Sub Saharan Africa – Challenge Program: Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site

Agriculture and natural resources contribute the largest share of the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. Agriculture contributes 42%, 40% and 24% of the GDP in DRC, Rwanda and Uganda respectively. The three countries are home to the largest tropical forests in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). DRC alone accounts for 34% of the carbon stock in Africa, the largest contribution in Africa. Additionally, in each country, a large share of the population depends on agriculture and other natural resources. Despite the importance of the agricultural and natural resource sector, public investment in agriculture in all countries is low. In order to foster the development of agriculture in such a way that it will yield improvement in the livelihood of the smallholder farmers and other stakeholders in the sector, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa proposed the Integrated agricultural research for Development (IAR4D)to foster a paradigm change in the way ARD activities are conducted. The concept is a complete deviation from the conventional method as it entails a multi-sectoral and multi-institutional style, while it uses hard and soft sciences to generate solutions to the benefits of all the stakeholders on a platform. The program aims to conduct a proof of the IAR4D concept with a rigorous research design and as such require the baseline characteristics of the test environment. The baseline survey that was arranged covers the socio-economic characteristics, NRM component and market issues. This initial measurement will serve as the major long-term measure for monitoring the succes s of the IAR4D approach. Thus, the specific objectives of the baseline documentation 1. To establish the base measure of the socio-economic, NRM and market condition thereby establishing the basis for the project monitoring and evaluation (M &E) system 2. To establish or validate the indicator targets described in the M&E system. 3. To provide information to the IP partners who will inform members regarding the actual situation at the commencement of the project and also support the design of interventions for increased impact.