EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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 promotes an "integrated natural resource management approach" (INRM) where coordination of collaborative and participatory research and development efforts are integrated to improve agricultural production and natural resource management in highland watersheds, address the human and institutional factors affecting management, and aim to help construct more conducive development strategies and policies. Targeted beneficiaries and participants include national and international research organizations and networks, civil society organizations, service providers, policy makers, local authorities, community organizations and male and female farmers.

The land and resource use in this highland ecoregion although already very intensive given the population pressure and land scarcity, requires further intensification and diversification while ensuring environmental protection and conservation, through promotion of better practices and technologies, improved links to markets, and better policies and levels of investment to address the social, economic, policy and biophysical dimensions of the problems. These problems encompass a complex of soil and water loss, nutrient depletion, depleted forest resources and habitats, scarcity and inefficient water use, declining livestock contributions to the systems, poor public services and infrastructure limiting access to markets.

During Phase 3 AHI will support research and development inputs to pursue these concerns: (i) improve watershed management using participatory, integrated approaches in pilot sites; (ii) effect scaling up of INRM approaches to the pilot districts (or appropriate administrative units) and beyond; (iii) to pursue institutional and policy change in favour of INRM; and, (iv) to enhance networking and use of best practices among practitioners. AHI will support and enhance researcher and research institution's capacity to promote and use INRM approaches so as to better address and achieve impact through the integration of technical, economic, policy, institutional and social dimensions. AHI will focus on selected methodological dimensions seen as key ingredients to solve NRM and productivity issues: ways to achieve integration, partnerships and working arrangements, collective action and farmer innovation, and institutional change. Further, AHI will pursue action research as a way of working that simultaneously builds researcher capacity, is used to invent and explore new approaches and methods, and can ultimately help to institutionalize INRM.

Other key features of Phase 3 include organizing, networking and supporting a consortium of R&D implementers at community, district, research institution and regional levels. There will be enhanced strategies for outreach, documentation and communication. The new thrust on institutionalization will ensure that the investments made in specific highland locations in the region to create and test models and methods, would provide lessons and useful experiences for scaling up to other institutions, countries and situations.

AHI will use four key strategies to accomplish Phase 3: emphasize participation and collective action leading to local action, innovation and sustainability; employ an integrated, systems approach; draw upon strategic partnerships and complementarities and managing a "paradigm" shift through capacity and institution strengthening.