Cultivating Agricultural Resilience through the SCALE Project
The SCALE Project, generously funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), is ushering in a future where smallholder farmers across Africa can thrive, empowered by accessible knowledge and sustainable practices to conquer climate change.
As climate change’s impacts loom larger, smallholder farming communities in Africa face an urgent challenge: how to adapt while safeguarding their livelihoods. The solution? A systematic and easily accessible knowledge-sharing platform rooted in credibility. The SCALE project steps in as a knowledge broker, dedicated to empowering the extension system.
The overarching goal of the SCALE project is to enhance the extension system’s capacity to effectively disseminate proven knowledge, information, and technology to smallholder farmers and communities. This initiative will specifically focus on Nigeria and Senegal.
Both Nigeria and Senegal represent significant agricultural landscapes within Africa, with diverse agroecological zones and varying climatic conditions. This diversity allows the project to address a wide range of challenges related to climate change adaptation and resilience building, offering valuable insights applicable to different contexts across the continent.
The SCALE project has been strategically crafted with a multi-faceted approach, aiming to achieve the following:
- Enhanced Extension System: One of the primary goals is to optimize the agricultural extension system. This involves a meticulous mapping and analysis of key actors and their respective roles within the system. By identifying opportunities for greater efficiency, collaboration, and coordination, the project aims to ensure that valuable knowledge is effectively delivered to farmers where and when it's needed most.
- Targeted Capacity Strengthening: Recognizing that the extension system's effectiveness hinges on the capabilities of its actors, the project offers tailored capacity strengthening programs. These initiatives provide essential technical support and skills enhancement, equipping extension workers and stakeholders with the necessary tools to enhance agricultural productivity and bolster resilience in the face of a changing climate.
- Promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI): Inclusivity lies at the heart of the project's mission. To ensure that all smallholder farmers, regardless of gender or social background, benefit equitably from adaptation strategies, the project conducts comprehensive reviews and documentation of proven knowledge and technologies that promote GESI within the agricultural landscape.
- Co-generation and Utilization of Knowledge: Knowledge generation and sharing are pivotal to building climate-resilient communities. The project focuses on empowering extension system actors to collaboratively generate, transfer, and effectively use proven knowledge and technology. This shared knowledge will serve as the cornerstone of sustainable, climate-resilient development.
- Digital Knowledge Exchange: In today's interconnected world, digital platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaboration. The project harnesses this potential by facilitating inclusive policies and establishing digital avenues for knowledge sharing and exchange. This ensures that every stakeholder, regardless of location or background, can actively participate in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture.
Through these multifaceted initiatives, the project strives to usher in a new era of sustainable agriculture and resilient farming communities.
ATPS will provide regular updates on the SCALE project on our website and social media handles. Stay tuned!
Written by,
Susan Aquila Mburu