Key stakeholders involved in different aspects of agriculture in Honduras gathered to analyze the needs and local priorities to better innovate in agriculture.  The inception workshop of CDAIS, in the capital city Tegucigalpa on 18-19 November 2015, served as a space to share and learn from all the involved parts about their interest and potential commitment to the project.
CDAIS, Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems, is a major new initiative that aims at improving capacities in order to enhance agriculture productivity. Honduras is one of the initiative’s eight pilot countries.

“It is important to benefit from the established network of producers, the local governments, private sectors, NGOs and academia. These groups generate information, experiences and demands; capture technologies, are involved in research, capacity building, dissemination and impact on agricultural policies” says María Julia Cárdenas, the FAO Representative in Honduras.
During a group activity, representatives from different sectors mapped out their relations to other stakeholders. This exercise made it clear that there is room, and a need, to improve the relations between the different stakeholders.

The participants of the workshop identified, and agreed on prioritizing, the value chains of beans, coffee and cocoa. They selected these areas after a series of exercise that identified potential niches for implementation in Honduras, and they assessed that they can start the process of developing capabilities within these three sectors.
The inception workshop highlighted a number of possible entry points for potential innovation niches. After having discussed the lessons learnt from the previous inception workshop in Rwanda, the Honduras workshop decided on 10 selection criteria for identifying innovation niches:

1. National priorities alignment.
2. Participation of multiple stakeholders representing multiple sectors
3. Enough confidence to impact.
4. Opportunity to replicate on a large scale
5. Inclusion and empowerment of women / youth / people with limited resources
6. Driven by the specific needs of the actors of the AIS
7. Directed to a demonstrated market space.
8. Focus on sustainability (economic, ecological and social)
9. Affordable
10. Parting from a starting point of an insufficiently addressed industry.