IFAD EU Workshop
24-25 May 2018
Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
West Africa Forest-Farm
Interface Project (WAFFI)
(Enhancing Smallholder Food Security, Incomes and Gender
Equity within West Africa’s Forest Farm Interface)

The WAFFI Project
Applied, multi-disciplinary research to
identify practices and policy
interventions to improve livelihoods
and food security
12 village sites across two landscapes
in southern Burkina Faso and northern
Ghana
Project Activities:
• Promote social learning to build local
capacity
• Improve understanding of multi-use
landscape management
• Exchange and dialogue for knowledge
sharing and scaling

The Forest Farm Interface
A mosaic landscape of integrated
management combining agricultural,
forest and livestock land uses.
• Spatial and temporal combination of
agricultural, forest, agroforestry and
pastoralism
• Recognition that forest and trees are not
segregated from agriculture in smallholder
systems
• Production adapted to local context to support
livelihoods and food security
Tree products offer crucial safety net function (food
and income)
Use and dependence on tree products vary by
gender (sophisticated tree-tenure arrangements)
Subjected to increased pressure and change

Promoting Social Learning at
the Village Level
Auto-appraisal tool: assessment of
local issues, needs and opportunities
Participatory Action Research (PAR):
problem solving focused on emerging
local topics:
• Fuelwood access and shortage
• Over exploitation of trees (conflict of use
for food, fuel and fodder)
• Negotiation to adapt resource access
• Restoration of community forests
• Management of pastoral zones

Socio-ecological characterization with
innovative methodologies
LDSF (Land degradation surveillance framework) Soil and vegetation health -
tree diversity and regeneration trends – erosion and carbon stocks
POLYSCAPE Wealth ranking and forest dependency - Participatory mapping:
livelihood interactions with forest-farm interface – policy maps - ecosystem
services analysis and trade-offs
Burkina
Faso
Ghana

Improved understanding the
multi-use landscape
management
Common issues from focus groups
• Tension around resource access and
restrictions near conservation units
• Lack on income options during dry season
drives youth migration
• “Conflict of use” issues related to
forest/tree resources generate negative
impacts for women
• Accommodation of transhumant herders
and agricultural communities is a key
management issue

Engagement and Dialogue for
Knowledge Sharing and Scaling
Iterative learning process focused on
problem solving
• Exchange meetings with village
participants and researchers to:
• Review progress and results
• Define agenda for discussion with policy
makers
• Multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing:
Collaboration involving villagers,
researchers, key policy makers and
local/regional authorities
• Facilitated dialogue to enhance interaction
• Focus on agenda emerging from
grassroots.

Next Steps for WAFFI
Finalize collaborative research:
• PAR processes to build local capacity
at village scale
• Polyscape analysis to understand
livelihood and ecosystem service
interaction
• Gendered Value Chain Analysis (GVCA)
Validate and disseminate lessons
learned
• Multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing
platform to define adaptive strategies
• South-South exchange between sites
(including farmers, researchers and
policy makers)

IFAD EU Workshop
24-25 May 2018
Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
THANK YOU - MERCI