DeSIRA CONNECT Days: Asia & The Pacific

 

January 14-16, 2025, in Hanoi, Vietnam. The CONNECT Days aim to achieve two key goals: sharing lessons learned from the implementation of DeSIRA projects and identifying the necessary conditions to sustain and scale their innovation trajectories. The event will highlight the institutional strengthening potential of these projects by connecting research organizations, farmer-led initiatives, and a broader range of stakeholders, including policymakers, civil society organizations, and the private sector.

• Agenda
• Concept note

Key Activities:

• Project Fair: Participating projects will present their results through individual booths, enabling direct interaction and knowledge exchange.
• Thematic Workshops: Collaborative sessions will focus on cross-cutting topics, challenges, and impact generation, providing an opportunity for joint learning and critical reflection on implementation experiences.
• Stakeholder Round Tables: Engaging discussions with policymakers, NGOs, farmer organizations, and private sector representatives will explore strategies to advance agricultural innovations and align them with regional and global agendas.

These activities are interconnected, ensuring an integrated approach to learning and collaboration. The event also seeks to amplify the visibility of participating projects, showcasing their contributions to the agroecological transition, food security, and inclusive economic growth.

1. Day 1 focused on project-to-project exchanges, networking, and peer learning to identify key implementation lessons. Discussions emphasized how project setup, management, and strategies have generated impact, highlighting regional innovation trajectories and fostering synergies among DeSIRA projects. Participants will explore engaging additional stakeholders to expand project boundaries and reinforce outcomes.
2. Day 2 built on Day 1 by strengthening ties between DeSIRA projects and the broader national Agricultural Innovation System (AIS). The goal was to connect projects with strategic partners, creating opportunities to advance innovations. While some projects target specific value chains, sectors, or territories, others focus on AIS infrastructure at regional or national levels. These complementary efforts can align to amplify systemic impacts.
3. Day 3 looked to the future of DeSIRA innovations beyond project lifespans. Discussions focused on sustainability and scaling conditions, exploring lessons on partnerships and funding mechanisms essential for transforming agrifood systems.

Extracts of the programme: 

14/01 Reshaping the contribution of research to agricultural innovation

DeSIRA has a specific assumption that embedding participatory research into agricultural innovation systems will generate potentially different, deeper and longer lasting outcomes, with higher ownership from local and regional actors and stakeholders and more impacts. This requests that research organizations operate a shig in their own strategies, capacities and partnerships. This panel gave the floor to leaders of agricultural research to explain their vision, their organisational

innovations for increasing research impacts and how they will build on DeSIRA lessons learnt.

• Research in food systems in Southeast Asia Pascal Lienhard - CIRAD 
• Agroecological transitions, word alliances to pool knowledge and resources Oliver Oliveiros, Coordinator - Agroecology Coalition 
• A regional organization of agricultural research and innovation Murat Sartas - APAARI 
• Agricultural research and innovation in Vietnam and Southeast Asia Dao The Anh - VAAS 
• Cooperation in research in the Asian context Sylvain Ouillon - IRD

16/01 Regional organisations and alliances in support of impact, conditions for scaling out innovations and the agroecological transition