Stakeholder Participation Component

This component engages the participation of all stakeholders, especially the most vulnerable groups, in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project. It establishes a permanent dialogue framework using participatory tools. It evaluates the existing interface between experts and rural communities to identify effective mechanisms for constituting working groups, especially including women. It promotes effective linkages between researchers and rural communities at all project sites.

Participatory approaches involving farmers, herders, extensionists, researchers and others were employed from the outset, as the plans and priorities of the DMP for the GEF/UNEP Phase I were developed during 2002. National coordinating committees oversee work at benchmark sites in each member country, engaging local communities on a continuous basis, and ensuring a flow of ideas and communication across local, regional, and Africa-wide channels of the DMP.