Agricultural Innovators build Problem-Solving Skills and Strategies for Africa

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Despite strong economic growth over the past years, food insecurity plagues more than 20% of South Africa’s population and threatens development gains.

Researchers throughout South Africa, including those at UKZN, are leading efforts to support both economic growth and food security at home and in neighbouring countries.

To advance collaborative efforts to solve food security challenges, US-based non-profit organisation, the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI), recently convened finalists from the partnership-forging Learning and Innovation Network for Knowledge and Solutions (LINK) programme for intensive training hosted by the University of Stellenbosch. 

GKI designed LINK to build networks of innovators and entrepreneurs primed to solve pressing challenges in the developing world.  The Stellenbosch training launched the 2014 LINK programme, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

In early 2014, an international Technical Review Committee chose Dr Geofrey Arinaitwe, Managing Director of BioCrops Uganda Ltd, and his research team as LINK winners; and one team from Uganda and two from South Africa as finalists – including a team from UKZN. 

UKZN’s Dr Rose Mboya, Dr Unathi Kolanisi and Dr Kwasi Yobo focused on mitigating the negative effects of mycotoxin contamination in maize in Tanzania and South Africa. Dr Mboya and her team aim to improve food security and local health.

The other South African finalist team, made up of Dr Sandy Turketti and Dr Elke Crouch of Stellenbosch University, looked to develop training programmes with universities and government institutions to educate and empower farmers to address local agricultural needs. 

To enable these teams to create viable, scalable solutions, GKI introduced them to problem solving tools designed to help them innovate collaboratively.  Over three days of training, participants from the two South African teams worked to clarify the scope of their challenges, developed a common purpose among team members, identified areas for further fact-finding, and practiced techniques to prototype possible solutions

Training participants were keen to learn about new projects and challenges and also to apply their diverse backgrounds to help one another ask questions, develop prototypes, and envision possible pathways to change.  

Mboya shared how the training activities inspired a shift in her team’s focus: ‘Initially we assumed raising awareness in agriculture communities was the way forward - the solution,’ she said. ‘But we realised that raising awareness is just part of the solution, along with education and training.’

Armed with these new insights and skills, the South African LINK teams can effectively take actions on their respective challenges.

• GKI is a non-profit organisation with the mission of stimulating collaborative networks of individuals and institutions to solve development challenges pertinent to science, technology, and innovation. With operations in Africa, Asia, and North America, GKI helps researchers, entrepreneurs, and others locate resources critical for problem solving; it enables effective collaboration by building skills and designing shared agendas, and connects resources and partners into durable networks, all with the goal of solving pressing development challenges.
• For more information on the LINK programme contact Program Officer Andrew Gerard at andrew.gerard@gkinitiative.org 

 

Source:  Global Knowledge Initiative press release.