FAO is calling for examples of innovation for agroecology

FAO is organizing the 2^nd International Symposium on Agroecology. The symposium will include a ‘Market place on innovation for agroecology’. The FAO Agroecology Team is therefore calling for cases to highlight innovative example actions or processes from a wide range of actors involved in agriculture and food systems in their diversity. These actors could be food producers, farmers’ organisations, NGOs, researchers, advisors, and people from the private sector, foundations and governments. 

You can submit your proposal by filling out the form. The deadline to submit proposals is the December 23, 2017. 

The selection of best cases will be based on the following criteria: 

Eligibility criteria

The innovations should: 

• Be co-created, co-designed or developed based on local needs, resources, knowledge and capacities
• Benefit smallholder and family farmers
• Respect the precautionary principle
• Respect food producers’ ownership and intellectual property rights

Exemplary criteria

Innovations will be favourably reviewed if they also meet the following criteria:  

• Embrace complexity and provide systemic solutions to a problem involving the knowledge and experience of all relevant actors
• Contribute to multiple development objectives: environmental, economic and social (including job creation)
• Meet smallholder and family farmers’ needs, and enhance their quality of life and autonomy
• Respond to a specific need of youth or women
• Illustrate collective action, territorial approaches, partnership and exchange of knowledge

All innovations will be evaluated according to how they contribute to the most salient features of agroecology, as reflected in FAO’s 10 elements of Agroecology: Diversity, Efficiency, Recycle, Resilience, Synergies, Co-creation and sharing of knowledge, Human and social values, Culture and food traditions, Circular economy and Responsible governance.

FAO describes agroecology as a concept that “…depends on the co-creation of local capacities and knowledge – often building on traditional knowledge – that works with complex systems under changing environmental, social and economic conditions. That requires shifting the emphasis from traditional technology transfer approaches to identifying, supporting and strengthening the institutions and processes needed to enable innovative ways of knowledge creation and sharing.”