Abstract
This developmental paper examines how People‑Centred Innovation (PCI) takes place within a fragile socio‑ecological and institutional context through the case of the Café Apuí agroforestry coffee initiative in the Brazilian Amazon. The region’s dispersed governance, environmental vulnerabilities, and livelihood insecurities make inclusive and context‑embedded forms of innovation essential. Drawing on PCI, innovation ecosystem, and distributed governance scholarship, the paper explores how the NGO IDESAM orchestrates diverse actors, including producers, technicians, market partners, and investors, through hybrid governance, translational learning spaces, and iterative, field‑based adaptation. Preliminary findings indicate that while the initiative fosters livelihood improvements, ecological restoration, and stronger local identity, persistent challenges such as land‑tenure insecurity, logistical barriers, and regulatory misalignment limit its transformative potential. The paper outlines a plan to refine the analytical framework and empirical analysis ahead of the conference and contributes to debates on inclusive innovation, NGO‑led orchestration, and sustainability governance in resource‑constrained ecosystems.