Welcome to JOLISAA
(Joint learning in
and about
Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), a project funded under the EU FP7 KBBE program that was launched in February 2010 and will last until July 2012.
JOLISAA aims to increase understanding of agricultural innovation systems focusing on smallholders’ livelihoods and the articulation of local and global knowledge. Specifically, JOLISAA’s goal
is to assess
how smallholders’ innovativeness, knowledge, capacities and other resources can be tapped into, strengthened and linked effectively to those of other stakeholders – public or private, local or global – to contribute to reducing rural poverty and improving food security in Africa.
To this end, lessons
learnt about recent experiences with agricultural/rural innovation involving multiple stakeholders in Kenya, South Africa and Benin
are being synthesised by combining joint case-study assessment with capacity-strengthening and networking
at various scales. Lessons are sought in terms of the practices, concepts, approaches, methods used, and in terms of the context ("enabling environment"), in which such experiences took place.
Case studies
developed in a participatory manner according to a common analytical framework tackle diverse innovation types and scales: from natural resource management to production and agribusiness, from local initiatives to national and regional ones, from orchestrated to more bottom-up processes.
Joint learning
among project partners and with local/ national stakeholders is at the heart of the project’s operation: it is being fostered by engaging diverse stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners and policymakers in JOLISAA activities.
