Under the Joint Capacity Building Program for Developing Countries on Implementation of the International Treaty and its Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing, Bioversity International with partners implemented several projects: ‘Genetic Resources Policy Initiative,’ ‘Mutually supportive implementation of the Plant Treaty and Nagoya Protocol in Benin and Madagascar’ and ‘Open source seeds systems for climate change adaptation’. Core components included participatory workshops with farmers to identify climate-change impacts and desirable crop traits, followed by selecting local varieties and adapted materials for crop enhancement programs suited to local conditions. Other components included technical training to identify suitable PGRFA from abroad, which were then accessed through the multilateral system. The objectives were (1) to help farmers access diverse crop germplasm whose performance they can evaluate in their own local settings; and (2) to demonstrate to national policy makers why implementing and taking advantage of the ITPGRFA’s multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing is useful.  Key lessons learned include that most farmers are unaware of the ITPGRFA, but once they understand the opportunities, they become highly interested in accessing and testing PGRFA; however, connecting farmers to the multilateral system requires support from the national research system.