'If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.' Kenyan proverb

Last week, I was in Nairobi to facilitate the

end-of-phase meeting of the AgriFoSe2030 programme. Over 60 people from ten countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Laos and Vietnam gathered over two days to explore and reflect on the changes they've helped to influence.

Collaborating with small-scale farmers and other stakeholders in their settings, 17 different teams have combined science and local knowledge to support positive change in food systems, production processes and agricultural landscapes in Africa and Asia.

Nairobi, a city buzzing with vitality and diversity, was a fitting location for this vibrant workshop. The workshop participants were full of positive energy, sharing their rich experience and ideas for how they could continue to enhance sustainable, small-scale agriculture for food security.

Outcome Harvesting

I was really excited to design this event as an

Outcome Harvest, something I've not done before on such a large scale. Our aim was not only to establish what had been achieved, but to reflect and share learning on what teams have found to be effective in promoting change.

With such a large group, we held a preliminary 'pre-harvest' where teams gathered together and documented their outcomes, capturing the significance of these and reflecting on the contributions from the project and others that had helped to bring these about. Teams sent in their harvested outcomes to the organising team, who then prepared them for use and sense-making in the workshop - mainly just a light edit and cutting up print-outs so that groups could physically map outcomes to their impact pathways!

What was achieved?

Discussions during the Outcome Harvest process highlighted many changes achieved by the teams, including:

• small-scale farmers enhancing their voice and participation in local government decision making processes that affect them;
• women farmers expanding their productive and income-generating roles;
• improvements in extension services tailored to small-scale farmers, including outreach to women farmers and access to digital advisory services;
• small scale farmers and other stakeholders adapting and adopting science-informed practices to strengthen their resilience to climate change;
• multi-stakeholder innovation platforms established, with leadership from small-scale farmers;
• changes in local and national policies that provide an improved framework for small-scale agriculture in the project countries.

What did we learn about effective approaches?

Digging into how and why those outcomes had been promoted, the learning exchanges on effective approaches were deep and rich. These conversations highlighted not only what was important, but also the experiential learning on how to implement effectively. For example, co-creation, involving farmers, scientists and other groups was a key process in all projects. Indeed, co-creation is recommended in research for development initiatives, but how is it done in practice?

A group of researchers from Africa, Asia and Europe sitting around a table having a discussion at AgriFoSe20230 workshop in Nairobi, November 2023.

Reflecting on how to conduct co-creation well, participants highlighted the importance of first understanding the challenges from the perspectives of the small-scale farmers, so wide-ranging discussions of problems and dynamics were a vital starting point. Reflecting together on power relations between stakeholder groups was critical, as was finding ways to address these. Exploring local knowledge about possible solutions alongside science-based insights was the next step. This was followed by joint development of solutions tailored to the context, with practical hands-on testing of these on-site and ongoing feedback to refine approaches.

Other insights included how to engage and link up stakeholders who have never worked together before, and how to work in an authentically interdisciplinary way, combining sciences and social sciences.

It is this collaborative spirit, plus the invaluable hands-on learning, that I have found so rewarding in working with the AgriFoSe teams. The shared vision and commitment to sustainable and resilient small-scale agriculture has underpinned successful international and local collaborations, and created a safe and welcoming space for learning.

Most of all, my little evaluator's heart glowed to hear the teams express how useful they have found the theory of change process and the light-touch monitoring, evaluation and learning tools that we have encouraged them to use. This shared mind-set for exploring change really helped the Outcome Harvest be an enjoyable and rewarding process. We have already travelled far, together; hopefully more shared journeys lie ahead.

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Take a look at the

AgriFose2030 film about the programme and projects.