EcoAgriculture Partners Collaboration with TerrAfrica

No notes for slide

Photo of Kijabe, Kenya

4thSIP Steering Committee Meetings
22-23 February 2016, Magaliesburg, South Africa

EP in collaboration with TerrAfrica in 2007 and 2008 addressed four key gaps in efforts to scale up ecoagriculture in Africa:
The need to share knowledge about integrated landscape management among actors across sectors and scales who currently operate quite separately and often in conflict;
The need to develop leadership for landscape scale management of agriculture and natural resources in the public and civic sectors,
The need to assess outcomes of efforts to improve sustainable land management through ecoagriculture practice,
The need to develop both product and ecosystem service markets that financially reward the ecosystem stewardship functions of farmers and farming communities, building on new ‘green’ certified product markets; payments for watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and landscape beauty provided in production landscapes; and collective action by farming communities to improve market value chains.

A few of the key achievements of EP-TerrAfrica collaboration during 2008 included:
Support for the knowledge management strategy of the Knowledge Management Special Advisory Group (SAG) and Knowledge Base through contributions to both,
Support for leadership of ecoagriculture landscape management initiatives in six eastern African countries though the organization and delivery of a 10-day leadership course,
Support for regional knowledge sharing activities through the organization of a ‘lessons learning’ workshop for members of Ecoagriculture Working Groups in Uganda and Kenya and some of their partners,
Toolkits, resource materials and capacity development for assessing ecoagriculture landscape performance, and for payments for ecosystem services that support SLM/ecoagriculture in east and southern Africa
The full list is included in the project Completion Report.

Project activity for the 2009 period, highlighted below, has been designed to focus on ways that EP can help TerrAfrica move from an emphasis on generating knowledge products and tools, to an expanded emphasis on developing strategies, methods and capacities for SLM practitioners to be able to access, apply and adapt the knowledge products that have been developed to date. Activity is designed, also, to link TerrAfrica’s evolving knowledge management system with its monitoring and evaluation process, and to supportTerrAfrica’s participation in land use climate change policy forums that will affect Africa. The work contributes to TerrAfrica Activity Line 1 for communications, Activity Line 2 on Knowledge Management and climate policy.

B. Concept Notes for TerrAfrica Programme
TerrAfrica Country Service Network: A Concept Note. June 2010, Report for Discussion, EcoAgriculture Partners for TerrAfrica: Washington, DC. by L.E. Buck and S.J. Scherr. (Annex B-1) http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/Country_Service_Network_(CSN)_Concept_Note_June_2010_7-16.pdf
Harmonising the TerrAfrica Partnership Monitoring and Evaluation System: A Concept Note. June 2010, Report for Discussion, EcoAgriculture Partners for TerrAfrica: Washington, D.C. by L.E. Buck. (Annex B-2) http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/Ecoag_-_Concept_note_for_TerrAfrica_ME_strategy_July_2010_7-16.pdf
Strategy for Linking Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Practitioners to the TerrAfrica Knowledge Management System, June 2010, prepared by Claire Rhoades (formerly of EcoAgriculture Partners), Louise Buck and Sara Scherr, Ecoagriculture Partners. (Annex B-3) http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/CKS_KM_SLMPractitioners_June_2010_7-16.pdf

C. Training Modules for Selected M&E Tools for SLM
Community-engaged Landscape Scoring Tool for Sustainable Land Management, by Louise E. Buck, EcoAgriculture Partners (Annex C-1) http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/
Ground Based Photo-Monitoring of Ecoagriculture Landscapes: A Users Guide by James.P. Lassoie, Louise E. Buck, Lindsay Myron and Jared Crawford. A joint publication of Cornell University and EcoAgriculture Partners for TerrAfrica. (Annex C-2) http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/GBPM_Guide_v%205.0.pdf
http://www.ecoagriculture.org/drafts/GBPM%20SECTION_V_Kijabe%20Example_Sept14_2_.pdf
D. Policy Briefs
TerrAfrica Climate Brief no. 1: Sustainable Land Management in Africa Opportunities for Climate Change Adaptation http://www.ecoagriculture.org/documents/files/doc_224.pdf
TerrAfrica Climate Brief no. 2: Sustainable Land Management in Africa Opportunities for Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation http://www.ecoagriculture.org/documents/files/doc_226.pdf
TerrAfrica Climate Brief no. 3: TerrAfrica-supported NEPAD country flagship programme for climate change http://www.ecoagriculture.org/documents/files/doc_321.pdf
TerrAfrica Climate Brief no. 4: Implications of Copenhagen for climate action through SLM in Africa http://www.ecoagriculture.org/documents/files/doc_326.pdf

E. UNFCCC-related powerpoints and posters
Future directions for agricultural landscape carbon: Future directions for agricultural landscape carbon http://www.agricultureday.org/presentations/Ecoagriculture-Partners.pdf
The state of agricultural landscapes GHG measurement http://www.agricultureday.org/presentations/Cornell-University.pdf

List lessons learned and best practices
TOT Curriculum, Landscape Perspectives on M&E for SLM. Designing, testing and packaging the train the trainers curriculum into a Trainers’ Manual revealed a strong interest and great deal of technical know-how and ingenuity about M&E for SLM within the TerrAfrica system. Applying M&E to support landscape level management of SLM initiatives appears to make good sense to SLM program leaders and M&E experts who are eager to learn how to use new tools, share experience and develop innovative ways of engaging SLM stakeholders in M&E. It is evident that the published curriculum is appreciated and will be valuable in designing and conducting national level training workshops in landscape M&E to strengthen SLM programs in addition to reporting on their progress and performance. Furthermore, the four visuals to support landscape literacy that were created and published by the project to illustrate landscape SLM in diverse socio-ecological settings are widely used and appreciated for their appeal to a broad spectrum of audiences.
Regional leadership course on SLM in integrated landscapes. The leadership course on M&E in landscape SLM that was conducted in Mekelle, Ethiopia revealed that TerrAfrica leaders in SLM have a tremendous capacity to document and communicate for their peers their experience in SLM programming. Furthermore, they are eager to listen and learn from one another about what is working, what is not and ways they can improve their practice through knowledge-sharing across countries and regions. It appears evident that further investment in regional knowledge sharing and capacity building will continue to reveal innovative practice and help to scale it, in addition to motivating SLM professionals to maintain high levels of performance so as to not fall behind their widening network of peers.
Landscape case comparison in Kenya. The field trip organized for participants in the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature (LPFN) in Africa conference, compared the Imarisha Initiative of Lake Naivasha (focused on watershed restoration) and the Lari Landscape Initiative in the southern Aberdares (focused on forest conservation). In both of these very contrasting situations, the principal interventions were in the agricultural sector, with the flower, subsistence farming and pastoral producers; and with smallholder horticulture producers respectively. These demonstrate the potential for win-win outcomes for agricultural production and environmental conservation, where landscape institutions explicitly enable cross-sector coordination and collaboration.
Training module on cross-landscape learning about landscape SLM. It became evident at the leadership workshop and curriculum pilot-testing course on landscape M&E for SLM that participants sought to continue and to expand beyond their immediate group of colleagues the highly energized knowledge sharing among SLM professionals that characterized the course. In pursuing ways they could network about landscape approaches to SLM as well as landscape M&E, the Landscape Strengthening Working Group of the LPFN was identified as a promising forum. The discussion prompted the preparation of a Module for inclusion in the TOT curriculum to address this interest and guide users in ways to participate in learning landscape networks.
African Continental Review. More than 150 integrated landscape initiatives in Africa were identified during the process of the continental review, of which 87 in 33 countries were successfully documented. We were surprised at the number of initiatives and realized that this phenomenon has been growing ‘under the radar’. The initiatives are very diverse, from different communities of practice, including watershed management, biological corridors, sustainable land management and model forests, but share many characteristics. On average they involve more than 9 stakeholder groups, mainly producer groups, local governments, extension officers and local NGOs; only 8% of initiatives include national business partners. Sectors included
Training workshop for climate & SLWM policymakers in Africa evaluated, plans made for replication

We identified and surveyed 87 ILIs, in 33 of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The ILIs work in what we describe as mosaic landscapes;

Mobilize support and engagement in the African Landscapes Action Plan: facilitate collaborative planning, action and monitoring of the African Landscapes Action Plan; Co-convene an African Policymakers’ Forum on Integrated Landscape Management (with NEPAD); Mobilize awareness and engagement of African business and financial institutions in ILM.

Facilitate Knowledge Generation and Sharing: Generate, synthesize and disseminate new knowledge products and tools for ILM in Africa; Strengthen capacity of national and landscape leaders through regional cross-landscape learning; facilitate engagement of regional research organizations to support African landscape initiatives.

Outreach: Co-convene a regional Landscape Practitioners’ Learning conference; produce a biannual State of African Landscapes Report; provide communications support for the African Landscapes Action Plan

Strengthen organizational capacity of selected multi-stakeholder landscape initiatives, by: Providing in-depth and custom-designed training for landscape leaders in landscape assessment, planning, design and management; facilitating business engagement; developing strategies to mobilize financial investment; and/or Linking landscape initiatives with universities and research centers.

Invest in on-the-ground activities that address landscape-specific priorities such as: strengthening local governance of landscapes; implementing sustainable production methods (minimizing water, soil, and biodiversity footprint, while maximizing productivity); engaging businesses to be active partners in landscape initiatives; developing and implementing strategies to mobilize financing for landscape investments; identifying supply chain strategies and principles for promoting continuous improvement for sustainable agriculture, with environmental benefits; developing and implementing outcomes-based, science-based metrics and tools (which themselves could be shared); conducting research to fill an identified knowledge gap in sustainable landscape management; Mainstreaming cross-cutting issues such as gender and youth.

In 2015, the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative (LPFN) initiated the development of a Landscape Academy to strengthen the capacity of the leaders of landscape partnerships in Africa to competently and confidently practice integrated landscape management (ILM). The Landscape Academy will become the ‘go-to site’ for a strategically designed and carefully tested curriculum, as well as innovative knowledge products and services. Learning resources developed and activities conducted through the Academy will be of the highest standard and quality, thus earning it a reputation for synergistically accelerating the knowledge and skills of landscape leaders who associate with the Academy over time. LPFN leadership for the Academy is spearheaded by EcoAgriculture Partners with Cornell University, Wageningen Center for Development Innovation, World Agroforestry Center and African Model Forest Network in partnership with The World Bank and TerrAfrica, A grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs enables the initiation of the Academy.
The initiation phase of the Academy I involves designing and developing a modular learning curriculum that will build the core competencies required to assume leadership for practicing and promoting ILM. The curriculum will foster the development of knowledge and skills in facilitating multi-sector partnership around integrated landscape initiatives as well as integrated production and conservation land use practices, collaborative spatial planning, landscape finance, market and policy support, and monitoring and evaluation. Basing the curriculum on the expertise and experience of diverse LPFN partners with case material to contribute to the learning modules will help to ensure its relevance to the expanding cadre of landscape leaders and partnerships in Africa. The Academy’s web-based platform is being designed to host self-directed on-line courses, learning modules for in-person courses and training guides for course leaders as well as information about ILM learning events and opportunities identified by LPFN partners and their networks.
Based on needs assessments the Academy initiation team is conducting with strategic LPFN partners, priority core learning modules are being prepared around 1) introducing the concepts and practice of ILM, 2) landscape leadership and partnership, and 3) business engagement and market development. Modules and guidelines for trainers on these topics will require pilot testing with trainers and trainees to ensure their value to the Academy’s key users in Africa.
A Phase II for which funds are being sought will involve utilizing the Landscape Academy across Africa at scale, to strengthen selected landscape initiatives, and refine tools, strategy and capacity-strengthening networks to accelerate widespread impact. This will involve developing and implementing short-courses with strategic partners, technical and financial back-stopping for course participants to ensure effective application of the learning, and improving the learning modules, on-line delivery, and trainer networks based on experience and feedback of early users and beneficiaries.

Outreach: Co-convene a regional Landscape Practitioners’ Learning conference; produce a biannual State of African Landscapes Report; provide communications support for the African Landscapes Action Plan

Facilitate national landscape learning networks. Stakeholders from multiple landscapes will be able to share tools, methods and resources on topics like landscape planning/design, impact tracking, landscape governance, business engagement, policy support, and financing strategies, while also being able to engage in cross-landscape strategic planning. The project will help to bridge expertise and collaboration between national and local governments, NGOs, universities, farmer organizations and businesses.

Strengthen policy support for landscape action, through national policy dialogues between policymakers and landscape leaders; development of country-specific policy communications and advocacy strategies; targeted assessments and analyses; and facilitation of science-to-policy communication and learning.

Strengthen organizational capacity of selected multi-stakeholder landscape initiatives, by: Providing in-depth and custom-designed training for landscape leaders in landscape assessment, planning, design and management; facilitating business engagement; developing strategies to mobilize financial investment; and/or Linking landscape initiatives with universities and research centers.

Invest in on-the-ground activities that address landscape-specific priorities such as: strengthening local governance of landscapes; implementing sustainable production methods (minimizing water, soil, and biodiversity footprint, while maximizing productivity); engaging businesses to be active partners in landscape initiatives; developing and implementing strategies to mobilize financing for landscape investments; identifying supply chain strategies and principles for promoting continuous improvement for sustainable agriculture, with environmental benefits; developing and implementing outcomes-based, science-based metrics and tools (which themselves could be shared); conducting research to fill an identified knowledge gap in sustainable landscape management; Mainstreaming cross-cutting issues such as gender and youth.

EcoAgriculture Partners Collaboration with TerrAfrica

The Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative

EcoAgriculture Partners Collaboration with TerrAfrica