External review and impact assessment of the african highlands initiative (AHI): program evaluation report
It is widely acknowledged that INRM is a means of achieving the CGIAR’s multiple goals of food security, poverty alleviation, and protection of the natural environment. The CGIAR has defined INRM as "a way of doing development-oriented research to simultaneously tackle poverty, ensure food security and environmental protection." These elements of human wellbeing are best addressed by enhancing the well-being of the ecosystem in which people live and work. In INRM approaches, problems are identified in a participatory manner, involving farmers and policy makers from the start. Inter-disciplinary research on alternative solutions then follows, using the actions identified in the first step. Since agro-ecosystems are driven by the interactions of ecological, economic, and social variables, INRM research has to work back and forth across all three dimensions. The prevailing serious degradation of the natural resource base in the intensively cultivated and overpopulated highlands of Eastern and Central Africa resulted from poor land management systems associated with traditional farming practices, on the one hand, and the concerted effort to improve agricultural productivity through intensification and diversification, on the other. This has been exacerbated by the fact that the majority of poor small-scale farmers have not adopted many of the improved agricultural technologies and practices aimed at mitigating some of these problems. Cognizance of this concern led to the formulation of AHI both as an eco-regional program of the CGIAR and a regional program of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). AHI was initiated in 1995 as a consortium of national and international agricultural research and development organizations. AHI's core role as an innovator is to develop novel methods and approaches for participatory INRM through testing in pilot sites, cross-site synthesis, and regional dissemination and institutionalization. AHI's targeted beneficiaries and partners in this work include national and international research organizations and networks, development organizations, local governments, civil society organizations, service providers, policy makers, community-based organizations, and male and female farmers. AHI has implemented its activities at benchmark sites in Eastern and Central African countries (e.g., Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda). A multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional team of researchers and development workers, located at each benchmark site, works with farmers in a participatory mode. A regional research team based at AHI’s regional headquarters in Kampala, Uganda, supports the site teams. Technical and methodological support is also provided by regional research fellows (RRFs) based in the collaborating countries or at AHI headquarters. A regional coordinator provides technical and administrative support. AHI uses capacity building as an instrument to enhance the competence of scientists and associated partners. AHI uses an approach in developing and managing its research/development programs that allows a large number of stakeholders to have an active role in identifying and prioritizing research themes. The use of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research teams at benchmark sites in each participating country enhances testing relevant social and technological systems/approaches to solve problems related to agricultural productivity and environment management.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Report biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
CIMMYT
2008
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| Subjects: | AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS, HIGHLANDS, LAND DEGRADATION, SURVEYS, HOUSEHOLDS, AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, SOIL CONSERVATION, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10883/1087 |
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