Hello, who are you?

I am Leonidas Dusengemungu, senior socio-economist researcher at the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) with 15 years’ experience. Areas of research involve gender analysis, participatory research, and socio-economic studies including baseline, adoption and impacts of agricultural technologies. I heard about the CDAIS project in 2016, and the approach interested me because it is linked to my daily work with agricultural innovation platforms at the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).

What are your roles and responsibilities as National Innovation Facilitator?

I have been a national innovation facilitator for the Ruhango niche partnership in Southern Province of Rwanda where I am in charge of helping actors to describe their roles and governance in innovation partnerships.

What has CDAIS changed for you?

I received training on capacity needs assessment methodology in December 2016, establishment and management of multi stakeholder innovation partnerships in June 2017, communication skills and advocacy in August 2017, and gender and entrepreneurship skills in September 2017. My involvement in CDAIS changed the way I think, work and see issues related to working with innovation partnerships, capacity development, and the need for ‘soft skills’. Since then, I have been able to change my understanding on the ways other people think and work