ifwfabs18

=2-Pager Abstract Template for NBDC Contributions to South Africa Forum=

1. Authors
Authors names: Douglas J Merrey & Tadele Gebreselassie Project Number: N1

E-mail address of lead author: dougmerrey@gmail.com

2. Forum session
2. Core TWG: Learning to Innovate



3. Title
Improved management of land and water requires approaches that encourage and support local innovation

4. Key message/highlights

 * Ethiopian land and rainwater management programs have evolved from being top-down and authoritarian to being more consultative and participatory. Government should now move to demand-driven implementation and encourage partnerships with local communities, engaging them in a creative innovation process of solving their own problems by drawing on and integrating a wide menu of indigenous and introduced technologies. It should also emphasize building effective community-based institutions to enable water and watershed users to take responsibility for managing their resources.**


 * //Short abstract//**

The N1 project reviewed available information on 40 years of Ethiopian land and rainwater management programs. It developed a database of over 400 references on both implementation and research, focusing on policies, implementation strategies, institutions, and technologies. Land degradation was perceived as the major cause of famine and chronic food insecurity. The early programs were coercive, promoting technologies that were often not accepted by farmers. Recently, government has adopted a more consultative and participatory approach. However, participants are often motivated by food or cash for work, not by expected benefits from water management; and technologies are often promoted through quota-driven campaigns, not by farmer demand. The productivity and food security results are frequently disappointing.

The main lesson is that Ethiopia should complete its transition to programs based on farmer demand, support local innovative problem-solving initiatives, and strengthen collective management capacities. This finding is relevant to the Limpopo and Volta Basins in Africa.


 * //Add a visual representation (i.e. graph, chart or figure to highlight emerging results)//**


 * //FROM DEGRADATION TO INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES //**


 * //Your preliminary highlights for the Forum capitalizing sessions//**

__Main message__: Improved management of land and water is critical for achieving long-term prosperity and food security. But countries must replace top-down quota- and technology-driven approaches with programs that encourage and support local innovation, providing choices from “menus” of options, and strengthening collective action capacities for managing watershed resources. There is sufficient experience and evidence demonstrating how this can be achieved, but in most countries it requires major revisions in policies, implementation and financing strategies, and training and incentives for development agents.

__Message for Africa__: The main message is especially critical for Africa to achieve the goals set out under CAADP and other continental agreements. African countries need to enhance their capacities to share and learn from experiences with each other and from other continents, and must be open to making major changes in their traditional approaches to water and land management investments.

__Target audience__: Primarily decision-makers and practitioners, with researchers’ support