We are delighted to announce that the ISSD Africa Community of Practice has been renewed for a new four-year (2023-2027) phase of exciting action research and knowledge development.
With this new phase, we will work collaboratively in the CoP with the aim that smallholder farmers in fragile and conflicted-affected contexts have improved access to sufficient, high quality, affordable, seed of diverse locally adapted varieties farmers prefer. This will result in increased resilience, higher farm income, improved food and nutrition security and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity.
Focusing on fragile contexts
The new phase will focus on the Nexus of Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding (HDP-Nexus) interventions in seed sectors in frafile and conflict-affected contexts. Our new phase is timely and important. The impacts of climate change, combined with prevailing instability and rising conflict, are putting already stressed food systems and seed sectors under further pressure.
By focusing this phase on the HDP-Nexus, the CoP wants to ensure that humanitarian seed interventions are more effective, market-oriented, more sustainable and Do No Harm. We want to help adapt seed sector development approaches, ensuring they can adequately respond to the more urgent challenges faced by seed sectors in contexts affected by conflict and disaster. And we seek to create and scale an understanding and repertoire of methods and materials of how seed sector development and peacebuilding can be mutually supportive and beneficial.
Collaborative action research
Together with local, national and international partners and initiatives, the new phase will see the ISSD Africa CoP conduct participatory action research in at least ten countries across Sahel region, from the Horn of Africa, to West Africa. With the aims of building and sharing knowledge and forging new knowledge-focused partnerships, ISSD Africa will convene multiple international, national, local and online events, providing an interactive platform for exchange.
In this phase, our activities are built around four distinct, complementary Action Learning Projects (ALPs):
- ALP-1: Resilient and diverse seed systems (led by the Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, and Wageningen University & Research (WUR))
- ALP-2: Humanitarian seed response in fragile and conflict-affected states (led by Mercy Corps and SeedSystem.org)
- ALP-3: Seed business development in fragile contexts (led by Mercy Corps and IFDC)
- ALP-4: Seed governance and peace (led by WUR and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT))
You can learn more on each ALP by clicking the the title above. Under each ALP, teams of African and international partners collaborate and set out an action learning agenda and diverse activities in different contexts and countries. Each ALP team is empowered to organise events and produce knowledge products. In this way, we are sure that each ALP produces African-grown, validated and evidence-based solutions for pressing seed sector challenges.