Our Stories

“Your presence here is a vote of confidence in Rwandan coffee,” George Kayonga, head of Rwanda’s National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), told Coffee Research Symposium attendees on March 17. A vote of confidence, in this case, as over 150 representatives from academia, private sector, government, and international organizations assembled in Kigali to discuss a…

2013 saw tremendous growth in the scope of GKI’s training program. We use experiential training, simulations, and interactives to demystify the how-to of working together to solve a common challenge. Mining best-inclass models of collaborative innovation worldwide, we formulate relevant and valuable curricula for use with some of the most inspiring and fearless innovators globally. For…

GKI wrapped up the Coffee Collaboration Colloquium on March 18, 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda and we’re proud to announce it was a great success.  More details to come, but for now we’d like to thank our sponsors–WeatherSafe and Counter Culture Coffee–once more, and share some photos from the event.

After an intensive review by an international Technical Committee of experts, the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) proudly announces the winner of the fourth round of our partnership-forging LINK (Learning and Innovation Network for Knowledge and Solutions) program: Dr. Geofrey Arinaitwe, of BioCrops Uganda Limited.  We would like to congratulate Dr. Arinaitwe, a seasoned entrepreneur and…

Fact: one third of food harvested globally never reaches the plates of consumers. Food loss occurring between harvest and consumption caused by waste and spoilage threatens farmers’ livelihoods; consumers’ access to nutritious food; and vital, limited resources like land and water.  To combat the challenge of food loss, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Food Waste and…

The Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) is pleased to announce the formalization of a relationship we have long enjoyed with Uganda’s National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST).  On 6 November 2013, GKI Program Officer Andrew Gerard (on behalf of Chief Operating Officer Sara Farley) and UNCST Executive Secretary Dr. Peter Ndemere signed a Memorandum of…

Looking for something new to read this weekend? Check out these suggestions from some of GKI’s fantastic staff. Article: Ireland, Jay (2013). “Africa’s Innovative Spirit: Taking on the World.” Ideas Lab. Why we liked it: This article gives an interesting perspective into the strengths and weaknesses of innovation systems throughout Africa. Specifically, it challenges the notion…

2013 saw tremendous growth in the scope of GKI’s training.  We’ve developed new curricula and trained across several geographies, empowering a growing cohort of worldwide collaborative innovation experts.  Most recently, we’ve been training in Malaysia and Rwanda. In November, GKI-ers Sara Farley, Courtney O’Brien, and Andrew Bergmanson gave a series of trainings at the Universiti…

Settled onto the cool concrete floor of the boathouse, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students furiously took notes as the fishermen of Air Papan, Malaysia explained their work, their challenges, and their hopes for the future.  There, between buoys and hammocks made of fishing net, with a view of the South China Sea, the UTM-GKI Southeast…

The countries of Southeast Asia struggle daily with this vexing conundrum: ample water, but much of it unsafe or unreliable. UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon states, “Water links the local to the regional, and brings together global questions of food security, public health, urbanization and energy. Addressing how we use and manage water resources is…