Innovation Scaling Preparedness Workshop - Ethiopia

The food sector, a major source of income and employment, faces challenges in providing decent livelihoods for billions of people. Tens of millions of young workers enter labor markets every year in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa presenting both an opportunity for food market growth and a challenge of creating decent work for all. To harness this potential, the CGIAR Initiative on Rethinking Food Markets and Value Chains for Inclusion and Sustainability aims to improve the food sector's efficiency and equity by developing and testing innovative approaches. By addressing weaknesses in the value chain and fostering collaboration among stakeholders, the Initiative seeks to create more equitable income distribution, increase employment opportunities, and reduce the environmental impact of the food sector, ultimately promoting sustainable development.

Since 2022 with local food system operators, the Initiative has co-created twenty-one (21) innovations and innovation bundles in inclusive business models for vertical integration of food value chains, product quality upgrading and food standard certification, innovative logistics and mobile financial services, and global knowledge management.

Between September and November, the Initiative will organize a series of workshops in countries it operates and assess the scalability and scaling potential of the bundled innovations, reflect on potential scaling impacts and tradeoffs, and develop scaling strategies.  The format will include presentations, panel discussions, and interactive breakout sessions. While the first session on Day 1 will be a hybrid, and open to all participants, the rest of the program will be in-person, and by invitation only. Key agenda items for the 2 days include:

•       Innovation showcase

•       Stakeholder feedback and discussions on innovation scaling potential

•       Identification of scaling opportunities and challenges

•       Partnership development