“Supporting the vulnerable: Increasing adaptive capacity of agro-pastoralists to climate change in West and Southern Africa using a transdisciplinary research approach”

funded by BMZ and led by ILRI

1. Inventory, documentation and dissemination of past, present and possible future agro-pastoralists coping mechanisms to deal with climate variability.
2. Active learning mechanisms developed, and priority livestock-based technological adaptation options for improving food security, incomes and sustainability of agro-pastoralists co-identified with communities and other stakeholders and pilot tested.

DITSL follows a transdisciplinary research approach. DITSL scientists use a participatory rural appraisal approach and open in-depth interviews. This allows rural people to contribute their interest and their knowledge to the research process, following the ideal that all people regardless of age, gender, or level of education have the right to participate in research activities that aim to generate knowledge about and for them.
In the first phase, system analysis in four different study villages in different agro-ecological zones is conducted in Mali and Mozambique. Based on this insight into the production system in the second phase an analysis of local innovations is conducted to identify potential adaptation options to be tested by the local communities. To initialise collaborative learning producer groups are formed in the villages. The producer groups are officially registered as community based organizations; they have established constitutions and decision making procedures. In this way the collaboration between the producers and DITSL scientists is institutionalized which is a prerequisite in transdisciplinary research projects. The objectives of these producer groups are threefold:

• Collective experimentation of innovations in crop and animal production
• Exchange of knowledge and experience among the producers
• Adaptation and improvement of farm management strategies

The decision power over project funds for the group work is fully in the hands of the agro-pastoralists.

Published article on farmer organisations

In the frame of the GlobE project – Securing the Global Food Supply initiative of BMBF:
Trans-SEC: Innovating pro-poor strategies to safeguard food security using technology and knowledge transfer: a people-centred approach
DITSL leads task 2.4 ‘Analysing and Considering Gender and Socio-Cultural Differences', within WP2: ‘Participative Stakeholder Systems and Knowledge Transfer'

Frame

Within Trans-SEC, DITSL specializes in transdisciplinary approaches for action research. The emphasis here is on farmer group capacity development, enhancement of participatory innovation processes, and support for the sustainability and social inclusiveness of innovation processes through collaborative learning. Perspectives of local actors are integral to creating a collectively defined description of a problem situation and for identifying possibilities for innovation within complex social, cultural, institutional and political contexts. Participation of local actors enables more context-sensitive identification and evaluation of innovations in specific sectors of production and manufacturing. By ensuring the relevance of these innovations to the context, they are more likely to be put into practice.

Aims

The aim of our contribution to Trans-SEC is to identify social, political, cultural and gender specific factors influencing the decision making processes and outcomes of innovation processes with local smallholder farmers. The Participatory Scenario Building methodology developed enables stakeholders to collectively identify and evaluate expected risk and outcome scenarios through role-play and participatory planning activities.

Action research is underway in four project locations in Tanzania, in Morogoro and Dodoma regions. The process of decision-making regarding the selection of innovations under real-world conditions, in self-organized farmer’s groups and other groups of farmers, is analysed and collectively evaluated with regard to the influence of socio-cultural factors. Experiences from the role-play scenarios enabled stakeholders to think through and weigh different options and effects of innovations. Promising innovations, self-identified in this way, have been implemented by three farmer groups to test their effects. The results are included in further evaluation of innovations by other groups. This process enables local stakeholders and researchers to collaboratively evaluate possibilities and to identify challenges for the introduction of new ideas, practices and technologies in agriculture. It allows for the design of more successful and socially-inclusive approaches to inform future projects.

Expected Outcome

DITSL’s research activities within Trans-SEC identify key socio-cultural factors and their relation to innovation-related decision-making, implementation processes and outcomes. Together with the network of scientists and innovation-testing farmers in the Trans-SEC project, we also expect to identify innovations which could be put into practice not only in the four villages that are the focus of this study, but also more broadly in other semi-humid and semi-arid regions of Tanzania. DITSL will contribute to the tailoring of socially inclusive out-scaling methods to enhance the benefits of successful innovations. Theoretical and methodological contributions will be shared with both academics and practitioners, informing on social inclusivity in farmer-led innovation processes, particularly for low external input agriculture and small scale agricultural agro-ecological production systems.

» MSc Thesis Research: Ongoing and Completed Projects

» Announcement of Internship Opportunity on the topic of “Participatory Video (PV) for fostering inter-group reflection, learning and exchange”
(Deadline for application: 3^rd April 2017)

Coordination:
Dr. Stefan Sieber and Dr. Frieder Graef, ZALF Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research

Team members
Apl. Prof. Dr. Brigitte Kaufmann - Project leader
Dr. Pamela Ngwenya – Post-Doctoral Researcher
Maria Höhne – MSc student
Kerstin Schulz- MSc student
Raúl Fernández- MSc student
Pramila Thapa- MSc student
Esther Mieves- MSc student
Deepak Tolange- Intern
Alexandra Plummer- Intern

» Official Trans-SEC website

Analysis of livestock and rangeland management options for carbon management in pastoral rangelands in the Borana plateau of southern Ethiopia

a research component in the collaborative research project:

The project is implemented in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso by the following research institutions: ILRI (Kenya), ICRAF (Kenya), Hawassa University (Ethiopia), INERA (Burkina Faso), University of Hohenheim, (Stuttgart, Germany) and DITSL (Witzenhausen, Germany).
The project has four main components:

1. Estimate the carbon sequestering potential of rangelands
2. Explore adaptive livestock management options to sequester and avoid emissions of carbon from rangelands
3. Assess the effects of changes in livestock and rangeland management on Green House Gas emissions and land surface albedo
4. Synthesize the research findings, combining the impact of livestock and rangeland management practices

Within this collaborative framework, DITSL leads component 2, exploring adaptive livestock management options to sequester and avoid emissions of carbon from rangelands and will specifically focus on the participatory assessment of livestock based options for managing carbon fluxes by pastoralists. This includes:

1. Participatory rangeland mapping
Rangeland maps based on satellite images containing pastoral grazing units will be elaborated with pastoralists. This includes ranking of the grazing units based on plant species composition and suitability of the vegetation for different livestock species, seasonal use and constraints that limit the use. This yields a characterization of the pastoral grazing units, using both pastoralists' evaluation criteria and object-oriented image classification techniques.

2. Participatory rangeland use analysis
This component aims to build understanding of the current use of the rangelands for livestock production. Use will be made of GPS devices to monitor the position of livestock in space and time; this will be complemented with retrospective analysis of grazing itineraries. The observed use of rangelands will be analyzed in view of distribution of water and grazing resources. Gender specific livestock and rangeland management shall be considered, i.e. different tasks of male and female household members in herding different animal species (small versus large ruminants) in different locations (home-based versus satellite camps) . This analysis aims to lead to understanding of the logic underlying the pastoralist's decision making regarding rangeland use.

3. Participatory rangeland use scenario analysis
Borana pastoralists will assist in assessing the impact of livestock and grazing management practices on the biomass availability across this landscape over the past few years. Alternative livestock and land management options will be reviewed and participatory planning undertaken with livestock keepers, discussing the various options for alternative scenarios and their trade-offs. The insight emerging from this will be used to explore different livestock and rangeland management scenarios to conserve carbon.

Project leader:
PD Dr, Brigitte Kaufmann and Dr. Christian Hülsebusch

Studies under the project include

In the frame of the GlobE project:
Reduction of Post Harvest Losses and Value Addition in East African Food Value Chains

DITSL leads the subproject 7 Social Sciences: Knowledge, collaborative learning and action

Approach
In subproject 7, food value chains (FVCs) will be treated as human activity systems, with a focus on communication, collaboration and competition of various actors. As such, FVCs are embedded in a multifaceted context characterized by high levels of uncertainty for individuals. The classical “transfer of technology” model, implying that innovations are being generated in research institutions followed by step-wise transfer into practice, has weaknesses in this type of situations, as it tends to disregard social aspects and the local context under which an innovation has to function. As a result, the final “adoption” by farmers and local stakeholders often remains unsatisfactory. Transdisciplinary research actively addresses these shortcomings by integrating scientists’ and practitioners’ knowledge and experience. Focusing research activities on actors, their activities and needs is an innovative approach in FVC analysis, backed by relevant experience.

Aims
This subproject aims at developing and testing improvements for reduction of post-harvest losses by transdisciplinary research based on a cooperation of scientists, practitioners and other societal actors. Furthermore it aims at implementing learning possibilities for producers and manufacturers to enlarge their scope of action and improve their position along the value chain.

Workpackages
1. WP1: Stakeholder analysis and gender aspects
Starting points are stakeholder analyses and the institutionalization of the research cooperation through the formation of stakeholder platforms. Methods for stakeholder analysis will be modified to be used along the value chain. While responsibility for local FVCs largely rests in the hands of women, they are often inadequately addressed by research, capacity building and rural development activities. Thus, gender equality will be treated as a cross-cutting issue, and participation and communication in the stakeholder platforms will ensure women’s participation as FVC actors.
2. WP2: Activity and knowledge analysis
Knowledge analyses are conducted with producers and manufacturers to identify reasons for the occurrence of losses along the value chain. Actions leading to losses are documented visually and suitable alternatives identified. The knowledge analysis based on second order cybernetics allows transforming the experience of actors – and hence the related insight into the system and its inherent rules and control options – into information which can be shared with outsiders, such as scientists. The knowledge analysis further helps to build common grounds for revealing new control options in order to change practices leading to undesired results.
3. WP3: Collaborative learning and collective action
We will explore possibilities for collective actions by farmer groups especially in the areas of strengthening marketing capacity and market linkages. We will offer learning opportunities to the actors to reveal control options in FVCs so that losses can be reduced and value addition enhanced. Producer groups obtain the possibility to try innovations to reduce losses and thereby improve their position on the market, through collaborative learning approaches. Participatory monitoring and evaluation systems are introduced to enable the stakeholders to evaluate the innovations themselves.
4. WP4: Knowledge management and dissemination
In the area of knowledge-management, the focus is on the exchange of gained knowledge with other practitioners and local actors. Outreach-material is developed, which match the information demand of the actors. Dissemination activities will also target project partners and other organizations engaged in FVC development as well as policy makers and a wider public.

Expected outcome
By systematically including the knowledge and experience of producers and manufacturers, there are high chances of developing relevant technological, organizational and economic improvements. By testing the innovations during the study period, implementation of successful options is ensured. Effects of the innovation on post-harvest losses, improvement within the value chain and therefore increase of income can be monitored and evaluated. This approach also assists the promotion of social- and human capital, since knowledge and capabilities are improved, especially by the facilitation of collaborative learning and collective action. The results, outcomes and experiences of the project will be documented in a way that is relevant to and useful for stakeholder and hence increase the dissemination of innovation within the different value chains of food production.

Coordination:
Prof. Dr. Hensel – University of Kassel, Section of Agricultural Engineering

Team members
Prof. Dr. Brigitte Kaufmann - Project leader
Dr. Anja Christinck – Senior Scientist
Maria Restrepo – PhD student
Dr. Margareta Amy Lelea - Postdoc
Guyo Roba - PhD student

Official RELOAD website