Follow the innovation: participatory testing and adaptation of agricultural innovations in Uzbekistan–guidelines for researchers and practitioners (original) (raw)

SmID Social mobilisation and Institutional Development SwoT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, Threats UNDP United Nations Development Program UNESco United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural organisation wUA water Users Association wmo water management organisation ZEF Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (center for Development research) of the University of Bonn LIST oF AcroNymS v AcKNowLEDgEmENTS vi Implementing FTI 1 Background Agricultural research generates findings that offer the potential for improving the existing situation of farmers. Yet, many innovative ideas and technologies generated through research are not implemented or adopted, because most of such innovations do not address the real-life complexities faced by farmers. Scientific research carried out in agricultural projects often takes place in isolation from the intended users of the innovations. To overcome the lack of fit between scientifically generated innovations and the local reality, participatory innovation development approaches in which local and scientific knowledge interacts systematically offer much potential. Innovations produced by research projects without interaction with and adaptation to real-life situations are difficult to feed into local and national systems of policymaking as well as into development projects. In order to overcome this challenge, the "Economic and Ecological Restructuring of Land and Water in the Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan" project of the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, in collaboration with United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Urgench State University, Uzbekistan, devised in 2008 a participatory and transdisciplinary approach to innovation development. The project called it the "Followthe-Innovation" (FTI) approach. The process had the twofold objective of: 1) testing, adapting and thus validating four selected scientific innovations in real-life settings of rural Khorezm; and 2) drawing lessons for the use of this approach in future innovation development projects and outscaling in Uzbekistan and in other parts of Central Asia. For three years, four teams used and developed this approach in their work on four different innovation "packages". Central Asia is a region currently undergoing immense agricultural transformation processes, from the former system of central planning to increasingly market-oriented liberalisation. In Uzbekistan particularly, farmers under the state plan continue to receive detailed instructions from the state on what and how to plant, when and how to irrigate and how to carry out agricultural operations to fulfil the plan. The farmers are thus not the sole decision-makers regarding land and water use. This fact has to be considered in the choice of innovations as well as in the style of participatory interactions with relevant stakeholders. About these guidelines The FTI guidelines presented here are based on this experience and draw out the collected lessons learnt with regard to the design and implementation of FTI in the post-Soviet setting of rural Uzbekistan. As such, this builds on and expands existing guidelines and documentation for participatory approaches to innovation development. It adds the perspective of being based on a well-documented experience of participatory innovation testing and adaptation in this setting. A list of key practice-oriented resources on participatory innovation development to complement this guide is included at the end of it. The main readership targeted by this publication consists of researchers involved in finding appropriate innovations for agricultural development in and around Uzbekistan, donor-sponsored agricultural research and/or development projects, centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) working in Central Asia, international and local non-governmental organisations involved in promoting innovative agricultural practices within the region, the national and international scientific research and extension community interested in "discovering", and development practitioners in and around Uzbekistan who are interested in diffusing agricultural innovations. Chapter 2 describes the context of the experiences on which the guidelines are based, with a brief overview of agricultural development in Uzbekistan as well as the history and design of the ZEF-UNESCO project. Both have influenced considerably the way FTI could be introduced and implemented. Chapter 3 reviews the basic concepts underlying the FTI approach and their rationale, while Chapter 4 explains the overall flow of the FTI approach. Chapter 5 is the heart of this guide, as it describes in more detail activities under each of the FTI "steps" while adding lessons from implementation in Uzbekistan. Chapter 6 summarises several general lessons and concerns to be taken into account in designing future FTI programmes in the region.