PhD defence: Critical Perspectives on the Support of inclusive Agricultural Innovation in Kenya

PhD candidate: FO (Felix) Opola. Promotor: prof.dr.ir. LWA (Laurens) Klerkx & prof.dr.ir. C (Cees) Leeuwis. Co-promotor: Dr. Catherine Kilelu. This thesis examines how new technologies, skills and knowledge within the Kenyan agricultural sector can include marginalised people such as those with minimal resources, women or the youth in its benefits and processes. We find that different actors such as the state, private business enterprises or universities have different interpretations of what social inclusion means and what solutions should be adopted. Additionally, social inclusion remains a rhetoric among these different actors since concrete steps to ensure legitimate inclusion in agricultural innovation remain largely lacking. We recommend that for social inclusion to be realised, holistic methods that take into account different levels and types of inclusion are needed. Such methods include the use knowledge of groups of actors that are targeted with such interventions on what constitutes a socially inclusive innovation process.

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