Cewas observed that entrepreneurs in Jordan focus on solution creation without deep understanding of the problems they are trying to solve. Hence, Field Innovation Schools (FINS) was developed as a programme targeting youth, who did not start a business yet, and trained them on problem understanding and analysis. Once the programme concluded, interested participants were linked to ideation and incubation programme to help them developing their own businesses.
The programme looked into various agro-food value chains in three Northen governorates in Jordan based on relevant agricultural activities in each one of them. That represented the locus of problems to be studied by the participants. The programme went into three phases. The first one was building theoretical knowledge and base for the field work. Afterwards, they went into the field to interview different stakeholders and collect information. Finally, the participants analysed the collected information and started looking into potential innovations that could help solving the roots of the most pressing problem. Overall, six innovation needs assessments reports were formulated, two problems for each governorate were addressed.
Cewas was the implementing partner with United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). A local partner in each governorate (CBOs) represented the local focal point and the local centre of operations for the participants.