INTERFACES - Supporting Pathways to Sustainable Land Management in Africa

Sustainable land management is one of the most important drivers of sustainable development in Africa. Sustainable land management should contribute to food security and social justice, mitigation and adaptation of agriculture and forestry to climate change, and nature and environmental protection. Starting in October 2022, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will fund four regional research and development projects and this accompanying project that contribute to this goal.

Project Lead:
Michael Brüntrup

Project Team:
Emmanuel Theodore Asimeng
Aiveen Donnelly

Financing:
Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF)

Time frame:
2022 - 2026 / ongoing

Co-operation Partner:

Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Ghana

West-African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), Burkino Faso

University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS), Ghana

Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (ZEF)

Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (HBRS)

Universität Bonn, Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES)

Project description

INTERFACES is an accompanying project that will support BMBF-funded regional projects in their endeavor to drive change for sustainable land management in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will do so through impact-driven support activities which build on networking for the regional projects, science communication, social learning processes and capacity development, and by complementary transfer analyses that enable or facilitate the implementation as well as improve the relevance and outreach of the regional projects' research-based findings.

To achieve changes towards sustainable land management, a fundamental reorganization is needed across technological, economic, political, institutional and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values. Changes must be gender-responsive and socially inclusive, which means that implementation pathways for sustainable land management must be based on thorough gender and power analyses and lead to outcomes that benefit both women and men of different ethnicities, ages, classes, and income levels.

INTERFACES has four work areas that together strengthen the integration, coherence and reach of the regional projects with regard to sustainable land management: 1. Knowledge synthesis through dialogues about future visions and theories of change for sustainable land management - together with the regional projects and actors from science, policy and practice, 2. Support of innovation and implementation processes by identifying change strategies to bridge knowledge-behaviour gaps, 3. Communication, networking and knowledge management and 4. Education, e.g. through the integration of teaching content into African and German graduate programs. The methods and results of the regional projects find their way into the training of project partners and students with regard to the training of future "change agents".

Publications

Plea for a stronger role for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
Brüntrup, Michael(2024)
Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), The Current Column of 17 June 2024
Improving gender-responsive innovation: adoption among smallholder farmers in Africa
Asimeng, Theodore / Peter Asare-Nuamah / David Anaafo / Tina Beuchelt / Aiveen Donelly / Benjamin Abugri(2024)
Sustainable Landmanagement Africa Briefing Series 3/2024