Three ways partnerships can fight rural poverty

19 May 2016

Farm Africa’s Head of Agriculture, Dr James Mwololo, at the CGIAR Science Forum 2016

‘If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together’ – so goes the proverb. No one organisation holds the key to success. And establishing more durable development partnerships was included as one of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) recently approved by the UN.

Agricultural research is one area where partnerships are essential to ensure lasting benefits to farmers. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently held its 2016 Science Forum to discuss the question of how agricultural research can better build rural prosperity. An important topic of conversation concerned the multiple partnerships that are required to increase the impact and reach of research.

Here’s why research needs partnerships now, more than ever:

• Poverty reduction is multi-faceted

We need to take a systemic approach to fight poverty. Building paths out of rural poverty isn’t a simple task, and we need to find new methods for new challenges. So boosting economic growth and increasing household incomes are vital, but these changes will only be long-lasting if accompanied by coordinated efforts to build stronger value chains, improve climate resilience and increase the uptake of new technologies on the ground.

• We need partners to help us reach more people

Partnerships allow us to work across borders, and across both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Working with different organisations means that we can make sure that we aren’t just running comprehensive rural training programmes, but we’re changing policies too. That way, we can build long-term prosperity for a much larger number of people.

• Good development puts partnerships with target communities at the centre

It’s vital that rural communities are involved in development work that might affect their future. This cannot be a one-way conversation – we need to take account of local aspirations, knowledge and context. Farmers aren’t just recipients of aid, they’re innovators. If they’re involved in designing new technologies, they will solve actual, rather than perceived problems, and there’s a much bigger chance communities will use them.

Agricultural research needs to be rooted in the real world. Only when people are put at the centre of development can it lead to real change.

Farm Africa is a consortium member of a climate-smart agriculture project in southern Ethiopia, an area with increasing climatic variability where farmers’ livelihoods are under threat. We’re working with SOS Sahel, Self-Help Africa and Vita in a partnership that is a fantastic example of how organisations with different specialisms can unite for a common goal. We all work closely with farmers on the ground, making sure that their expertise is integrated into our training – we can learn important lessons from them, just as they learn from us.

We need many more partnerships like this to address poverty reduction – partnerships that build multiple paths to prosperity, develop human and institutional capacities, and reconnect agricultural science with people on the ground. By working together and revitalising agricultural innovation, we can build prosperity for everyone, not just the few.

Learn more about the CGIAR Science Forum with the SF2016 blog.