Driving Institutional Innovation for Agricultural Innovation Through R&D Projects: Learning From Two Experiences of Multi-Stakeholder Platforms Formation and Operation in Bolivia

The idea that agricultural innovation does not only result from the transfer of research outputs to farmers but involves heterogeneous individuals and organizations interacting with each other and organizational and institutional conditions that constitute incentives or impediments for innovation to take place, is increasingly recognized as a promising idea among researchers and development practitioners engaged in research and development projects in developing countries. However the challenge of how to make these ideas accessible to practitioners and researchers with action-oriented purposes, whether for the design and implementation of R&D projects or for the in-depth investigation of innovation processes, has not yet been sufficiently addressed. This is precisely the focus of this research. It seeks to begin filling this gap with theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions by studying in-depth two cases of R&D project-driven attempts to foster the establishment and operation of multi-stakeholder platforms within the Bolivian context of agricultural innovation. Combining conceptual developments offered by the innovation systems and collective action approaches, this research explores the formation and operation of two multi-stakeholder, R&D project-driven processes of collective institutional innovation. Using action-oriented research methods, it was found that how, and with what effects, R&D projects act as drivers of institutional innovations processes is influenced by the tradition of designing and managing R&D projects, as well as by the prescriptive nature of projects defining what should be done, by whom, how, with what results, and for the benefit of whom. There are implications for the design and management of R&D projects when they are used as institutional innovation drivers. The implications relate to the definition of objectives, outcomes and indicators of achievement; the definition of roles and positions of the players; and to the instruments for projects planning, monitoring and evaluation. These research findings can help to shape agricultural innovation in Bolivia

Dynamic and static large deviations of a one dimensional SSEP in weak contact with reservoirs

We derive a formula for the quasi-potential of one-dimensional symmetric exclusion process in weak contact with reservoirs. The interaction with the boundary is so weak that, in the diffusive scale, the density profile evolves as the one of the exclusion process with reflecting boundary conditions. In order to observe an evolution of the total mass, the process has to be observed in a longer time-scale, in which the density profile becomes immediately constant

Saquen una... ¿netbook? : La influencia de los medios electrónicos en el aula

Lo que se propone analizar en el presente artículo es cuánto influyen los medios electrónicos (computadoras y celulares, en mayor medida y como los más novedosos, televisión y cine, en menor medida y como los no tan novedosos aunque no por ello menos relevante) en el alumno de la escuela secundaria al momento de relacionarse este mismo con el saber escolar; qué diferencias hay entre la manera de enseñar de una escuela, regida básicamente por el pensamiento lineal del texto impreso, y la que ofrecen tales soportes tecnológicos a través del hipertexto o texto electrónico. Para ello describiremos una clase (en la que los alumnos cuentan con una netbook particular para trabajar: cuestión enmarcada dentro del Plan Conectar Igualdad [1] propiciado por el actual gobierno nacional) que nos servirá como modelo de análisis;simultáneamente se irán ofreciendo distintas concepciones teóricas que explicarán nociones relacionadas con las áreas de la comunicación, los medios electrónicos y la didáctica.Sección: La gambeta didáctica. Propuestas de enseñanza.Departamento de Letra

Collective action for innovation and small farmer market access: The Papa Andina experience

"The Andean highlands are home to some of the poorest rural households in South America. Native potato varieties and local knowledge for their cultivation and use are unique resources possessed by farmers in these areas. As the forces of globalization and market integration penetrate the Andes, they present both challenges and opportunities for farmers there. This paper reports on how the Papa Andina Regional Initiative is promoting the use of collective action to reduce poverty in the Andes, by developing market niches and adding value to potatoes, particularly the native potatoes grown by poor farmers. Since 1998, Papa Andina has worked with partners in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru to stimulate pro-poor innovation within market chains for potato-based products. Market chain actors (including small-scale potato producers, traders, and processors), researchers, and other service providers have engaged in innovation processes via two principal tools for facilitating collective action: the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) and Stakeholder Platforms. The PMCA fosters commercial, technological, and institutional innovation through a structured process that builds interest, trust, and collaboration among participants. Stakeholder Platforms provide a space for potato producers, other market chain actors, and service providers to come together to identify their common interests, share knowledge, and develop joint activities. The PMCA and Stakeholder Platforms have empowered Andean potato farmers by expanding their knowledge of markets, market agents, and business opportunities. Social networks built up among producers, market agents, and service providers have stimulated commercial innovation, which in turn has stimulated technical and institutional innovation. These innovations have allowed small farmers to market their potatoes on more favorable terms and other market chain actors to increase their incomes. This paper describes experiences with collective action in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, via the PMCA and Stakeholder Platforms. Based on these experiences, a number of lessons are formulated for using collective action to stimulate innovation, market access, and poverty reduction in other settings." authors' abstractCollective action, Small farmers, Potato, Participatory methods, Innovation, stakeholders, Markets,

La acción de inconstitucionalidad: una acción de defensa y un medio de depuración del sistema jurídico

En Bolivia, la promulgación de la Constitución del año 2009 marca un hito importante respecto a la modificación de la estructura estatal del país a partir de la convocatoria de la Asamblea Constituyente. Parte del trabajo de esta Magna Asamblea, fue la reestructuración del sistema de garantías constitucionales y la consolidación del sistema de control de constitucionalidad concentrado (instaurado por primera vez en la Constitución de 1994), preponderando por el cumplimiento efectivo de los derechos individuales y colectivos, a fin de garantizar la primacía y supremacía constitucional. La modificación de los recursos constitucionales por las acciones de defensa, permitió el replanteamiento de la acción de inconstitucionalidad como un sistema inclusivo de participación ciudadana dentro del control de constitucionalidad de las normas a partir del control abstracto de constitucionalidad. Sin embargo, el procedimiento constitucional restringe esta participación ciudadana, limitando la legitimación activa dentro del control de constitucionalidad concreto y la existencia de un caso en particular. Por lo que, a partir del análisis teórico y el desarrollo conceptual, buscaré determinar: el alcance y la finalidad de la acción de inconstitucionalidad, a fin de establecer la importancia de la participación de la ciudadanía dentro del control de constitucionalidad de las normas, como una facultad constituyente derivada de la titularidad de la soberanía. Y a partir del estudio comparativo de la realidad jurídica de los países de la Comunidad Andina (Colombia, Ecuador y Perú), como referentes de participación ciudadana dentro de sus estructuras de control, sustentaré cuáles son los principios normativos que facultan a las personas el poder recurrir de forma directa al órgano encargado de control de constitucionalidad y cuál la importancia de esta participación ciudadana

Profesionalización del diseño gráfico

El perfil del diseñador gráfico es un tema que presenta algunos paradigmas. Parece que se tocan fibras sensibles porque causa cierta polémica. Pero ¿a qué surge esto del perfil? A dos sencillas razones. La primera, que queramos o no en el mercado y en la sociedad la carrera del 'diseñador' no es valorada, ni remunerada como esperáramos y no somos 'respetados' en el buen sentido de la palabra, es decir, no reconocen la autoridad que tenemos no sólo en nuestra materia, sino en el campo profesional

Geometrical Aspects of the Hamiltonization Problem of Dynamical Systems

Some geometric solutions to the problem of endowing a dynamical system with a Hamiltonian formulation are presented within the class of Poisson structures. We address this problem on orientable manifolds, and by using decomposable Poisson structures. In the first case, the existence of a Hamiltonian formulation is ensured under the vanishing of some topological obstructions, improving a result of Gao. In the second case, we apply a variant of the Hojman construction to solve the problem for vector fields admitting a transversally invariant metric and, in particular, infinitesimal generators of proper actions. Finally, we also consider the hamiltonization problem for Lie group actions, and give solutions in the particular case in which the acting Lie group is a low-dimensional torus

Resistance to Plasmopara viticola in a grapevine segregating population is associated with stilbenoid accumulation and with specific host transcriptional responses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Downy mildew, caused by the oomycete <it>Plasmopara viticola</it>, is a serious disease in <it>Vitis </it><it>vinifera</it>, the most commonly cultivated grapevine species. Several wild <it>Vitis </it>species have instead been found to be resistant to this pathogen and have been used as a source to introgress resistance into a <it>V. vinifera </it>background. Stilbenoids represent the major phytoalexins in grapevine, and their toxicity is closely related to the specific compound. The aim of this study was to assess the resistance response to <it>P. viticola </it>of the Merzling × Teroldego cross by profiling the stilbenoid content of the leaves of an entire population and the transcriptome of resistant and susceptible individuals following infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A three-year analysis of the population's response to artificial inoculation showed that individuals were distributed in nine classes ranging from total resistance to total susceptibility. In addition, quantitative metabolite profiling of stilbenoids in the population, carried out using HPLC-DAD-MS, identified three distinct groups differing according to the concentrations present and the complexity of their profiles. The high producers were characterized by the presence of <it>trans</it>-resveratrol, <it>trans</it>-piceid, <it>trans</it>-pterostilbene and up to thirteen different viniferins, nine of them new in grapevine.</p> <p>Accumulation of these compounds is consistent with a resistant phenotype and suggests that they may contribute to the resistance response.</p> <p>A preliminary transcriptional study using cDNA-AFLP selected a set of genes modulated by the oomycete in a resistant genotype. The expression of this set of genes in resistant and susceptible genotypes of the progeny population was then assessed by comparative microarray analysis.</p> <p>A group of 57 genes was found to be exclusively modulated in the resistant genotype suggesting that they are involved in the grapevine-<it>P. viticola </it>incompatible interaction. Functional annotation of these transcripts revealed that they belong to the categories defense response, photosynthesis, primary and secondary metabolism, signal transduction and transport.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study reports the results of a combined metabolic and transcriptional profiling of a grapevine population segregating for resistance to <it>P. viticola</it>. Some resistant individuals were identified and further characterized at the molecular level. These results will be valuable to future grapevine breeding programs.</p