Combining multiple strands: This is SEWOH Lab

With SEWOH new ways were shown to lead millions of people out of hunger. Its continuation offers strategic opportunities to further strengthen this approach and explore the potential of digitisation for achieving SDG 2 and Agenda 2030.

The SEWOH Lab does exactly that. This action-oriented research project explores, applies and evaluates the potential of digital innovations in three key areas: urban agriculture and nutrition, Soil Organic Carbon payments for sustainable land management, and gender and land rights. Focus is on developing and advancing concrete solutions for the food security of small-scale farmers and farming communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Central to SEWOH Lab’s work is the question how and under what conditions digitisation translates into actual development opportunities. After all, digital solutions alone do not automatically contribute to food security and sustainable development for all. Underlying social, political and institutional processes can either support or hinder digital solutions from benefitting smallholder farmers and farming communities. Sometimes a digital innovation only makes sense if it is accompanied by social and organisational innovations. To that end, it is key to involve small-scale farmers, civil society, policy makers and implementors across disciplinary fields and decision levels directly to understand and navigate these processes. Stakeholders’ needs, insights and know-how are therefore central to the Lab’s transdisciplinary approach.

On a broader level, the on-the-ground research and activities of the SEWOH Lab will generate insights into the interlinking of digital and social innovations for food security, sustainable natural resource use and adaptation to climate change in our partner countries. The results are systematically embedded in strategic discussions on the achievement of SDG 2.