Partnerships for innovation

In April 2002, CPHP introduced an approach to research management called 'Partnerships for Innovation'. It has now been mainstreamed throughout our portfolio.

'Partnerships for Innovation' has its roots in innovation systems theory. Though a relative newcomer in the agricultural sector, this has been widely applied in industry to understand and strengthen the social dimension of innovation processes.

Past CPHP-funded projects had, of their own accord, adopted aspects of this approach. So we cannot say that the approach is completely new; simply, that it has been mainstreamed for the first time.

The approach has two inter-related strands:

• A 'coalition' approach to project design and implementation; and
• An explicit interest in researching the institutional context of research and development.

By selecting this approach, we hope to:

• Maximise the impact of past CPHP-funded work;
• Leave behind effective partnerships for innovation; and
• Generate lessons about the types of partnership that stimulate pro-poor research.

The approach will run until CPHP ends in March 2006. During this time, we intend to critically monitor and evaluate it.

To ensure success, we have invested substantially in partnership formation between stakeholders in post-harvest systems. It is hoped that these partnerships will persist and evolve after the programme closes in March 2006.

Read more about National Systems of Innovation, or browse related links.