Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation works with private sector partners across the globe to commercialize new technologies and services for smallholder farmers. Our approach of building capacity at the business level is a key component of USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance, and we find Agrilinks to be an essential tool for sharing lessons learned, promoting events and resources, and contributing to the ongoing discussion of best practices in private sector engagement and commercialization. Here are some of the most effective ways that we’ve used Agrilinks for our communications and knowledge sharing efforts:

• Share lessons learned and relevant resources with stakeholders looking to partner with the private sector. Partnering for Innovation recently released a Practitioner’s Guide explaining how our pay-for-performance mechanism works. We have also published resource roundups, blog series, and key private sector engagement takeaways.
• Demonstrate the private sector’s role in solving development problems through success stories and case studies. Our activity page highlights our partners’ successes in smallholder markets, giving them a platform to build relationships with potential investors or financial institutions.
• Promote events. Partnering for Innovation hosted a Designing Agricultural Research that Leads to Commercialization webinar earlier this year. We used Agrilinks to promote the event, answer questions, and share additional materials after the webinar.
• Contribute to Agrilinks’ monthly themes to stimulate discussion and represent various points of view. In May, as part of the focus on earth observations for food security and agriculture, Partnering for Innovation published a blog on Takaful Insurance of Africa and Project Concern International’s initiative that uses satellite technology to help pastoralists in Kenya thrive despite challenging climate conditions.