Impressions from the ValueSeC Disemmination Workshop in Nairobi in 2016
Report of the Value Chain Development for Food Security in the Context of Climate Change (ValueSec) Project Stakeholder Dissemination Workshops in Kenya
A North-South EDULINK II collaborative project among four partner universities; Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Nairobi and Karatina University in Kenya, and Haramaya University in Ethiopia under a project titled “Value Chain Development for Food Security in the Context of Climate Change (ValueSec)” held its stakeholder dissemination workshops from 13th – 17th June 2016 in Kenya. The workshops comprised: two days of interactions and sharing of lessons between staff and students from the partner universities, and four days of farm visits to share research findings with local-level stakeholders and co-create feasible policy suggestions.
The main lessons learnt from the ValueSec dissemination workshops were:
- Multidisciplinary research: from the plenary sessions it was observed that it is vital for future research to incorporate researchers and/or students from different backgrounds to enhance cross-learning.
- Farmer groups are important: the idea of collective action is key if farmers are to realize benefits and access high-value markets but there is need to have proper management and clear objectives.
- Greater involvement of farmers in the research process: interactions during the farm- level dissemination workshops revealed that farmers are enthusiastic in being incorporated in co-creating of research designs and interpretation of research findings.
- Need to improve sharing of information between farmers and extension officers: it was observed that there was a lot of information gap between the extension officers and farmers. It was suggested that extension officers should device better ways of disseminating this information including use of easily accessible forms of information and communication technology (ICT).
- Partnerships for capacity building: farmers expressed great desire to partner with researchers and other development agencies in improving the sharing of skills on value chains activities. Specifically, farmers would like to obtain further training on value addition, marketing and modern technologies for green house farming.
- Need for positive attitude change: participants agreed on the importance of being proactive and self-reliant in managing climate change effects. It was observed that continued reliance on external support and emergency assistance is not a sustainable approach to address climate change menace. Therefore, the need to explore and adapt locally-suitable interventions was underscored.
Go to the full report.
