Project Title
"From Benchmark Sites to ECA: Scaling Up INRM Methods through Training, Follow-Up and Institutional Change"

Project Goal
Integrated management of natural resources for enhanced agricultural productivity, competitiveness and value added in East and Central Africa.

Project Purpose
Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) innovations utilized in East and Central Africa.

Project Background/Rationale
AHI benchmark sites have served as the testing ground for countless methodological innovations for integrated natural resource management. Many of these methods are in advanced stages of development through field-based testing and validation. They include a host of methods that fall under multiple themes: participatory research; systems intensification and diversification; farmer institutional development; participatory integrated watershed management; collective action in natural resource management; and improved research-development linkages; among others. Yet many of these methods remain within benchmark sites and have yet to be scaled up into research and development institutions in Eastern and Central Africa. These capacity building funds will be utilized for three purposes: 1) to impart 5 regional training events on key AHI methods; 2) enable follow-up on the application of these methods; and 3) to support self-directed institutional change work to enhance institutionalization of prioritized INRM methods and approaches. Themes of the 5 regional training events include:

• Systems Intensification and Diversification
• Participatory Integrated Watershed Management
• District-Level Institutional Integration
• Self-Led Institutional Change
• Tracking the Fate of Introduced Technologies

Source of Funding
European Union