This Friday, January 25, 2019 a Policy dialogue meeting was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso under the very high patronage of the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation (MESRSI). Organized as part of the CDAIS project for the validation of a national action plan supporting agricultural innovation, this Policy Dialogue was a great success both in terms of participation and outcome!s.  

Led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Higher Education for Scientific Research and Innovation (MESRSI), the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydro Development (MAAH) and the International Center for Agronomic Research for Development (CIRAD), the objectives of this Policy Dialogue were to discuss the conditions for the appropriation and improvement of a national Action plan in view of helping organizations in charge of promoting and supporting agricultural innovation in Burkina Faso.

This action plan was developed in an inclusive and participative way, after three years of implementation of the CDAIS project, with all the stakeholders involved : from farmers and innovative entrepreneurs, to producer organizations, associations civil society, innovation support service providers, research and development centers, or technical services officers from various ministries.

Meeting as working groups, the attendees were given the objective to enrich this action plan around four priorities, namely: 

• supporting multi-stakeholder innovation partnerships;
• developing an adequate regulatory framework;
• strengthening the base operational research and; 
• development and fostering innovation through vocational training.

Participants were asked to answer three cross-cutting questions: 

• How to initiate a process ensuring the ownership and the implementation of the action plan at the inter-ministerial level? 
• What political instruments would need to be strengthened or developed? 
• What is needed to support the policy making process and ensure continuity of action?

Among the many proposals made, the following have been approved:

1| a thorough diagnosis of the national system of agricultural innovation by involving a team of policymakers and technical agents;

2| training curricula for professionals in charge of supporting agricultural innovation;

3| the Burkina Faso government’s financial commitment building on the resources already allocated for the implementation of the National Innovation Strategy;

4| an inter-ministerial unit which would help develop a cross-sectoral approach to supporting agricultural innovation.

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Contact: Gisèle Benjamine MINOUNGOU, giselebenja@gmail.com