Fig 1 - uploaded by Charity Osei-Amponsah
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A map of Ghana showing the CoS-SIS study areas* in Ghana. Carte du Ghana montrant les 3 zones d'étude du programme CoS-SIS (*).
Source publication
The experiences synthesised in this article indicate how significant effects in two agricultural domains have been achieved by creating pathways for inter-dependent socio-technical and institutional changes, at a range of levels of action, governance and policy-making. The synthesis emphasizes the importance of co-learning, experimentation, and cri...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... programme in Ghana, after preliminary scoping and diagnostic studies, consisted initially of three IP experiments, centred on food security and small livestock in Lawra-Nandom district ( Fig. 1) in northern Ghana (subsequently discontinued because of staffing changes). A district initiative for smallholder oil palm processing (Osei-Amponsah et al., 2014), based in Kwaebibirem district, and a national initiative involving the major stakeholders in the cocoa industry (Quarmine et al., 2014 - with fieldwork conducted in Suhum ...
Citations
... They stated clearly at the first international symposium supported by COS-SIS that they preferred to focus on co-learning practices that facilitated their purposeful actions, and that seemed to fit in the socio-cultural contexts in which they were operating. The papers in this issue by Osei-Amponsah et al. (2016), Ouologuem et al., Soumano and Traoré, Adu-Acheampong et al., and Triomphe et al. (2016), in particular suggest there can be a considerable pay-off to the investment in this kind of shared learning, in terms of the catalytic effect on the institutions that govern domain activity. This potential is emphasised for instance also by Ison et al. (2000) and Hatchuel (2005). ...
Innovation as a policy goal, normative practice, and a conceptual framing of purposeful human activity, has received increasing attention. The question of what kinds of purposeful innovation might benefit smallholders in developing countries has been raised. This issue presents and analyses the work of Innovation Platforms (IPs) established by the COS-SIS (Convergence of Sciences-Strengthening Innovation Systems) programme in nine agro-enterprise domains in West Africa, drawing on Theory Guided Process Inquiry data recorded through 2011-end 2013. Six papers synthesise individual IP experiences, complemented by a cross-case analysis of external influences on the IPs and their responses, a reflection on how well the IPs in Mali dealt with local conflicts, and an analysis of how the work of the IPs in Ghana led to changes in university curricula and in the researching practices of three leading agricultural institutes. An analysis of thirteen case studies from Kenya, Benin, and South Africa supported by the JOLISAA (Joint learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture) programme, adds further insights. Five general lessons are drawn, expressed as propositions that can be further tested against others' experiences: (i) IPs can bring about significant socio-technical and institutional changes at a range of levels, and in a wide variety of agro-enterprise domains and contexts; (ii) the IPs are not isolated from nor independent of the networks of influence in which they are embedded; thus they cannot be treated as the sole causal agents of the changes accomplished; (iii) research that tracks the IPs' work and performance provides evidence that enables the members to learn from experience and adjust activities in the light of effects; (iv) there is no blueprint for what an IP is nor a recipe for the processes by which such changes are brought about; the form, activities, and changes co-evolve with whatever is happening in the wider context; (v) field-based diagnosis of opportunity, evidence-based information-sharing and experimental exploration of pathways of change establish the legitimacy and influence of IPs.
