In 2008, the World Agroforestry Centre unveiled a new strategy to guide its research through to 2015, Transforming Lives and Landscapes. The strategy was triggered by the Centre’s third External Programme and Management Review, which made significant recommendations about how the Centre could improve its operational and organizational framework.

The Centre’s vision is a rural transformation in the developing world as smallholder households massively increase the use of trees in agricultural landscapes to improve, among other things, their food security and income. The Centre will continue to generate sciencebased knowledge about the diverse roles that trees play in agricultural landscapes, and advance policies and practices that benefit the poor and the environment.

“The strategy is a clear guide to the choices we have made and how those choices translate into action,” explains Director General Dennis Garrity. “It identifies the key milestones that we have set before ourselves, major obstacles we face and how we intend to overcome them.”

The new strategy was formulated after extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders from both the South and the North. In drawing up the six new Global Research Projects (GRPs), four criteria were used in the selection process: relevance to global problems of rural poverty and environmental degradation (salience), the Centre’s capability to deliver results (credibility), its comparative advantage (legitimacy) and fundability. Each of the new GRPs addresses both livelihoods and landscape issues to some degree.

GRP 1: Domestication, utilization and conservation of superior agroforestry germplasm

GRP 2: Maximizing on-farm productivity of trees
and agroforestry systems

GRP 3: Improving tree product marketing for smallholders

GRP 4: Reducing risks to land health and targeting agroforestry interventions to enhance land productivity and food availability

GRP 5: Improving the ability of farmers, ecosystems and governments to cope with climate change

GRP 6: Developing policies and incentives for multi-functional landscapes with trees that provide environmental services.

 The World Agroforestry Centre will continue to conduct its research in six ecoregions across sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-east Asia and Latin America. These regions share the interconnected problems of poverty, hunger and environmental degradation to varying degrees and offer opportunities for agroforestry interventions. The Centre’s strategy is aligned to the predominant development needs of each region. To ensure the effective implementation of the new strategy, the Centre is taking steps to enhance the quality of its science, to accelerate the use and impact of its research, to build stronger and more effective partnerships and to improve its operational efficiency.

 In its commentary on the World Agroforestry Centre strategy, CGIAR’s Science Council noted that “the mission and goals are clear and the Center’s contribution to the broader goals of the CGIAR system are well articulated; the set of priorities are, in general, relevant for and consistent with the vision, goals riorities of the CGIAR”.

Futher Reading
World Agroforestry Centre. 2008. Transforming Lives and Landscapes. Strategy 2008-2015. Nairobi: World Agroforestry Centre.
http://worldagroforestry.org/af1/downloads/publications/PDFs/B15732/pdf