Five DeSIRA projects presented their results on strengthening multi-actor mechanisms to accelerate innovation in the agriculture sectors of Ethiopia during the 10th Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) meeting in Addis Ababa, Nov. 2023. 

The working session was a deep dive into case studies and concrete experiences to demonstrate successes in increasing innovation capacities at the country level.  

Representatives of DeSIRA LIFT projects shed light on the different types, functionalities and challenges of implementing multi-stakeholder platforms used to promote innovation processes and contribute to farmers’ livelihoods. Speakers came from a selection of projects covering a wide range of technical topics, as follows:  

• Bekele Haile manager of Yayu Coffee   – Hanns Neumann Stiftung 
• Alemu Tesfaye Mel Officer of project Women Coffee Climate project – OSRREA/AECID 
• Teklu Erkossa Project manager of PRO-SOILS/ PROSILIENCE – GIZ 
• Andrea Bozzetto Country manager and Gaetano Ladisa Scientific administrator of WATDEV project- CIHEAM/AICS  
• Frank Vanweeret coordinator  and Andre Kooiman scientific coordinator of LSC-IS Project – WUR 

Joined by experts Per Rudebjer from FAO’s Innovation Office and Mari Jo Cortijo from GFAR, they engaged in a fluid dialog aiming at: 

• Discussing the models that these organizations utilize to strengthen not only technical but also functional capacities to achieve their goals. 
• Discuss to what extent the multi-actor innovation mechanisms contribute to behavior or policy changes. 
• Demonstrating the significance of implementing these models and approaches to advance the TAP agenda. 

To start, Aurélie Toillier, leader of DeSIRA LIFT Service 1, set the scene with a short presentation focusing on approaches and tools to strengthen the capacity for innovation in agriculture implemented by DeSIRA projects. She highlighted that the promotion of “multi-actor mechanisms” is one of the principles of the DeSIRA initiative and that there are many managerial challenges to make them work efficiently. She concluded by emphasising the support provided by DeSIRA-LIFT through joint learning webinars, training and coaching. Renaud Guillonnet, leader of the DeSIRA LIFT Community of Action and Reflection, complemented the presentation with remarks about the tools to promote collaboration and peer learning between the DeSIRA projects. 

The panel took the form of a fishbowl exercise, with two questions: What models of multi-actor mechanisms are promoted by DeSIRA projects to support innovation in the agricultural sector in Ethiopia? To what extent the multi-actor innovation mechanisms are new, and to what the project is adding value to existing platforms? After a brief engagement with the audience, several takeaway messages from this working group derived: 

1. Different models of multi-actor innovation platforms with various intensities of research contributions operate at the country and regional levels, and these require upgraded functional capacities to be able to coordinate in complex environments and deliver their outcomes. 
2. DeSIRA projects play a crucial role in developing these functional capacities through needs-based, adaptive, continuous and local support, based on multiple tools and approaches such as: needs assessment, stakeholder mapping and engagement, design of governance mechanisms, communication and coordination support, monitoring, evaluation and learning systems. 
3. To sustain these types of functional support beyond project duration, well-trained professionals in the domain of innovation support who work in local and national organizations are necessary. Some countries initiated the introduction of new training curricula in Universities, to have a national workforce on innovation support. For more impact, the development of adequate research and education innovation policy incentives remain a big area where to invest efforts in countries. 
4. DeSIRA LIFT is in itself an enabling mechanism to bring together the experiences of DeSIRA projects, facilitate joint learning and develop capacities of DeSIRA members to further collaborate for achieving common objectives in countries.   

The contribution of DeSIRA projects accentuated the need to mainstream Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) approaches at national and regional levels, targeting key research and development organizations and policymakers, with a particular focus on integrating inclusive, needs-based bottom-up approaches into AIS.  

TAP is a G20 initiative, launched in 2012, with the mandate to work towards bridging the capacity gaps for agricultural innovation in the tropics. Its objective is to increase coherence and effectiveness of capacity development interventions for agricultural innovation systems, for sustainable change and impact at scale. The 10th TAP Assembly counted the presence of over 60 in-person attendees and approximately 20 participants who joined virtually, representing nearly 30 distinguished organizations from across 25 countries. 

The lessons, success stories and challenges presented by the DeSIRA projects in the group work session and plenary sessions contributed to boosting synergies and exploring future joint action among TAP members.