Strengthening Rural Transformation Competences of Higher Education and Research Institutions in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Rural areas undergo tremendous ecological, demographic and economic transformations. Some of these transformations are harmful; others offer opportunities for improving livelihoods of farmers. In the Amhara region, Ethiopia, there is high potential for wide spread social, economic and technical transformation that gradually improves lives and livelihoods of farmers. These include technical improvements in agricultural and natural resource management, the realisation of new income opportunities, and thus the transformation from rural worlds with farmers living in poverty and social injustice to a rural society experiencing equality and prosperity. Unfortunately, higher education and research in the Amhara region are not sufficiently responsive to emerging transformation opportunities, one common constraint is widespread among the research institutions in the region: they are short of the essential human and institutional capacities to conceptually and methodologically address rural transformation through knowledge generation, training and communication of research findings that reach deep into rural communities. At the same time, only few experiences, insights and priorities of farmers and rural communities diffuse into the higher education and research system. TRANSACT helps university lecturers and researchers to respond more effectively to transformation opportunities among farmers in complex and risk-prone rural areas. A particular emphasis of this project is placed on learning and human behaviour as well as communication and collective action, especially in connection with society interactions that mediate change. This goes way beyond training conflict management skills and puts capabilities to coach farmers during transformation processes into the foreground. In the Amhara Region, agriculture takes place mostly on small-scale farms with less than one ha. These farms are extremely diverse, and one farm usually incorporates a variety of agricultural practices. Farmers combine crop and livestock production, farm forestry as well as homestead horticulture and provide ecosystem services such as soil and water conservation measures. Given the high variability of agro-ecological zones, risks, and resource constraints that rural households face, there is a need for research and development interventions that take into account household assets and the great diversity of conditions they are facing. This calls for multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder partnerships that help understanding diversified farmers’ priority constraints in the areas of livestock, crop, natural resource, socio-economic, so as to contribute and impact to the broader goals of sustainable resource use, food security and competitiveness of farming enterprises. Particular emphasis is placed on the following innovative aspects: (i) Development of interdisciplinary competences, i.e. crossing boundaries between disciplines and thinking and make use of theories, concepts and methods of all relevant study areas. (ii) Enhancing transdisciplinary skills, i.e. methods to engage in joint opportunity identification with non-academic stakeholders, notably farmers and extension in the Amhara region. (iii) Putting research-into-use, i.e. making sure that existing technologies and knowledge find their way into field application and further adaption in cooperation with farmers and communities. (iv) Territorial approach to learning, i.e. developing learning grounds in three micro-watersheds (lowlands, mid-altitudes and highlands, 250–500 ha each) within the target zone. Consortium Centre for Development Research (CDR) at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) , project coordinator | University of Gondar | Bahir Dar University | Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute | Sustainable Natural Resource Development Programme in North Gondar (SRMP-NG), associate partner.