Project Title
"Broadening Horizons: Institutional, Policy and Technical Innovations for Improving Natural Resource Management and Agricultural Productivity in the Highlands"

Project Goal
Phase 3 (2002-2005): To contribute to increased sustainable agricultural productivity and to improved nutrition, environmental management and income in the ECA region.

Phase 4 (2005-2007): Integrated management of natural resources for enhanced agricultural productivity, competitiveness and value added in East and Central Africa.

Project Purpose
Phase 3 (2002-2005): To develop and institutionalize effective and efficient approaches for sustainable INRM and enhanced productivity in the intensively cultivated highlands of ECA.

Phase 4 (2005-2007): Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) innovations utilized in East and Central Africa.

Project Background/Rationale
The African Highlands Initiative (AHI) is an ecoregional research program of ASARECA that focuses on improving livelihoods and reversing natural resource degradation in the intensively cultivated highlands of East and Central Africa. To this end, AHI is developing and promoting an "integrated natural resource management" (INRM) approach¹ and institutionalizing it use in key partner organizations. To fulfill its ASARECA mandate, AHI program performs the multiple functions of: coordination of partnership inputs, facilitation and mentoring of national R&D implementation teams, carrying out regional syntheses and strategic research, and fostering the broader sharing of information. Thus, AHI works nationally in 4 countries having different contexts in a collaborative mode with national research, extension and NGO partners in benchmark sites; while working regionally to promote cross-country learning by practitioners. AHI work targets the poor in degraded highland watersheds where environmental and related livelihood problems are widely visible on farms and landscapes. AHI work aims to build local initiative, participation in better governance, and improve income while maintaining and improving the natural resource base. AHI is using a participatory action research mode where local communities are integral to the process (participatory), where R&D teams facilitate local action as part of development process (action), and research products are provided to inform this process (research). Methods under development include finding better ways to: build local capacity to innovate, integrate and adapt technologies and practices to their local situations; improve social and institutional arrangements that foster collective action and improve local agreements over management of resources; influence local and higher level development philosophy and practice through local advocacy and timely research inputs; and improve practice and policy regionally on these issues.

The 3-year period of Phase 3 was too short at time to develop and institutionalize an INRM approach, which is an ambitious endeavor. AHI learned that its modality of working "locally," synthesizing and influencing "regionally" is sound. There was considerable progress in developing the integrated watershed approach in the benchmark sites but there is need to take it further. Institutionalization of the associated practices and methods of the INRM approach requires a "mind-set" change and a new way of doing research. This requires iterative development, testing and adjusting of new research methods plus training and mentoring in their use. It also requires working with a wider group of scientists including managers in the NARI institutions. Furthermore, once methods are proven, more can be done to influence the ASARECA family of networks and other institutions on applying these methods. In phase 3, new partnership configurations emerged to link R with D that we can learn from, but this requires more research, analysis and synthesis. Our findings and experiences are posed for scaling up locally and more broadly, and this requires further investment. Therefore, a summary of the Phase 4 emphases would be:

• To further develop the watershed approach focusing on enabling collective action and integrating biophysical, social and economic dimensions of farm and landscape management.
• To use the experiences and methods from benchmark sites and broader syntheses to derive good practices and methods for research and development organizations.
• To conduct research to understand linkages between vulnerability, poverty, livelihood strategies, economic growth and NRM, including methods to better articulate and manage tradeoffs (gains/losses to different stakeholders and system goals).
• To provide relevant and timely information to district and national development actors and decision makers by aiming research at: critical evaluation of R&D partnerships and linkages; analytical frameworks and performance monitoring schemes to improve quality and contributions of various actors to development processes; and learning from various scaling up and communication strategies.
• To impart "how to" information, provide "real life" examples, and follow with mentoring for institutional change in some key research institutions that will eventually serve as "models" and provide lessons to others in the ASARECA region.

Source of Funding
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)