FMNR: Achieving Scale Up

Achieving Scale Up.

“I visited 385 agricultural programs in 95 countries.

Very few programs have scaled up.

The FMNR story is unique”.

Roland Bunch.International Agricultural Consultant.

“If you only focus on landscape restoration you will fail. If you focus on changing mindsets you will succeed.” Aba Hawi, Abreha Weatsbha, Tigray, Ethiopia.

“Thousands of projects have come through here but this one - there is no comparison, if we are the judges. We have nothing but our environment. Since we started working with FMNR we have already started seeing the benefits that we have not seen with any other project.

The type of benefits we see pushes me sometimes to leave my home and just walk through my field to appreciate the trees and environment. When things get to where they need to be, we will see more yields and the path will be clear”. Female farmer, Senegal.

How big an impact do you want to have?

• Farmers group level?

• ADP level?

• Catchment level?

• Landscape level?

• Regional level?

• Country level?

• International level?

Dream/Pray!

Please write down your goal –

how big an impact do you want to have?

2010

2015

2013

2015

2013

2012

Tony’s goal: FMNR in 100 countries by 2020.

“You need to see cabbages in your head, before you see them in the ground.”

Sanchez. Human Farm

Confronting wrong thinking.Eliaz Sanchez, confronted beliefs head on. He helped people to change their paradigm of themselves, their world and their God. They moved from negative defeatism to victory. He convinced peasant farmers that they were gifted people and that they could change their lot in life. “It is like a battle he says, over the hearts and minds of the people to drop ‘wrong thinking’ about themselves, their community, their farms and God and to adopt right thinking – that they are children of God, that working with others they can achieve much more than they can alone or against others, that their farms are capable of producing much much more than at present and that God cares for them and loves them and is close at hand.  Sanchez says “you have to grow cabbages in your head before you can see them in the ground.”. I think that what he is getting at is, you have to believe that it is possible for it to actually happen. Unless people can dream, can see in their minds-eye, cabbages growing in their fields, it will be impossible for them to grow them.

Human Farm.

Think of your favourite teacher.What was the chief characteristic which set him/her apart?

Factors of scale up

1.Visibility

2.Relevance to adopters – saleable products

- Impact on soil fertility, yield & reliability of crops

- Livestock survive and thrive

3. Build on what people already know

Build on people’s aspirations. Look for and build up strong leaders.

“We go to sleep at night dreaming about how to improve our land and our life. Help us to help Tigray’s dreams come true”.Aba Howi.

4. Contextualize – use local language, idioms, ideas..

Beysatol

Naba tintuug lebge tii

5. Simple message e.g. East Sumba – two things “Stop burning + start pruning”.

6. Inspire others

.

The tree stumps never cease to excite me.......Stumps were not quite visible where we began. When we got to a typical tree stump I could not resist my excitement. Apparently the group noticed my radiant face and asked for the reason. I explained the secret of FMNR- to release the underground forest to come to the surface.

A lady remarked, “Ahaa! Is that what we should be looking for, and I was doing a horrible thing to burn tree stumps in my farm so that later I could dig them out for firewood.” We were standing in her farm. From then on we were like game hunters, chasing living stumps.

Bishop Simon Chiwanga, Tanzania.

7. Teach as many people as possible:

Win the hearts and minds of a critical mass of people.

8. Achieve a multiplier effect

a) Use demonstration sites, pilot areas, model farmers

b) Facilitate exchange visits

c) Train farmer trainers (Farmer to Farmer)

American dust bowl experience:“We kept thinking that tomorrow things would change. You didn’t try something different but you just tried it harder, the same thing that didn’t work.”

Let’s work smarter – not harder.

Awareness Creation / Mobilization through workshops and conferences.

• Religious leaders

• Traditional leaders

• National/local Government

• Government services (agriculture, forestry, Education)

• Research Institutes / Universities

• Other NGO’s

• CBO’s, FBO’s,

• Youth/Children, (schools, scouts, girl guides…) Women and men

• Environment groups

• Farmers and herders

• Merchants• Media

Engage all stakeholders.

“If our parents kept destroying the environment at the rate that they were, when we grow up, we would not be able to have children of our own, because we would not be able to feed them.”

School boy, Senegal.

“This tree used to be my enemy. I burnt the stump every year to get rid of it. Since learning about FMNR it has become my friend, and I am so pained that I ever tried to destroy it.”Mr. Marimo Mbijima, Kongwa, Tanzania.

Many governments have a Top Down approach to tree and forest management.

Bottom Up

Farmer to

Farmer

Farmers quickly become the biggest promoters of FMNR – how can we foster this?

Farmer to Farmer

+ Top Down(Government / NGO)

+ Bottom Up (Community /individuals)

+ NGO’s + Research

Use mass media

• Newspapers• Radio• Song• Drama• Stories

- Text messages

- video

Set up FMNR networks -for strength in numbers, -mutual encouragement, -learning opportunities, -healthy rivalry

-

Gov’t granted Legal Forest User Rights.

Forest User Rights

2. Cooperative formation.

4. FMNR training and management plan developed.

3. By-laws

established.

Certified Wood Market establishedBase price for wood: farmer33% profit – farmer33% profit – social committee33% profit – forestry service.

Facilitate Market linkages

Do we need more policies

Or

More action-cies?