Project Meeting in Cooch Behar, India

Thanks to the 22 members of the project team who made time to meet in person in Cooch Behar from the 8th to the 13th of May, and particular thanks to the UBKV team for hosting us. This project meeting focused on:

1. Whole of project discussions on project aims and outcomes;

2. Meeting with key local stakeholders;

3. Progressing plans for IFPRI case studies on where diversification has happened previously, which will help us to understand the factors that influence change; and

4. Progressing CIMMYT case studies of existing scaling mechanisms to understand what makes different mechanisms effective.

A highlight of the meeting was the opportunity to visit both Satmile and local communities to talk to farmers about the kinds of ‘scaling mechanisms’ they participate in, and potential preferences for diversification. We undertook this exercise in small groups and then reconvened to discuss our experiences as a project team, to think about how these discussions could inform future Focus Group Discussions and project activities.