Grassroots initiatives for sustainable development are blossoming, offering localised alternatives for a range of societal functions including food and energy. Research into grassroots organisations often recognises the difficulties grassroots groups face to continue operations. However, there is a need for better understanding dynamics that enable or constrain grassroots organisational survival. Here, we specifically shed light on how such survival is dependent on the organisation’s ability to construct legitimacy.

Extant research shows that universities do not usually foster an inclusive innovation system. This paper examines an innovation program at Zhejiang University that targeted rural areas in China, and that sought to promote an inclusive innovation system.

This chapter aims to shed light on the broad debate surrounding when and why farmers adopt agricultural innovations, especially in the context of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSP) seeking to scale climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. No research has yet tested the hypothesis that farmer entrepreneurship—defined as the innovative use of agricultural resources to create opportunities for value creation—may facilitate the adoption of CSA practices. This study is intended to fill that information gap.

Regional agroecological systems are examples of complex adaptive systems, where sustainability is promoted by social networks that facilitate information sharing, cooperation, and connectivity among specialized components of the system. Much of the existing literature on social capital fails to recognize how networks support multiple social processes.

Despite recent improvements in the national average, stunting levels in Afghanistan exceed 70% in some Provinces. Agriculture serves as the main source of livelihood for over half of the population and has the potential to be a strong driver of a reduction in under-nutrition. This article reports research conducted through interviews with stakeholders in agriculture and nutrition in the capital, Kabul, and four provinces of Afghanistan, to gain a better understanding of the institutional and political factors surrounding policy making and the nutrition-sensitivity of agriculture.

This paper investigates multi-stakeholder arrangements initiated by businesses and NGOs from the North that aim to enhance a more sustainable agricultural production at specific localities in Southern countries. The study aims to better understand the search for concerted action in multi-actor arrangements.

This chapter assesses the potential of farmer-to-farmer extension (F2FE) as a low-cost approach for promoting CSA. It is based on surveys of extension program managers and farmer-trainers in Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi who are involved in promoting a wide range of agricultural practices, including CSA. In the F2FE approach, extension programs provide education for farmer-trainers, who in turn educate other farmers, typically 17–37 per year. Extension program managers find this approach to be effective in boosting their ability to reach large numbers of farmers.

This study aims to estimate the nutritional and agricultural impacts and cost-effectiveness of (1) an agricultural extension platform of women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) practices, with visits at women’s homes or farms to follow up on adoption of new practices shown in the videos (AGRI), (2) women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA and nutrition-specific practices, also with follow-up visits (AGRI-NUT), and (3) women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA combined with a Participatory Learning and Action(PLA)approach of

Here, it is described a new participatory protocol for assessing the climate-smartness of agricultural interventions in smallholder practices. This identifies farm-level indicators (and indices) for the food security and adaptation pillars of CSA. It also supports the participatory scoring of indicators, enabling baseline and future assessments of climate-smartness to be made. The protocol was tested among 72 farmers implementing a variety of CSA interventions in the climate-smart village of Lushoto, Tanzania.

To link agriculture and nutrition with a participatory research approach, was developed a two-stage research programme. In the first stage, was developed an agricultural innovation consisting of three yellow potato cultivars with better nutritional contents, higher yield and better resistance to late blight. Was studied the Colombian germplasm belonging to S. tuberosum Group Phureja, adjusted the methodologies for its nutritional characterization and studied the social and nutritional status of the communities involved in this programme.