Project: Ethiopian Learning Landscapes/Policy Dialogue (LPFN in Ethiopia)

Project Fund: NORAD through EcoAgriculture Partners (LPFN)

Project Implementing Organization: WLRC

Project Duration: October 2014 – May 2015

Purpose:

There are many constraints to the implementation and scaling up of Integrated Landscape Management. These include a lack of skills and knowledge in the assessment of landscapes, design of interventions and tracking of impacts; weak engagement of local farmer and community organizations in decision-making; inadequate policy support; limited platforms for knowledge-sharing among leaders in landscape initiatives; and weak participation of women and youth in landscape planning and governance. Moreover, tools and approaches for farm, landscape and policy planning currently being used generally lack explicit integration of ecological, agricultural, social and economic analyses, and links between farm and landscape scale. To help address these issues, EcoAgriculture Partners, along with other co-organizers, launched the international Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative (LPFN) in 2011. With the support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), LPFN is engaging in Ethiopia --to strengthen the capacity to scale up and improve the effectiveness of integrated landscape management initiatives. The project goals are: 1) To strengthen institutional and strategic effectiveness of multi-stakeholder platforms for integrated landscape management (ILM); and 2) To enhance knowledge-sharing and policy dialogue among policy maker and leaders of integrated landscape initiatives.

The specific objectives are:

To assess the elements of Ethiopia’s current policy and institutional framework related to the implementation and scaling up of integrated landscape management from the perspectives of both civil society and policymakers;
To identify the policy needs and recommendation Ethiopian Integrated Landscape Initiatives (ILIs) of that could be addressed by national or sub-national policymakers;
To increase the awareness and understanding among national and sub-national level policymakers about integrated landscape approaches and the policy needs and recommendations of ILIs;
To facilitate a process by which landscape leaders and relevant policymakers can share their ideas on ways to improve the policy environment for ILM;
To develop an action plan for landscape leaders and policymakers to work together to improve the policy environment for ILM; and
To share experiences and learn lessons about learning landscapes in Ethiopia; and
This project is designed to support Ethiopia’s current policy processes and to support ongoing and prospective ILIs in Ethiopia.

The target of the proposed case study is Ethiopia.

Key activities:

The project will accomplish the review of landscapes in Ethiopia, integrated landscape management policy scoping, case study landscape selection and conducting landscape scoping, policy dialogue among the policy makers and landscape leaders, synthesis of policy needs and recommendations..

Contact: Dr. Gizaw Desta