Semi-arid Areas in Transition: Livelihood Security, Socio-ecological Variability and the Role of Development Interventions in East Africa
This was a three-year project that dealt with livelihood strategies in semi-arid regions of East Africa that were exposed to global climatic change and underwent rapid transition due to migration, changing access regimes, resource use conflicts, and increasing relevance of center-periphery asymmetries, and limitations in governance. It comprised two sub-projects: The first focused on vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation processes of rural poor under these dynamic conditions. Special emphasis was thereby put on the importance of multi-strategies – including their multi-locality – and aspects of gender and generational divides from a livelihood perspective. Building on these insights, the second sub-project examined the role of development interventions from a livelihood perspective and identified structural and procedural properties important in approaches to reduce poverty and enhance the resilience and adaptive capacities of the rural poor. The project is based on case studies in four regions of Kenya (Kibwezi/ Makueni Corridor and Laikipia Region) and Tanzania (Dodoma/Singida Corridor and Pangani Region) and applied a comparative approach. The project was built on a network of senior scientists and included two post-doc, four Ph.D., and eight master's studies.
Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme (ESAPP)
ESAPP's mission was to promote Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and Sustainable Regional Development (SRD) in Eastern and Southern Africa utilizing integrated concepts and innovative tools, research and research partnerships, capacity building, and development support, based on partnership activities involving individuals and institutions inside and outside the region, thereby attempting to enhance economic development, social welfare, and ecological sustainability. The Programme was implemented by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern under the contractual agreement with, and funding by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). CETRAD is the ESAPP's Focal Point for Kenya and Regional Node for the region, which includes five other countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar).
BIA Project
This project was launched in June 2009 by a consortium of European, African, and Central American academic institutions. The BIA project investigated the opportunities and risks related to the production and utilization of biofuels in East Africa and Central America. The main objective of the BIA project was to develop an enhanced information and knowledge basis upon which sustainable and pro-poor development strategies and policies on biofuel production could be designed and implemented by development partners and governments in both the North and the South. A focus on Jatropha Curcas was chosen, as this feedstock is considered to have high potential in marginal areas, and because a strong increase in its production was expected in East Africa. The project intended to assess the opportunities and risks of increased Jatropha production, appraise its social and environmental impacts and develop decision support tools for sustainable bioenergy production in East Africa. To achieve these goals, four complementary modules were implemented by the project partner institutions
Module 1 - Crop growth and processing: Assessment of sustainable bioenergy production potentials and processing of Jatropha biomass in different production systems and under different environmental and cultural settings
Module 2 - Impacts of biofuel production: Case-study-based research on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of biofuel production in the local context as well as life cycle assessments of various Jatropha value chains.
Module 3 - Global policy, trade, and certification: Analysis of the influence of external socio-political and economic decision-making processes on the region and local biofuel production processes in Eastern Africa and Central America
Module 4 - Potentials of biofuel in Eastern Africa: Up-scaling of finding from the three other modules because of providing relevant decision-making and planning tools at the national and regional levels in Eastern Africa. Strong focus on spatial analysis and modeling.