ELI-FaNS

Expanding the Promotion of Local Innovation for Food Security and Healthy Nutrition to Strengthen Resilience with Focus on Women (ELI-FaNS)

Overview

The Association of Church Development Projects (ACDEP) is the host of the Prolinnova Country Platform (CP) in Ghana and coordinates projects across five countries on behalf of the Prolinnova Network. ACDEP is currently implementing the “Expanding the Promotion of Local Innovation for Food Security and Healthy Nutrition to Strengthen Resilience with Focus on Women” (ELI-FaNS) project. This project is a follow-up to the SULCI-FaNS project (Scaling Up Local Capacity to Innovate in Food and Nutrition Security), which was active from 2019 to 2022.

Project Objective

The objective of ELI-FaNS is to enhance food security and improve livelihoods for smallholder farmers by institutionalizing farmer-led research and innovation in agro-ecology and natural resources management (NRM). Building on the successes of the SULCI-FaNS project, ELI-FaNS focuses on scaling these achievements and emphasizes the integration of innovative practices into established agricultural institutions.

Duration and Funding

ELI-FaNS is a two-year project funded by Misereor, a German organization. It was launched in January 2023 and is being implemented in 10 districts, referred to as action-learning sites, across five countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The primary targets are women and youth.

Implementation in Ghana

In Ghana, the ELI-FaNS project operates in two learning sites: West Mamprusi Municipal in the North East Region and North East Gonja District in the Savannah Region. Four communities have been selected from each district.

Local Partners:

• West Mamprusi Municipal: Centre for Ecological Agriculture and Livelihoods (CEAL) is the local NGO partner.
• North East Gonja District: Presbyterian Agriculture Services (PAS), Mile 7 is the local NGO partner.

Selected Innovations

Partners in the Ghana action-learning sites have selected nine innovations (seven by women and two by men) from the previous SULCI-FaNS phase for scaling up to positively impact more lives. The Navrongo-Bolgatanga-Catholic Diocesan Development Office (NABOCADO) is responsible for scaling up and commercialization activities of these local innovations that were profiled and documented under the previous SULCI-FANS Project.

Strategies and Activities

ELI-FaNS employs a variety of strategies and activities to support the scaling up and commercialization of innovations, including:

• Linking innovators to support services and developing business plans.
• Training additional farmers on the innovations.
• Organizing planning workshops for stakeholders.
• Providing start-up inputs and funds through the Local Innovation Support Facility (LISF).
• Hosting farmer innovation fairs.
• Facilitating training exchange visits.

These activities are designed to ensure the sustainability and broader impact of local innovations, ultimately improving food security and resilience within the targeted communities.

For more information about the project, contact: Joseph Nchor, Proli-FaNS Coordinator, ACDEP, Ghana. Email: nchor@acdep.org