Robin BOURGEOIS (Project leader)'s interview (available on the DISSEM-INN Youtube channel)

As the first big event scheduled on the DISSEM-INN timeline, this method-sharing workshop brought together the nine DeSIRAs¹ operating in the Sahel to enable them to share their ongoing research findings and the strategies planned for the adoption and upscaling of their innovations.

The workshop opening session was a "DeSIRA Fair", during which the projects found out about each other's activities through a display of nine standardized posters produced by DISSEM-INN.

Several group work sessions (days 1 and 2) followed, with the goal of gaining a practical understanding of the meaning given by each project to the notion of "development smart innovation", through three dimensions: as a concept in support of the project's operation (planned approach, theoretical framework); as a field approach (methodologies implemented); and as results (technical, organizational, institutional).

These group work sessions were based on a cross-cutting analysis, conducted beforehand by the DISSEM-INN team to provide participants with a synthesis of their respective contributions to the three themes above, along with frameworks on the points of convergence and divergence. This enabled the projects to learn more about specific ways to implement the co-construction approach to innovation that they all share.

They were able to explore for example, the different approaches to the notion of a platform, which most of them use. These sessions also highlighted the challenges they all faced in the deployment of their innovation process. These processes are multidisciplinary, gender inclusive, and multi-stakeholder, but they all face contexts of health and security crises. Despite noting a common delay in the operationalization of their activities, all of the projects have demonstrated a high capacity for adaptation, implementing their own strategies to move forward in accordance with their intervention logic.

→ To find out more about the workshop and the results achieved, visit the dedicated page.

¹ ABEE, ACCEPT, APSAN-Mali, BIOSTAR, CASSECS, FAIR-Sahel, IRRINN, S&T and INV-Niger. This latest project has since ceased operations, so DISSEM-INN now capitalizes only on the eight remaining projects.