ifwfabs14

=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
3. Emerging TWG: Research-to-Policy:



3. Title

 * Linking Applied Research to Investment Programs Increases Returns to Investment**

4. Key message/highlights

 * There are numerous useful research findings on land and rainwater management in Ethiopia, but they tend to be fragmented, too narrowly focused on specific technologies, and poorly linked to government policy and investment programs. There is a strong case for systematic planning of applied research programs and integrating them into investment programs. These should be implemented by national research organizations partnered with international institutions. This will lead to more efficient use of scarce resources and enhance the impact and therefore benefits of both research and implementation investments. **


 * //Short abstract//**

The N1 project synthesized information on 40 years of Ethiopian land and rainwater management programs. Ethiopia has a long history of large-scale research programs on land management that have produced much knowledge on land degradation, performance of soil water conservation (SWC) technologies, and the effectiveness of various policies and implementation strategies. Although there is evidence for uptake of research results, it is not systematic: research has not been well-integrated with investment programs and often does not address priority implementation and policy issues. Some donor-funded research and development programs have produced promising results but did not continue long enough to achieve real impacts. There has also been little systematic comparative research on the performance of SWC technologies.

The main lesson is that the returns to investments in both research and implementation can be dramatically enhanced by their planned integration into long-term programs. This insight is applicable to all CPWF basins.


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

**Linking Applied Research to Investment Programs Increases Returns to Investment [The Arrow Represents an Investment Program with an Integrated Research Component]***


 * Modified from KO Fuglie & PW Heisey, //Economic Returns to Public Agricultural Research//, Economic Brief No. 10. USDA Economic Research Service, September 2007.


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

__Main message__: Financing institutions and governments should include well-funded well-planned applied research in their land and water management investment programs. The marginal additional cost will result in far better outcomes of implementation programs and therefore substantially higher returns to both research and implementation investments.

__Message for Africa__: The growing level of investments to improve land and water management will bring far higher returns if applied research is integrated with investment programs with long-term perspectives and with a strong emphasis on capacity building.

__Target audience__: Researchers, financing institutions, policy makers.