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Articles

Knowledge management for pro-poor innovation: the Papa Andina case

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Pages 65-83 | Published online: 07 Oct 2011
 

Abstract

Papa Andina began as a regional research program focusing on the Andean potato sectors of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, but later shifted its focus to facilitating pro-poor innovation. To accomplish this shift, a number of approaches were developed to foster innovation, by facilitating mutual learning and collective action among individuals and groups with differing, often conflicting, interests. This paper explains why and how Papa Andina shifted its focus from conducting research to facilitating innovation, and describes two approaches that Papa Andina developed to facilitate mutual learning and innovation: the ‘participatory market chain approach’ and ‘horizontal evaluation’. Differing local circumstances and beliefs shaped the work of local teams, and rivalry among the teams stimulated creativity and innovation. Participatory evaluations helped individuals recognize and appreciate differences and build shared knowledge across the teams. After describing the case, the paper discusses the implications for knowledge management and innovation theory, and for the potential use of Papa Andina's approaches in other settings.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of our many collaborators in the Andean region. Julie Ferguson, Laurens Klerkx, and two anonymous reviewers provided useful suggestions for improving the paper. Since its inception, Papa Andina's work has been hosted by the International Potato Center (CIP) and has been generously supported by grants from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and by contributions from the New Zealand Aid Programme and the United Kingdom Government's Department for International Development (DFID).

Notes

1.The Strategic Partners are: the PROINPA Foundation in Bolivia; the National Potato Program, INIAP in Ecuador; and the INCOPA Project in Peru. The partners’ names in Spanish are: Fundación PROINPA (Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos) (www.proinpa.org/); Programa Nacional de Raíces y Tubérculos rubro Papa (PNRT-Papa), INIAP (www.iniap-ecuador.gov.ec/); and Proyecto INCOPA, a coalition of private and public organisations that aims to improve small-scale potato farmers’ access to markets (www.cipotato.org/papandina/incopa/incopa.htm).

2.In 2005, CIP, INCOPA, and a private firm, A&L Exportaciones y Servicios SAC, won the Peruvian Award for Entrepreneurial Creativity, given by the Peruvian University for Applied Sciences (http://creatividadempresarial.upc.edu.pe) for developing T'ikapapa (bagged native potatoes) through an initiative that ‘values the enormous diversity of Andean potatoes, brings them to urban consumers, and generates sustainable businesses for small farmers’. In 2008, INCOPA and Papa Andina won the award again, this time ‘for exploiting the diversity of native potatoes in expanding the competitiveness of products from the Andean region’. In 2007, INCOPA and Papa Andina won the international SEED Award for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development, an annual competition designed to support local, innovative partnerships in developing countries working to achieve poverty eradication and environmental sustainability (www.seedinit.org/about-the-seed-awards/index.html). In 2007 INCOPA, A&L Exportaciones y Servicios SAC, Cadenas Productivas Agricolas de Calidad (CAPAC) Perú, Supermarket Wong, producer organisations, and Papa Andina won the World Challenge Award, a competition sponsored by BBC World News and Newsweek, in association with Shell, that rewards projects or small businesses that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grassroots level (www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/previous-winners.php). In 2008 INCOPA and Potato Andean won Peru's Ardilla de Oro, awarded annually by Peru's Catholic University for a marketing campaign that contributes to social development in Peru (www.infoandina.org/node/26072).

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