About Service Area 1

The intervention logic of the DeSIRA initiative is based on the promotion of science and innovation within an agriculture innovation system (AIS) perspective as a major pivot point for shifting agri-food systems towards greater resilience and more sustainability and in turn, for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Supporting systemic transformations at the national level is very challenging, in particular in the domain of agricultural innovation where little is known about the most effective ways to innovate for climate resilient agri-food systems. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy to strengthen agricultural innovation systems. Agricultural innovations result from a combination of social, cultural, technical, economic, and political drivers. According to the lessons learnt from previous EU-funded projects , actions have to be taken simultaneously at different levels of change: the level of innovation niches, the level of innovation support service providers, and the level of the enabling environment of innovation policies and regulatory frameworks. At each level, different types of capacities — functional and technical capacities — in different dimensions — individual, organisational and systemic — need to be developed to ensure the overall strengthening of the national AIS over the long term, i.e. beyond project interventions.

The overall objective of DeSIRA-LIFT Service Area 1 is to enhance the outcomes and impacts of the country-based DeSIRA projects on the national AIS, by promoting AIS thinking and the use of developmental evaluation approaches for managing transformative changes. The specific objective is to help DeSIRA project implementers and their partners in the immediate sphere of influence to identify how they can better achieve their objectives with a stronger contribution towards strengthening national AIS and the acceleration of innovation trajectories towards impacts.