*. 1.Name of organization
Circle of Research and Action for Sustainable Development (CRADD)
Registration number: 2009/0725/DEP-ATL-LITT/SG/SAG-ASSOC of December 07, 2009
2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)
3. Tell us about your organization
The Circle of Research and Action for Sustainable Development (CRADD) is a Non-Governmental Organization founded in 2008 and bringing together young Beninese professionals from various fields (agronomists, geographers, environmentalists, sociologists, economists, lawyers, digital …) around the issue of sustainable development. It aims globally to support and improve the living conditions of the populations in a perspective of Sustainable Development and self-sustained by approaches based on participation. For this purpose, it is involved in various fields, including agriculture and agro-pastoralism - environment and land management - education and literacy - tourism and culture - health and nutrition.
4. Does your organization have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as, but not limited to, race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?
Our organization fights for the empowerment of young researchers and innovators in Benin. A category of people suffering from cognitive injustices caused by the difficulties of access to low cost internet but also from bad pedagogical practices. We want to change this situation by developing through our circle a network of young researchers and innovators that we mentor, with the aim of emerging champions of research and innovation aware of their ability to act for sustainable development.
5. What is the event about, and what do you want to achieve with it?
Transforming agriculture remains one of Africa’s most urgent priorities, but it is a difficult task. With a growing and mostly young population, the continent needs to boost its agriculture. A transformation that doubles or triples agricultural production is essential in the fight against hunger. Agriculture in Africa, apart from its inability to meet the needs of the continent’s children, must face the effects of climate change. It is therefore essential to think of much more precise strategies that will reduce the unpredictable effect of the practice of agriculture in Africa. To achieve this, there is only the use of technology and more specifically digital technology that presents itself as an alternative. In agriculture, digitalization could be a game-changer by boosting productivity, profitability, and resilience to climate change(Michael Hailu, 2019). According to the CTA director, digitization of agriculture is struggling to reach smallholder farmers to whom Africa is dependent for 80% of its crop production. Many programs are working towards the digitization of agriculture and several African governments are beginning to talk about smart agriculture. Smart agriculture uses digital data collection, processing, and dissemination in the form of useful information for decision-making in the production and marketing of agricultural products.
The adoption of precision agriculture is facing a lack of data. Data can be collected through innovations in hardware adoption in agriculture. It can help enhance productivity and improve yields.
The development of agricultural technologies requires the stimulation of initiatives to encourage youth innovation. Innovation in an African context where talented young university students in the technological field lack the material and motivation to develop and express ideas into material for the benefit of the people requires a framework based on a philosophy of sharing and collective problem solving of open science.
It is therefore in response to this cognitive injustice that we want to organize the Open innovation for agriculture hardware in Africa.
A 4-day event during which we will bring together teams of young designers and digital fabrication enthusiasts to design prototype technology solutions for agricultural production improvement in Benin.
Once exposed to the difficulties encountered by farmers, the inventors have 72 hours to work on proposing solutions. In the end, the solutions will be submitted to deliberation by the public and by a jury in order to classify them by degree of innovation according to three main characteristics: novelty, usefulness, and feasibility of scaling up for use by farmers in Africa.
All the proposed solutions will be documented and published on a website to be designed for the occasion and each team will be accompanied in a process of development through the creation of start-ups based on prototype technologies, as well as the results of the study to identify the difficulties of farmers that will be done before the 4 days of open innovation.
6. Which of the three levels of funding would you like to apply for? (in round 1 only USD $9910 is avaiable for applications, in further rounds $3000, $6000, or USD $9910 will be available)
Round 1
7. What is the funding for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.
| Unit | Quantity | Unit price $ | Total Amount $ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design of visual identity for the event (logo, PPT mock-up, letterhead, email template, badge design for participants) | Corporate Identity | 1 | 259.2912705 | 259.2912705 |
| Digital communication (community management, digital advertising, blog posts) | Months | 6 | 172.860847 | 1037.165082 |
| Publication on local online media | publication | 3 | 17.2860847 | 51.85825411 |
| Package for the design and printing of communication materials (flyers, posters, leaflets, tarpaulins) | Package of services | 1 | 432.1521175 | 432.1521175 |
| Realization of Roll’up | 1 | 129.6456353 | 129.6456353 | |
| Video production and editing | Video | 2 | 129.6456353 | 259.2912705 |
| 4-day photography | 1 photographer | 1 | 363.0077787 | 363.0077787 |
| Meeting room rental for the open innovation | Day | 4 | 691.4433881 | 2765.773552 |
| Accommodation for 50 participants over 4 days | overnights | 100 | 13.82886776 | 1382.886776 |
| Catering for participants 50 participants over 4 days | 3 meals/days | 200 | 6.914433881 | 1382.886776 |
| Purchase of material necessary for the prototyping of hardwares | Arduino card | 12 | 43.21521175 | 518.5825411 |
| Transportation for the organization | Transportation fees | 1 | 86.43042351 | 86.43042351 |
| Design of the showcase site and the opensource web application for collective deliberation for open innovation | UI/UX design | 1 | 311.1495246 | 311.1495246 |
| Front developer for 2 months | Developper | 1 | 311.1495246 | 311.1495246 |
| Backend developer for 2 months | Developper | 1 | 311.1495246 | 311.1495246 |
| Data collection for the study on the identification of difficulties encountered by farmers that can be solved through technologies | Research assistant | 2 | 172.860847 | 345.721694 |
| Total | 9948.141746 |
8. How will you share the outcomes of this event? What documentation will result that will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to? innovative hardware designs?)
- The website with the photo, video, and presentation of the event
- A full documentation of innovative hardware designs out of the event
- The code source of the open innovation web app like this
- The scientific article about the identification of the hardware innovation need in Africa
- White Paper on Open Innovation in Open Source Hardware for Agriculture in Africa
9. How would your event address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
We want to make the event in a small town (Parakou) of Benin where the digital actors do not benefit from great support in spite of the innovations in progress and which unfortunately are carried by young students who have little means.
The rental of local infrastructure from local small businesses and the involvement of more women in the field of technology will make the event inclusive. Over the days of our event, we will demonstrate the ability of a group of people to innovate through their talents without any distinction of race, origin, religion, or any other discriminating character.
10. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
No absolutely not!