PROLINNOVA Working Paper 36 Understanding how multistakeholder partnerships work: PROLINNOVA experiences in East Africa Laurens van Veldhuizen, Ann Waters-Bayer and Chesha Wettasinha in consultation with PROLINNOVA Country Platforms in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and building on a study by Joseph Ssuuna, Julian Gonsalves & Laurens van Veldhuizen (2012) PROLINNOVA International Secretariat c/o ETC Foundation, Leusden, Netherlands March 2015 Table of contents page 1. Introduction 1 2. Process oF continuously assessing and analysing multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) 3 2.1 Initial compilation and analyses oF MSP experiences 3 2.2 East AFrica partnership study 4 2.3 Stocktaking and analysis since then (2012–14) 5 3. Three case studies oF MSPs in East AFrica to promote local innovation 6 3.1 PROLINNOVA–Kenya 6 3.2 PROLINNOVA–Tanzania 11 3.3 PROLINNOVA–Uganda 15 4. Findings from analysis oF the national-level MSPs in East AFrica 19 4.1 Achievements and lessons 19 4.2 Issues and challenges 21 5. Conclusions and possible ways Forward 25 ReFerences 27 PROLINNOVA WP 36: Understanding how MSPs work in East Africa ii List of acronyms CBO community-based organisation Cirad Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (Centre for international Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development) CP Country PlatForm DGIS Directorate General For International Cooperation, Netherlands EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Church Development Service), Germany FARA Forum For Agricultural Research in AFrica IIRR International Institute oF Rural Reconstruction INADES Institut Africain pour le Développement Économique et Social (AFrican Institute for Economic and Social Development) IPW International Partners Workshop JOLISAA Joint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture KARI Kenya Agricultural Research Institute LISF Local Innovation Support Fund M&E monitoring and evaluation MoA Ministry oF Agriculture (Food Security and Cooperatives) MoU Memorandum oF Understanding MSP multistakeholder partnership NARO National Agricultural Research Organisation NGO nongovernmental organisation NRM natural resource management NSC National Steering Committee PELUM Participatory Ecological Land Use Management PID participatory innovation development PROLINNOVA Promoting Local Innovation in ecologically oriented agriculture and NRM PSO Personele Samenwerking in Ontwikkelingslanden (Personnel Cooperation in Developing Countries PROLINNOVA WP 36: Understanding how MSPs work in East Africa iii 1. Introduction SuccessFul processes oF agricultural research, innovation and development require collaboration between diFFerent types oF actors and organisations – Farmers, Formal researchers, rural advisors, development practitioners, educational institutions and the private sector. How to set up and strengthen the partnerships between these many actors with diFFerent modalities oF work and diFFerent perspectives on development is a topic oF research in itself. PROLINNOVA is studying this in the process oF partnership engagement, as a source oF internal learning and improvement and also in order to provide lessons For others. This paper is based on the main Findings in this continuing process oF action research into multistakeholder partnership (MSP) processes within the Framework oF the international PROLINNOVA network. The main clusters oF evidence about MSP processes in PROLINNOVA that provide a basis For this paper are: i) an internal review oF initial experiences in nine countries completed in 2009; ii) an external, participatory study oF MSPs in three countries in East AFrica completed in 2011; and iii) a stocktaking exercise in 2014 within the PROLINNOVA network, including these three countries; and iv) notes and reFlections oF the authors, who have been “backstopping” these and other PROLINNOVA MSPs to Facilitate their emergence and development over the past 15 years. We distil some key lessons, insights and recommendations that could be applied more widely to MSPs in agricultural research and development (ARD). 1 PROLINNOVA was set up originally as a Global Partnership Programme (GPP) under the umbrella oF the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). It seeks to build an international learning network to promote local innovation processes in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management (NRM). A central Feature of PROLINNOVA is the selF-establishment oF autonomous Country Platforms (CPs) made up oF people From diverse groups that are stakeholders in agriculture and NRM: people from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), research and extension organisations, education and training institutes and – in some cases – Farmer organisations and the private sector. Together, these actors analyse the situation oF ARD in their country and jointly plan how to link local people’s innovation and development initiatives to the activities oF other stakeholders in ARD. The CP promotes Farmer-led participatory experimentation and investigation – which PROLINNOVA partners call “participatory innovation development (PID) – and tries to integrate this approach into Formal ARD institutions in the country. The MSPs at national level serve as platforms For sharing, learning and strategising how to bring about institutional and policy change to create an enabling environment For local innovation and PID. In a small number oF districts within the country, there are similar MSPs that are more directly engaged in PID with Farmers – and are learning From analysing this experience. In most cases, the MSPs at national and subnational level are hosted and coordinated by NGOs. The idea oF PROLINNOVA was conceived at an international workshop oF organisations From North and South held in Rambouillet, France, in December 1999. The workshop participants gave ETC Foundation, a Netherlands-based NGO, the mandate to host the network secretariat and to generate interest in the network, especially among donors in the North. Over the years, methodological, technical and capacity-building support to the CPs has been provided by an 1 PROLINNOVA: PROmoting Local INNOVAtion in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management; see www.prolinnova.net PROLINNOVA WP 36: Understanding how MSPs work in East Africa 1 International Support Team, composed oF ETC Foundation, the International Institute oF Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in the Philippines and – For the Francophone CPs – IED (Innovation Environnement Développement) AFrique in Senegal and Jean-Marie Diop (independent advisor). The Centre For International Cooperation (Dutch acronym: CIS) at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam was initially also part oF the International Support Team but withdrew after institutional repositioning oF the VU in late 2010. AFter three years oF trying to acquire Financial support For network activities, in late 2002 the International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD) agreed to provide seed money For the First three CPs (in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda). From then on, the PROLINNOVA network gradually expanded, as multistakeholder groupings in new countries asked to join and were welcomed into the international community oF practice and learning. There are now PROLINNOVA MSPs, varying greatly in age and strength, in 21 countries in AFrica, Latin America and Asia. Since the outset, forging MSPs have been at the centre oF the eFForts oF the network to promote local innovation and Farmer-led participatory approaches to research and development. The network shares a vision oF “a world where women and men Farmers play decisive roles in agricultural research and development For sustainable livelihoods”. PROLINNOVA is built on the conviction that acceleration oF innovation at the local level requires open, equal and eFFective partnerships between Farmers and other natural resource users, research and extension stafF and private-sector actors, e.g. in market chains. All these actors need to collaborate in pooling their knowledge and resources, identiFying relevant improvements in existing practices (i.e. technologies, how people organise themselves), experimenting with them, reFining or adjusting the innovations, reFlecting on and analysing the process and results and sharing these more widely – in other words, in practising PID. The local-level MSPs practising PID are linked with the national-level MSP, which tries to create the necessary conditions For PID on the ground and to support a process oF integrating the PID approach within their own organisations as well as into relevant government policy and programmes. PROLINNOVA WP 36: Understanding how MSPs work in East Africa 2 2. Process of continuously assessing and analysing MSPs 2.1 Initial compilation and analyses of MSP experiences The MSPs in the diFFerent countries and the network at international level have continuously analysed the partnerships through a process oF social learning with the aim to improve the interactions within the MSPs and eFFectiveness oF the work. They also made periodic Focused assessments oF the MSPs. The process oF building partnerships – and, with it, the process oF learning about MSPs – started with discussions (mainly by email) on ideas about and experiences with MSPs while the groupings in the diFFerent countries were drafting their plans and considering the structures needed to be able to implement their plans. This was in the period From late 1999, when the concept oF PROLINNOVA was First developed, up to late 2002, when the pilot Funding For