General

Mercy Corps and Search for Common Ground propose a 48-month intervention to improve the socioeconomic and security conditions of about 25,000 households (150,000 men, women, girls and boys) in North Kivu province, DRC. This goal will be achieved through considering all the market actors, systems and functions – as well as contributing contextual factors – that prevent smallholder farmers and small entrepreneurs (impact group) from increasing their incomes and their food security situation. Under Strategic Objective 1, the programme will bring the government and citizenry together to allow the target population to increasingly benefit from quality and accountable state services related to land use, agricultural production and markets. Under Strategic Objective 2, FARM will strengthen and diversify agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods of target households through increasing their capacity to respond to market demand and ensuring that they sustainably access services and goods that are adapted to their needs from private and public market actors. The programme will be divided into a 6-month inception phase, followed by 2.5 years of extensive support to market actors through facilitative approaches, and one year dedicated to monitoring improved market exchanges and additional programme investments to achieve scale and sustainability. The programme will be implemented in 120 villages, selected across 5 Chefferies of the Goma Hinterland

Objectives

Outcome 1.1: Systemic constraints to land access, including conflict management systems, are inclusively improved. Outcome 1.2: Barriers to formal control of land are reduced, especially for women and youth. Outcome 2.1: Market actors from different communities collaborate to increase market access, especially for women and youth. Outcome 2.2: Market actors / institutions develop inclusive accessible by vulnerable chain actors Outcome 2.3: Joint-community planning and management improve natural resource use

General

This proposal aligns closely with 2 of the 5 agriculture and food system challenges identified in this BBSRC global challenges call namely (a) resilience of the food system to climatic variability and (b) agriculture within the context of the wider landscape. This project is designed to support environmental sustainability of important landscapes such as tropical peatlands (and the vital ecosystem services they provide) which is only possible if the socio-economic needs of local communities are combined with local knowledge. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach is a crucial component of delivering successful outcomes; this is embedded within our project. Communities living in the peatlands of SE Asia are especially relevant in this context due to their high rates of poverty and low resilience to environmental stressors (e.g. enSO-driven droughts and floods, air pollution from peat/forest fires) in conjunction with their high exposure to external market forces. The project deliberately considers both Indonesia and Malaysia to allow us to contrast the impact of different within country policies with respect to peatland management. The novelty of the project revolves around a number of interrelated features. Firstly the study will provide a comprehensive account of the status of SHA on tropical peat swamps. It will do so via a dedicated study which will develop and employ an innovative framework tailored to the specific characteristics of SHA on peatlands. Not only will this generate high quality information concerning the current status and challenges facing SHA on peatland, but the framework will provide a transferable approach which can be employed to assess SHA in different areas and is upscalable to national and regional scales. The involvement of smallholders and other stakeholders will ensure rapid translation of research findings into planned proposals for practical action. Thirdly the project employs a holistic approach drawing on, and integrating interdisciplinary knowledge across national boundaries; this integration of the biophysical understanding of the crop and peat systems within a relevant socio-economic framework forms the basis of the research approaches. Importantly, this approach will explicitly develop an understanding of key local and scientific terminology reducing barriers to interdisciplinary research and enhancing prospects for adaptation and innovation uptake. There have been livelihood benefits from previous action-led approaches collaboratively undertaken by research teams and communities. However these have been narrowly discipline based; the breadth and depth of the research disciplines within this project and the peatland environment focus will provide further novelty and opportunities for impact. Fundamentally, our proposal makes an innovative contribution to support Malaysia and Indonesia in achieving their Sustainable Development Goals, specifically in relation to reducing poverty, achieving food security and improved nutrition, promoting sustainable agriculture, reducing land degradation, and reducing (economic) inequality between and within countries.

Objectives

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

General

This project works to enable communities in Northern Uganda to establish small scale sustainable commercial farming operations generating incomes for families supporting orphans. The project will establish 3 new Farmer Co-operatives, supported by agricultural, business, financial & land-rights awareness training. It also work with whole communities to empower women to achieve equal rights and voice through training ‘Community Land Advocacy agents’ who improve understanding and respect for land rights, with a focus on wider gender and community relations. Previous projects have demonstrated this approach to be successful.

General

After decades of civil war, people in much of northern Uganda are returning home. Many are widows or orphans, with no experience of farming from a life in refugee camps. While small scale farming may feed the family, it is not enough to make significant income without help. This project works with groups of women and orphans to come together growing sunflower for sale, alongside their traditional crops. It also ensures that land ownership is defined, and works to link the groups to markets, increasing income for education, health and care for those with HIV/AIDS. The project is run through a well established Ugandan organisation. While the main programme focuses on enterprise, the climate element will allow expansion to cover wider environmental understanding and significantly reduce the risks of climate change. By increasing the range of products the project will increase the potential for profit, and also reduce vulnerability. A range of tree crops will be introduced to fix nitrogen, retain rain and reduce erosion, increase flowers for bees and provide organic inputs. Each of the 600 families will be provided with goats – these will be primarily for manure; and with bees for honey and pollination. Training and equipment will be provided, and as these replicate, offspring will be passed to other project members. A full time environmental officer will train and support a team of village level volunteers to provide support and information. This will be backed up with radio programmes and an information centre, from which community information days will be run. These inputs will support the farmers to use organic and non-destructive farming methods, and to reduce their vulnerability to unpredictable and extreme weather. Additional climate funding for this project will enable the UK and African partners to implement less vulnerable rural development projects. In this case, it will ensure that new farmers – returning from refugee camps – will learn how to adapt their farming to reduce risks. This is particularly important as their current project focuses on one crop. Additional funding will bring livestock and bees into the project, and help them (and their communities) to grow a range of new crops better able to withstand unpredictable weather.

General

The project is aimed at increasing access to land and land tenure rights as well as promoting land management and use that leads to economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainable development of communities and most vulnerable groups in Angola