Two CDAIS stories of change, from Guatemala and Burkina Faso, will be showcased as success stories of agricultural innovation at the Innovation Fair that will take place on 21 and 22 November 2018 within the context of the FAO’s International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers: Unlocking the potential of agricultural innovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Symposium (21-23 November 2018).

The Symposium will celebrate inspiring success stories of innovation and innovators and 20 of these stories will be exhibited in the Innovation Fair. Participants of the CDAIS project will be theresharing the experience of how Burkina Faso agripreneurs pioneered the first national organic label in West Africa and how Guatemala developed biofortified beans that grow in drought conditions to combat malnutrition and revive its agricultural sector. For Burkina Faso, Clémence Lankouande, Coordinator of the National Council for Organic Farming, will be the presenter of the story about the Bio Participatory Guarantee System label for organic farming supported by CDAIS. The story from Guatemala will be presented by Leonel Osorio Quiñónez, President of Cooperativa Atescatel, a direct witness of how CDAIS has helped to bring people together and how the new partnerships are successfully promoting the new bean variety (called Chortí bean) in a poverty-stricken part of the country.

During the event, the presenters will be available to informally discuss with participants about their success story, including the constraints they faced, as well as the drivers that led to innovation and success.