Multi-stakeholder platforms have become mainstream in projects, programmes and policy interventions aiming to improve innovation and livelihoods systems, i.e. research for development interventions in low-and middle-income contexts. However, the evidence for multi-stakeholder platforms' contribution to the performance of research for development interventions and their added value is not compelling. This paper focuses on stakeholder participation as one of the channels for multi-stakeholder platforms' contribution to the performance of research for development interventions, i.e.

Utilization of systems approach using multistakeholder process as modality of intervention has been increasingly experimented in agricultural research in tropical zones. Recent research findings indicated strong evidence of the positive contribution of research for development (R4D) and innovation platforms (IP) in increasing the impact of research for development interventions. However, specific factors of the process leading to higher impact yet to discovered.