training courses were held in various geographical locations of the DeSIRA projects. They took place in:

• West Africa (Dec. 2023)
• Indian Ocean (Jan. 2024)
• South America/Latin America (Feb. 2024)
• East Africa (March 2024)

The course

• An in-depth discussion with participants took place before the workshop.
• A one-week face-to-face workshop was organized.
• Group or individual support was provided over two months.