Messages and meaning - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 206

Innovation is a long-term, non-linear social process that is risky and
unpredictable
Innovation is a long-term, non-linear social process of learning selection that
is risky and unpredictable, where success often comes through learning from
failure. People experiment by trying novel ways to do things. If they succeed,
they may decide to adopt the innovation, adapt it or abandon it. While they
experiment they interact with others, who may influence what they decide to
do with the innovation. Learning selection applies to institutional as well as
technical innovations. The process is spontaneous, although it can be nurtured
by facilitators and shepherded by product champions, who play distinct and
important roles.
An innovation system is a network of organizations and people, together
with the policies that affect their innovative behavior, which bring new
processes, new forms of organization and new products into economic use.
Innovation itself is often driven by entrepreneurs pursuing market oppor-
tunities (Chapters 3 and 5). Because innovation and learning selection are
long-term, non-linear social processes, it is important to be flexible and to
change plans if the circumstances require it. This is adaptive management.
Success takes time, almost always beyond that provided in a 3-5-year project
(Limpopo).
Adaptive management allows flexibility
Basin program teams learned the importance of adaptive management for
flexibility. The Nile team learned that successful landscape management
required reconciling top-down national priorities for soil and water con-
servation with community needs. The Ganges team revised their research
questions several times as they came to understand the interrelationships
between components as production systems intensified. The components
include the technologies of the farming systems, the coordination and timing
of water control, and the design, repair and management of rural infrastructure.
Overlaying all was the overlap between national and local government policies
and priorities. The Limpopo team built on past achievements but also found
new ways to design water infrastructure for multiple uses and to develop
markets for small livestock. In the process, partners adjusted to how they
perceived and addressed opportunities.
Scaling out innovations involves tailoring to local circumstances
Basin teams agreed that scaling out of innovations involves tailoring to local
circumstances. Not all smallholder farmers are the same or have the same
resources, goals or responsibilities. Therefore not all technologies fit. Targeting
and adapting require attention and investment (Limpopo).
One key to scaling out innovations is to make sure that the innovations are
attractive on their own terms. It is necessary to create, align and implement