REGLAP STRATEGIC PLAN

Transcription

1 REGLAP STRATEGIC PLAN Nairobi, July

2 1. Introduction This is the strategic plan for the Regional Learning and Advocacy Programme for Vulnerable Dryland Communities (REGLAP) for the period 2013 to It articulates the strategic framework that will inform the activities of the Programme during the five-year period, building on the experience, networks and resources that it has accumulated since its inception in The plan has been developed to lay the foundation for institutionalization of REGLAP, which has until now operated in successive funding cycles of no more than 18 months each, with its operations dictated by the funding mechanisms of its sole funder, ECHO. This strategy seeks among other things to expand the funding base of the Programme as a means of ensuring its sustainability. The strategic plan seeks to achieve three critical aims. Firstly, it spells out the goals that REGLAP seeks to achieve through the period of the plan. Secondly, it sets out clearly the strategies that shall be used to achieve the goals, including opportunities that shall be taken advantage of at regional and national levels, and the partnerships that shall be created to facilitate delivery of the strategies. Finally, it defines mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation and learning to help determine whether and to what extent it succeeds in achieving its goals. The plan has been developed through a participatory process that deliberately sought to engage the widest possible spectrum of stakeholders. For these purposes, stakeholders were defined as individuals, institutions, and representatives of communities with which REGLAP has engaged in the past, as well as those that it shall engage with in the future based on a shared interest in drylands development generally and resilience building in particular. A review of REGLAP was undertaken, with a particular focus on its current phase, to deepen understanding about its niche, relationships, opportunities and challenges, as well as the evolving context of drylands development and resilience building in the Horn of Africa. Although the review had of necessity to focus on the three countries which REGLAP has covered in its operations since inception, it revealed the need for REGLAP to widen its geographical coverage to include other countries of the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia, South Sudan and Djibouti the first two because they share borders with the three Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, and the last one because it houses the headquarters of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development

3 (IGAD) which is at the moment the main regional actor in the resilience agenda in the Horn of Africa. The plan is divided into six parts. Following this introduction, part 2 analyzes the context for resilience building in the drylands of the Horn of Africa regionally and within individual countries. It highlights the role of IGAD in coordinating regional planning and action to strengthen resilience within the framework of the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI), while also identifying critical policy opportunities within individual countries. Part 3 presents the strategic framework of REGLAP in terms of the vision, mission and values, underscoring the importance that REGLAP places on the need for drylands communities to be at the centre of development planning and implementation if resilience is to be achieved. Part 4 articulates the three strategic goals of REGLAP and the objectives to be pursued to achieve each goal. The three goals give effect to the core imperatives that drive the work of REGLAP, namely: placing drylands communities at the centre of development; promoting good practice in drylands development; and designing policy responses on the basis of evidence and in line with priorities of communities. Part 5 presents the programme approach, which builds on the strategies that REGLAP has used since its inception to take advantage of the niche that it has established over the period of its existence. The programme approach affirms the place of REGLAP as a broker of knowledge and skills through research and analysis; documentation and dissemination; advocacy and capacity development support, all with a view to promoting the building of resilience. Part 6 is the concluding part of the strategic plan. It addresses the staffing and funding requirements that REGLAP will need to mobilize in order to be able to deliver on its mandate. It cautions against the development of a big bureaucracy for REGLAP, noting that the fairly small coordinating team in existence at the moment has delivered quite well, and should be a pointer for the way forward. However, it is appreciated that expansion into other countries of the Horn of Africa shall require the recruitment of additional staff for those countries and backstop from the Secretariat. The section also identifies other key issues for which funding shall be required. 3

4 2. Context analysis The geographical coverage of REGLAP has always been the Horn of Africa. It has defined the challenges of drylands development from a regional perspective and sought to articulate regionwide strategies to respond to them. Thus, although it has worked directly only in three countries of the Horn of Africa Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda it has deliberately sought to generate lessons and good practice that is replicable across the entire sub-region. This has informed its engagement with regional frameworks such as the African Union (AU) and the IGAD. From the outset, REGLAP has concentrated on strategic concerns around drylands development, with its focus on the underlying causes of vulnerability in the drylands of the Horn of Africa. It is thus not surprising that REGLAP was talking resilience long before it became the catchword for drylands development that it is today. Resilience is currently the key organizing principle for drylands development and pervades regional discussions and planning to address drought, disaster, conflict, climate change and other challenges to livelihoods security and development in the Horn of Africa. The regional approach that has underpinned the work of REGLAP since its inception is now acknowledged as critical to resilience in the drylands, and has informed the emergence of regional approaches such as Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) that is concretized in the IDDRSI. Coordinated by IGAD, this initiative has mobilized regional governments of the Horn of Africa, which are member states of the Authority to work together on the design of interventions to address underlying causes of underdevelopment in the drylands, which undermine the capacity of local populations to respond to periodic droughts and other climaterelated disasters. The initiative is underpinned by the realization that droughts are not really emergencies and the fact that they have continued to wreak havoc in the sub-region is largely a function of failure of planning, development and response systems. Development partners for their part have come together under the framework of the Global Alliance for Action for Drought Resilience and Growth, which brings together the World Bank, African Development Bank the United Nations and some of its agencies, as well as bilateral aid 4

5 agencies working in the Horn of Africa and on issues of resilience 1. Launched in April 2012, the Alliance seeks to work with the political leadership of the region to change the way the international community does business and put resilience at the heart of development efforts in the drylands of Africa. Like IDDRSI, the Global Alliance privileges improved communication, coordination and collaboration within and between partners to increase aid effectiveness in the drylands of the Horn of Africa. But even outside the Global Alliance, resilience and a regional approach is currently the big idea in development discourse generally and in drylands in the Horn of Africa specifically. Virtually all development partners have designed their interventions in the sub-region along these lines. Specifically, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID, UKAid, EU, ECHO, SDC, DANIDA are all currently implementing programmes and projects in the Horn of Africa that focus on resilience and take a regional approach. However, although resilience is now on the agenda of development interventions in the Horn of Africa, a lot remains to be done in order to create consensus on what resilience means and entails for the way development work is done in the drylands. A Think Space on resilience in the Horn of Africa hosted jointly by REGLAP and the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) in Nairobi in January 2013 amply demonstrated the need to build consensus and create coherence among actors on the implications of a focus on resilience for the way development interventions are implemented. In addition, bilateral donors appeared to each have a different understanding and approach to addressing resilience in the region posing the challenge of possible duplication in resource allocation for resilience. Moreover, it is quite clear that the resilience discourse in the region has so far been driven largely by states and state-dominated frameworks such as IGAD on the one hand and bilateral donors and international development organizations on the other hand. Communities, whose resilience is the core concern, and who are the target beneficiaries of the new approach have not effectively engaged with and influenced the discourse. A case in point is the development of IDDRSI, which has had very limited participation by communities and community groups. A Non-State Actors (NSAs ) Consultative Meeting was 1 The website of the Alliance lists bilateral aid agencies of Denmark, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and USA; the UN, FAO, OCHA, UNDP and WFP; as well as CAADP and IGAD as partners in the Global Alliance ( accessed on 3 rd July 2013) 5

6 convened by IGAD in Naivasha, Kenya in October 2012 to explore how NSAs can work with IDDRSI. At the meeting, REGLAP pushed for greater involvement of communities and local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), with limited success. A Declaration made by NSAs at the end of the meeting called for their structured involvement in the design, implementation and monitoring of IDDRSI, a more systematic representation of NSAs including community representatives in the processes of the initiative, national level consultations on country plans, and the privileging of community input into defining resilience priorities. Not much has happened since, especially as regards stronger representation of community representatives in the process. Indeed, at the Nairobi Think Space in January 2013, it was noted that the problem of representation and effective participation of communities and local CSOs remains an abiding challenge in resilience work in the drylands of the Horn of Africa. This situation presents a unique opportunity for REGLAP given its record of facilitating interactions between different actors through information brokerage, capacity development support and facilitation of meetings. It is well placed to provide leadership in helping actors come to grips with resilience and to act as a bridge between the regional and national level actors. This it can do by providing support to capacity building for CSOs in the Horn of Africa to engage with IDDRSI and other regional processes from an informed position. IDDRSI is a process that has the backing of all the member states of IGAD, and for this reason, it pretty much defines the context at the country levels as well. Every IGAD member country is developing a Country Programming Paper (CPP) for implementation of IDDRSI, integrating national priorities with the regional imperatives of the initiative. There are however, specific national level realities and factors that define the local context in each country, and which will have a bearing on the opportunities for REGLAP to work in these countries. These include national policy and institutional frameworks, which differ from one country to another, as briefly outlined below Ethiopia Ethiopia is generally perceived as the most difficult country in the sub-region for CSOs to engage with policy processes, especially in view of restrictions imposed by the country s Proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies on NGOs regarding engagement with advocacy, citizenship and human rights issues. The Proclamation makes stringent and 6

7 elaborate provisions regarding composition, registration, funding and operations of charities and societies. It establishes four categories of charities and societies, namely: Ethiopian charities or societies, Ethiopian residents charities or societies, foreign charities, and mass-based societies, using the source of funding as the main criterion for the first three categories. It imposes strict controls on what charities can do and specifies that only Ethiopian charities can engage in activities aimed at the advancement of human and democratic rights; the promotion of equality of nations, nationalities and peoples and that of gender and religion; the promotion of the rights of disabled and children; conflict resolution and reconciliation; and access to justice. In effect, the law prohibits organizations that are not categorized as Ethiopian charities from working on political and social rights. So far, REGLAP has been hosted by Oxfam, which being a foreign NGO is not legally permitted to engage with issues of advocacy. It has managed to operate by articulating its work as providing support to the advancement of capacity building on the basis of the country's long term development directions, which is an area of work that foreign charities may engage in. This has worked well so far, but it is quite clear that as long as REGLAP is operating out of Oxfam, it is walking a thin line with the Proclamation on Charities and Societies and it may only be a matter of time before someone in government makes this an issue to the detriment of both REGLAP and Oxfam. REGLAP members, partners and stakeholders in Addis Ababa assert that it is possible to engage positively with both the Federal and regional governments in Ethiopia to support resilience building as long as such engagement is structured in a manner that is sensitive to the policy, legal and institutional realities of the country. In particular, provision of technical support to sector ministries and agencies provides an opening for engagement that ultimately contributes to addressing resilience building, so long as no attempt is made to advocate for policy change. A good example of this approach is the Pastoral Areas Development Working Group (PADWG) which is chaired by the Ministry of Federal Affairs while REGLAP provides secretarial support 2. Entry points for REGLAP engagement with key government frameworks relevant to resilience building include Agriculture Task Force, Rural Economic Development and Food Security (RED 2 The Working Group was established following the exchange visit to Niger and Mali by Members of Parliament, top Federal and Regional government officials and NGOs and the Pastoral Development Workshop organized to reflect on lessons learned during the visit. 7

8 &FS) Sector Working Group (SWG) and Disaster Risk Management Technical Committee (DRM TC). REGLAP can provide support to the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group and it can make use of Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) as a platform for putting across its messages. With respect to development partners, ECHO in Ethiopia has revised its strategy to place emphasis on resilience building, which brings on board a broad range of actors involved in health, nutrition, WASH, livelihoods and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), again providing a good opportunity for REGLAP to widen its linkages and influence. What is clear however is that modes of engagement that apply in Kenya and Uganda will not apply in Ethiopia. A major issue for REGLAP in Ethiopia will be to determine an appropriate institutional base for its operations. Suggestions made in this regard include being housed by intergovernmental agencies of the UN or Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) such as IGAD, as the restrictions aforesaid do not apply to these frameworks. This is however likely to pose its own challenges given that REGLAP is primarily a civil society initiative, and perceives UN, intergovernmental agencies and RECs as legitimate targets for policy influencing. It is evident that REGLAP has created positive linkages with technical staff of relevant Federal level ministries and with regional governments through which it has thus far been able to support processes that have a bearing on resilience building. Going forward, it will be necessary to explore appropriate institutional arrangements that will allow REGLAP to continue playing this positive role in Ethiopia. The current arrangement may be maintained with appropriate adjustments to address the fears expressed above. The option of being housed within a UN agency, intergovernmental organization or REC may also be considered subject to the reservations already stated. Another option is to find ways of working through and with mass-based societies such as Pastoralists Forum Ethiopia (PFE) which have no restrictions with regards to policy influencing, although this too has its challenges. Mass-based organizations have their own internal dynamics that as an external actor REGLAP may not easily understand, and they have significant capacity constraints. A final possibility is for REGLAP to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government to provide technical backstopping for capacity development for resilience building. This way, REGLAP would become an international or foreign organization operating in Ethiopia 8

9 by virtue of an agreement with the Federal Government, and would thereby be exempt from the provisions of the Proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies. It is a long shot and the bureaucracy involved in getting it might be quite extensive, but it is clearly a possibility within the framework of the law Kenya REGLAP has been based in Kenya since its inception. It thus comes as no surprise that it has had fairly significant engagement with policy processes and institutions in Kenya. But this is also due in part to the conducive policy context in Kenya over the past few years with regards to drylands development generally and resilience in particular. More than any other country in the region, Kenya has made significant gains in the evolution of appropriate policies and institutional arrangements for resilience building in the drylands. The creation in April 2008 of the Ministry of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands opened up the policy context for the design of appropriate strategies to address the underlying causes of vulnerability in the drylands, popularly known in Kenya as the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). From the outset, the Ministry focused its attention on addressing what it perceived as the policy and institutional constraints to the development of the ASALs, arguing that the persistence of vulnerability in these regions of the country was in large part a function of the absence of appropriate policy responses on the one hand and the implementation of inappropriate development interventions on the other hand 3. To counteract these inappropriate policy approaches to the development of the ASALs, the Ministry spearheaded the mainstreaming of ASALs priorities and unique concerns into national development planning. Vision 2030 Development Strategy for Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands was put in place to integrate ASALs issues into Vision 2030, the national development blueprint. Sessional Paper No. 8 of 2012 on the National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands was adopted and launched to guide the long-term development of the ASALs with a focus on establishing the foundations for development (roads, energy, ICTs, water, education, health and security); developing alternative approaches to service delivery that are appropriate to the ASALs, and strengthening resilience to climate change. 3 Moving beyond the rhetoric: the challenge of reform in Kenya s drylands. IIED Briefing, April 2013 (available to download at 9

10 REGLAP engaged actively with the Ministry and other actors to support development of the Policy and is expected to continue to engage with its implementation. The Ministry also saw to the establishment of an institutional framework that is expected to ensure the gains made during the life of the Ministry are sustained even as it has ceased to exist and its functions have been taken up by other ministries in the restructured government that came into place following the 2013 elections and in compliance with the dictates of the Constitution of Kenya These institutions include: the ASAL Secretariat, the ASAL Stakeholders Forum and the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA). REGLAP has established positive linkages with these institutions from the outset and should be able to continue providing support to their work. Outside of government, IAWG and the ASAL Alliance have emerged as possible 4 fora for the convening and coordinating actors working in ASAL development. Through them REGLAP can meaningfully make a contribution and exert influence to promote best practice for strengthening resilience, given that it already has good working relations with them. These developments in Kenya provide significant policy opportunities for the work of REGLAP. There still exist major gaps between the promise that these policy-related developments hold and the actual practice of development action at the community level. Lack of awareness about these policy developments on the part of communities coupled with pervasive lack of capacity for policy engagement on the part of communities and their representative groups undermine the potential for monitoring that is imperative for ensuring that policies are implemented. Similarly, lack of coordinated approaches to policy engagement on the part of CSOs reduces their potential to influence government decisions and actions. However, the stated developments and the changes in governance and development planning occasioned by the implementation of devolution provide cause for optimism. REGLAP is a recognized brand in mobilization of dryland CSOs and is well positioned therefore to contribute to the consolidation of these gains as it implements this strategic plan. 4 The ASAL Alliance is very loose in the process of formulating itself as a function alliance. The IAWG is very broad although at this time has been focused primarily on the drylands. 10

11 2.3. Uganda Uganda presents a difficult and challenging context for policy advocacy generally and advocacy to build drylands resilience specifically. 11 The National Resistance Movement (NRM) government, which has been in power for nearly three decades now 5, has a mixed record with regards to policy and citizen influence. It came to power on a platform of change, turned around the fortunes of the country after years of misrule first by military dictator Iddi Amin, and then by a number of successive short-term regimes that lasted between the ouster of Amin in 1979 and the NRM takeover. The NRM government speedily re-established law and order, set the economy on course and embarked on rehabilitating the country s physical infrastructure. It oversaw a highly participatory constitution-making process that delivered in 1995 what was at the time the most progressive constitution in the sub-region. In the process, democracy and human rights was enhanced, space for civic participation opened up and a strong civil society emerged, engaging effectively with such diverse issues as human rights, gender equality, environment, HIV/AIDS, land rights, and poverty alleviation. In time however, civil society came to face new challenges. As the Movement clamped on multiparty politics, it locked horns with civil society organizations, which came to be seen as fronting for Opposition politicians. Although civil society remains active in the country today, there are many hindrances to their effectiveness. More than two decades of NRM control of the state apparatus has institutionalized a form of militarized politics that tends to undermine and constrain civic space. With regards to drylands and resilience, a key constraint in the policy context is the Karamoja factor. The drylands in Uganda are co-extensive with the Karamoja region, although agropastoral livelihoods are found all along the cattle corridor that extends from the South West to the North of the country. This association of drylands and resilience discourse with Karamoja has tended to ethnicize the discourse and to subject it to the dynamics of Karamoja politics which has its own innate complications. In recent years, the government has shown renewed interest in Karamoja. The appointment of the First Lady as the Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs and the subsequent elevation of the 5 It was took over power when the National Resistance Army romped into Kampala in January 1986 under the leadership of YoweriMuseveni who has held the Presidency of the country since.

12 position to a full ministerial portfolio following the last general elections have raised the political profile of the region. This is both good and bad for the resilience discourse. It is good because Karamoja is now at the centre of political attention; but bad because of the vision the First Lady and by extension the government has for the region. The perception of Karamoja that informs the Minister/First Lady s vision is that of a region and livelihood system characterized by poverty and vulnerability, which is out of place in a modern society and is in any case not sustainable 6. The Minister/First Lady is keen to transform Karamoja and integrate it into the national economy and is going about this through strategies that do not take into account the ecological realities of the region. In the pursuit of this vision, government has tended to ignore the ecological and cultural realities that underpin the practice of agro-pastoralism. In particular, the government has exhibited hostility to mobility, seeing it as a backward practice that undermines development and engenders conflict 7. This creates a major challenge for advocacy on resilience in the drylands of Uganda, but also provides an opportunity for REGLAP to use evidence-based advocacy to inform engagement with the government. Other policy and institutional opportunities for REGLAP include a strong national policy on disaster risk management, the ongoing process for development of a rangelands policy, efforts to institutionalize a Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) and the development a national climate change policy. REGLAP was, through its national focal point in Uganda involved in the process of developing crossborder animal disease surveillance framework between Kenya and Uganda, created a strong partnership with the civil society coalition on pastoralism Coalition of Pastoral Civil Society Organizations (COPACSO), as well as with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF), and local government in Karamoja. These provide critical entry points for engaging with policy processes around resilience building Opportunities for expansion: Somalia, South Sudan and Djibouti The new discourse on resilience in the drylands of the Horn of Africa acknowledges the need for a regional approach that allows for cross-border planning and implementation consistent with the spread of drylands ecological systems, the cross-border spread of drylands communities, and the 6 Simon Levine. What to do about Karamoja? why pastoralism is not the problem but the solution: a food security analysis of Karamoja. FAO/ECHO, September COPACSO.Pastoralism, a system under threat.new Vision, June 27 th

13 fact that their livelihoods are founded on transactions and interactions that transcend national borders. This regional approach has informed the emergence of IGAD as the framework of choice to facilitate the resilience agenda in the sub-region, based on its mandate that covers all the countries of the Horn of Africa. REGLAP has operated as a regional initiative from the outset, but with its presence limited to Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The need for it to extend its presence beyond these three countries to cover the rest of the Horn of Africa has been expressed by many stakeholders. This is important not just because there are other countries in the sub-region that need the kind of interventions that REGLAP undertakes, but also to give credence to its claims of a regional mandate. Moreover, in order for REGLAP to exercise effective influence with IGAD, it is important that the Members States are able to see it as having direct influence in the individual countries. As such, REGLAP shall during the period of this strategic plan, take steps to expand its presence to the other member countries of IGAD. Particular attention shall be paid in this regard to Somalia and South Sudan which share boundaries with the three countries it has operated in so far, as well as to Djibouti which hosts the headquarters of IGAD. Somalia is of strategic importance to the discourse on resilience in the drylands of the Horn of Africa. Experience has shown that any deterioration in the situation in Somalia ultimately impacts on Ethiopia and Kenya, not least because Somali communities live on both sides of the borders with these countries. Opportunities for policy development and implementation in Somalia have improved significantly over the past year. Adoption of a new constitution in August 2012 and the election of a new President the following month marked a new start for the troubled country. The United Nations, IGAD, donors and other development actors are initiating interventions to support the country restore law and order and secure livelihoods. An important part of this new impetus has to do with building resilience in the drylands of Somalia that border Ethiopia and Kenya. In this regard, there is serious need to support the development of capacity for civil society, communities and local governments, an area in which REGLAP can potentially play an important role. In considering opportunities for working in Somalia, REGLAP shall also look into possibilities of engagement with resilience building processes in Somaliland and Puntland. Somaliland is widely acknowledged as a successful experiment in state-building and has over the years put in place 13

14 formal governance structures to enhance democracy and development. The Government of Somaliland does however face significant challenges related to institutional and technical capacity. A similar challenge exists with regards to civil society, requiring the kind of support that REGLAP has offered in the three countries of its operations to-date. Puntland is generally less stable than Somaliland, but faces pretty much the same challenges with regards to capacity for resilience building. It is a de facto autocracy in which clan heads are the main power wielders. However, the traditional leaders are keen to project themselves as more than just a collection of clans, and are engaged in state building projects that privilege development of policies and institutions, including those for the building of resilience. These conditions provide opportunities for REGLAP to engage with the leadership and the fledgling civil society to advance the resilience agenda and integrate the area into on-going regional processes. South Sudan is the newest member of the international community, with opportunities and challenges in near equal measure. It shares borders with all the three countries that REGLAP has worked directly in since inception, has a significant livestock sector and agro-pastoral population. The issues that REGLAP has focused on in the three countries have equal or even of more relevance to South Sudan, and many of them cannot be effectively addressed in the three countries if they are not addressed in South Sudan. It has a fledgling civil society that requires support for capacity building and networking with counterparts in neighbouring countries to learn from their experiences and to effectively influence the development of policies for resilience building. These circumstances present huge opportunities for REGLAP to engage and expand its influence and reach. REGLAP should also seek a stronger engagement with the resilience discourse in Djibouti. The country is vulnerable to drought and other climate change induced disasters, making the resilience discourse relevant to its government and people. More importantly for REGLAP it houses the headquarters of IGAD with which REGLAP is poised to interact more and more in its support for resilience building in the sub-region. REGLAP shall also seek to engage with resilience building in the Republic of Sudan. Though a bit distant from the core of REGLAP, it is a key member of IGAD. Moreover, Sudan has significant drylands, shares borders with South Sudan and Ethiopia, and is thus relevant to the 14

15 resilience discourse in the region. Movement of livestock between Sudan and South Sudan is a key coping strategy for its livestock keepers, with an important bearing on resilience discourse between the two countries, and which is best addressed within the framework of IGAD. In sum, as countries in the Horn of Africa come to grips with the challenges of resilience in their drylands, the demand for the work that REGLAP does in documenting and promoting good practice, influencing appropriate policy and institutional responses through evidence-based advocacy, and enhancing capacity of communities and civil society to better engage with national and regional policy processes will become increasingly relevant and important. Building on the foundation of its engagement with these issues over the past five years, REGLAP has the opportunity to expand and deepen its engagement within individual countries and across the region. 15

16 3. Strategic Framework: Vision, Mission and Values 16

17 The strategic framework of REGLAP is informed by one critical concern, namely, to ensure drylands communities, their priorities, knowledge and systems are at the centre of development interventions that seek to promote resilience. This is at the heart of the REGLAP s theory of change and underpins its vision, mission, and values (see Box). REGLAP s theory of change is that resilience building is only possible with the active and informed participation of communities living in the drylands. In this regard, all the members of these communities, in their full diversity must be at the centre of development processes, defining and driving both the content and the pace of development interventions. 17 This theory of change integrates a rights-based approach to development with the imperatives of self-determination as the basis for securing livelihoods and promoting sustainable development in the drylands. REGLAP will contribute to the realization of this vision for the drylands by providing support to development actors aimed at ensuring that development interventions are designed and implemented in a manner that responds to the priorities of drylands communities and with their informed and effective participation. It shall provide such support by researching, documenting and disseminating good practice of drylands development, promoting evidence-based policy making and implementation, and strengthening capacities of communities and civil society to better and more effectively engage with national, regional and global policy processes and institutions to build resilience. Vision Communities in the drylands of the Horn of Africa are empowered and at the centre of all resilience and development interventions Mission To ensure all stakeholders are working in synergy to support humanitarian and development policy and practice that is community-centered and prioritizes the root causes of vulnerability Values 1. Protection of the rights of all individuals in the drylands to full participation in their development 2. Transparency, accountability, collaboration and synergy of all actors REGLAP pursues its vision and mission within the framework of a commitment to core values that privilege drylands communities and their participation in planning and implementation of development interventions aimed at promoting resilience. Putting drylands communities at the centre of their development processes requires on the one hand respect for them and their

18 priorities, and on the hand the facilitation of their full, effective and informed participation in development planning and implementation. It also requires coherence in development planning and implementation, which is only possible when all stakeholders are transparent in their operations, inclusive in their approaches and take deliberate steps to build synergy. REGLAP is alive to the fact that communities in the drylands are not homogeneous entities in which interest cohere around the same priorities across the board. Rather, there is significant diversity between and within communities which is often manifested in power, income and influence disparities that if not adequately factored into development planning and interventions may be escalated by such interventions. In particular, gender disparities within communities are an important factor in mediating power relations and allocating resources and benefits within and between households and communities. Thus, REGLAP shall remain vigilant to these disparities in the conduct of its interventions and interactions with communities, and shall work with representatives of the diverse groups within the said communities to ensure a proper balance between respect for communities ways of doing things and the human rights imperatives of equality and equity. To this end, REGLAP shall endeavour to ensure that those with whom it engages in their capacity as representatives of communities truly represent the diversity of the said communities and are properly grounded within those communities. Appropriate strategies for ensuring such representativeness and legitimacy shall be developed in consultation with the communities that REGLAP shall engage with. 18

19 4. Strategic Objectives and Outcomes The Table below presents the strategic goals of REGLAP and the objectives to be pursued with respect to each of them. Strategic Objectives/goals 1. Equitable representation of dryland communities in their own development 2. Key stakeholders policy and practice is based on community priorities and evidence based good practice and are working in synergy Outcomes 1. Communities (including vulnerable groups) defining development pathways 2. Drylands advocacy groups capacities improved 3. Community groups understanding of drylands policies improved 4. Communities engagement with regional and national policy processes and implementation increased 1. Stakeholder-owned, evidence based good practice is developed and disseminated; 2. A; ll actors adopt and implement evidence based good practice in policies and programmes 3. Consultation and monitoring by communities for all initiatives 4. Stakeholders are working in synergy towards a coherent community owned vision of development in the drylands SG 1: Equitable representation of dryland communities in their own development This strategic goal is at the core of what REGLAP stands for and underpins its work in resilience building. 19 REGLAP believes that resilience in the drylands is only possible when the communities are at the centre of development planning and implementation. This means that communities must be fully involved in defining the challenges, designing the strategies for addressing them, implementing interventions that put those strategies in practice, and monitoring and evaluating the impacts of the said interventions. REGLAP will support the development of appropriate capacities for communities to meaningfully engage with these processes. It shall support communities and community groups to better understand national and regional policies and policy processes on resilience, and to

20 develop the skills for engagement with these processes to influence policy content and monitor implementation. In particular, REGLAP working with partners in the platform shall support drylands communities to engage with and monitor the implementation of IDDRSI both at individual country level and regionally. SG 2: Key Stakeholders Policy and Practice is based on community priorities and evidence based good practice and are working in synergy This strategic goal is critical for institutionalizing development approaches that will build and sustain resilience in the drylands. From its inception, REGLAP has focused on promoting the adoption of good practice among key stakeholders. Appreciating that development and resielince actors invest most of their time and resources in project implementation, often under immense pressures dictated both by local contexts and donors demands and timelines, REGLAP seeks to support such actors to analyze and document their experiences and good practices so that these are made available to others and used to inform action. This is an integral part of monitoring and evaluation of development practice to determine impact and establish what works and what does not work. Conversely, it is through rigorous monitoring and evaluation that development of good practice can be generated, adopted and implemented. REGLAP will support development actors in the drylands in this regard by developing methodologies for monitoring, impact assessment and generation of good practice and disseminating the same in partnership with other institutions. The IDDRSI process will be an important focus of this work over the period of this strategic plan. REGLAP acknowledges the importance of government policy for influencing the way development is done in the drylands. Not only are governments the primary duty bearers for the development of the drylands; they are also by far the biggest players in drylands development and the ones best placed to ensure sustainability of interventions. Generating evidence to inform the design and implementation of government policies for the development of the drylands is important for ensuring that the policies are grounded on experience and good practice, and for ensuring that they take into account and advance the priorities of communities. REGLAP shall provide support to governments in this regard through research, analysis and documentation on the one hand, and by using evidence so generate to engage with governments and other actors on drylands development approaches. 20

21 5. Programme Approaches REGLAP has established a niche in documentation, analysis and dissemination of good practice and evidence for drylands development generally and resilience building in particular. It has effectively become a knowledge broker for actors in drylands resilience building promoting interaction between different levels of actors and providing feedback both horizontally between categories of actors and vertically between communities and national, regional and global frameworks. It is this niche that will define the approaches that REGLAP employs over the strategic plan period. It shall undertake policy-oriented action research, documentation and dissemination, direct advocacy, and capacity development to support advocacy for resilience building in the drylands of the Horn of Africa Research and analysis REGLAP is not a research institution and it does not have the capacity to undertake elaborate primary research. However, it has in the past facilitated targeted research to provoke and inform reflection and discourse on key issues pertaining to resilience building in the drylands. Such research as it has undertaken has been aimed at reviewing, updating and consolidating existing research with a view to building the evidence to inform debate. As such its research has entailed largely desk reviews of existing literature and targeted key informant interviews. This, rather than primary research is where it is best placed to add value. Over this strategic plan period, REGLAP shall continue to undertake targeted and strategic research on its core thematic areas of engagement, namely: land, water, crop agriculture, education and economic empowerment. These are critical sectors with direct bearing on resilience in the drylands. In recent years, increasing attention has been focused on large-scale land acquisitions in the drylands for agriculture, infrastructure, or extractive industries. The impact of these acquisitions on local livelihoods opportunities are the subject of much reflection and discussion in the Horn of Africa as in other parts of the African drylands. REGLAP shall closely monitor this discourse and undertake such research and analysis as will contribute to informed debate and generate evidence for appropriate policy responses. It shall seek through such research and analysis to contribute to the domestication of the African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa with a particular focus on the drylands. 21

22 Water projects are a major component of development interventions in the drylands. The link between water and other strategic resources that support livelihoods in the drylands means that the nature, scale, and location of water projects has a direct and lasting bearing on access to and control of those strategic resources. REGLAP is keen to promote good practice of water resources development in the drylands, and shall continue the work that has been initiated by its Regional Learning Group on Water. Throughout the sub-region there is renewed interest in the implementation of irrigated agriculture in the drylands. A recent study by REGLAP has demonstrated significant challenges to drylands livelihoods arising from this interest. What governments see as green belts in the drylands, and which they are targeting for irrigated agriculture are often the dry season grazing areas that constitute strategic resources for livestock. Their indiscriminate conversion to farmlands may seriously undermine livelihoods in the drylands. REGLAP shall build on the recent study to support evidence-based advocacy on the matter in collaboration with other actors. REGLAP is interested in education because it is critical for building resilience. It shall conduct research and analysis to generate evidence for best practice in education, with a view to promoting appropriate content and delivery of education for resilience building in the drylands. It shall also identify and engage with other thematic and sectoral issues on the basis of demands from stakeholders Documentation and dissemination of good practice and evidence Documentation and dissemination of good practice effectively defines the purpose for which REGLAP was established. It is what has defined the character of REGLAP, and what is has come to be known for. It has published and disseminated a large number of publications in both hard and soft copies. The REGLAP webpage on the DRR website hosts a large number of documents including an annual journal, technical briefs and good practice principles touching on different aspects of drylands resilience. It also provides links to websites of different organizations working on drylands and resilience issues at the global, regional and national levels. 22

23 REGLAP will continue to document and disseminate good practice and evidence for the promotion of resilience. It shall build on dissemination methods that it has used so far, while also looking into new and innovative methods of dissemination including greater use of social media Direct advocacy REGLAP undertakes direct advocacy with governments, intergovernmental agencies and development partners through meetings. It also organizes forums on topical issues, media events, think spaces and exhibitions with the objective of influencing policy and action based on its research, analyses and good practice documentation. It shall continue to do this, especially with IGAD, other intergovernmental agencies, donors and international NGOs. As regards direct advocacy with governments, REGLAP will increasingly to do this in partnership with national CSOs, with a view to strengthening their capacities for advocacy. It shall also support community groups and local CSOs to advocate directly with local governments in the different countries Capacity building support to communities and national CSOs Capacity building for communities and national CSOs is critical for achieving resilience in the Horn of Africa. REGLAP will continue to support community groups and national CSOs to better understand policies and policy processes and to develop policy analysis and advocacy skills for effective engagement policy making and implementation processes. As is evident from the context analysis, the policy context for resilience at both regional and national levels is constantly changing and becoming ever more complex. There is increased interconnectedness between global, regional and national policies, and actors at the local level need to appreciate these linkages in order to be effective in their advocacy. The IDDRSI process is a good example of this interface as national processes are being articulated on the basis regional imperatives that are in turn informed by and depend on global action for their implementation. REGLAP has a history of providing support to communities and local CSOs to understand and better engage with regional and national policy processes. It has done this through training workshops at the community level and the development and dissemination of information, 8 REGLAP is aware that CSO space is not open in all IGAD countries and this will require differences in approach around direct advocacy. 23