TerrAfrica’s second activity line – Knowledge Management – helps partners identify, generate, and disseminate data, information, and strategic guidance that inform policy and decision making; advance mainstreaming, particularly in poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs), donor strategies, and sector plans; helps secure domestic financing; and supports the harmonization of monitoring and evaluation activities.

• Country Support Tool
• Financing and Policy Guidelines

• Food Crisis and Land: The World Food Crisis, Land Degradation, and SLM: Linkages,Opportunities and Constraints

This issue paper investigates the linkages among food prices, land degradation, and land management in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Executive Summary
• Issue Paper Preview

• Land and Climate: The Role of SLM for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa

This issue paper investigates the linkages between climate change and SLM, the opportunities and constraints to promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation through SLM, and the policy and institutional options to overcome the constraints

• Executive Summary
• Issue Paper Preview

The GEF Strategic Investment Program for sustainable land management in Sub-Saharan Africa (SIP) is an umbrella investment vehicle that provides support to Sub-Saharan countries in their efforts to scale up SLM on the ground in line with the TerrAfrica approach. The SIP will develop a harmonized, multi-agency portfolio of sequenced investment packages that can catalyze country-specific SLM programs. Taking the TerrAfrica barrier analysis as its starting point, the SIP targets elements in the enabling environment that have hindered greater uptake of SLM at multiple levels and across multiple sectors. The SIP aims to accomplish this by more efficiently leveraging GEF grants to strengthen donor alignment, harmonize land-related policy dialogue, enhance cross-fertilization and investment quality, maximize impact per dollar invested, and engage predictably over a longer timeframe. All of these are necessary conditions for donors and sub-Saharan countries alike to be able to advance SLM scale-up.

For further information see the following press release, posted on the GEF website following approval of the SIP by the GEF Council in June 2007:

Funding Boost for Fight against Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa (15 June 2007)

Key Consultations on the SIP

AMCEN Special Session on the TerrAfrica/GEF Strategic Investment Programme for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 24-25 April 2007

A special session of the African ministerial conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was convened in Burkina Faso on 24-25 April 2007 to finalize preparations for the upcoming SIP. The conference, attended by 40 members of AMCEN and a host of development partners, engaged key decision makers in a constructive dialogue regarding the country-level interventions which the SIP will be implementing, in line with the approaches developed under TerrAfrica. The high level of country and partner ownership for TerrAfrica and the SIP, and strong support for the strengthening African leadership of the SLM agenda, were also demonstrated through the signing of both a ministerial and a partner declaration of support. These can be found below:

• Declaration of the Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (April 25)
• Joint Partner Declaration (April 25)(English)

The agenda for the two day conference can be found below:

Second Regional SIP Preparation Workshop in Midrand, South Africa (July 24-26, 2006)

In Midrand, Sub-Saharan stakeholders collaborated over three days at a technical workshop convened by NEPAD to provide guidance on finalizing the design of the GEF Strategic Investment Program for SLM in Sub-Saharan Africa (SIP), which has been under preparation for the past year. The stakeholders, representing SSA governments, civil society, subregional organizations and NEPAD, UNCCD Secretariat, research organizations, as well as TerrAfrica’s multilateral partners, endorsed the general content of the program design and provided recommendations and suggestions to finalize the Program Brief, allowing for implementation in early 2007.

The proceedings available for download below in French or in English include the main recommendations from the plenary. Both files also contain the same set of annexes, which include:

• Workshop Agenda (English/French)
• Outputs from the SSA Technical Review Panel (STRP) meeting that preceeded the SIP workshop: Agenda, Recommendations, participants (all in English/French)
• Reports of breakout sessions (in only the language of the prarticular session, French or English
• Statement by countries involved in GEF CPP (English)
• List of participants
• List of acronyms (English/French)

• Proceedings of the Second TerrAfrica Regional Preparation Workshop (English)
• Proceedings of the Second TerrAfrica Regional Preparation Workshop (French)

Below are the Powerpoint presentations for each of the second regional workshop sessions:

• Session 1 Powerpoint – Overview of Workshop Objectives and Logistics (July 24, 2006)
• Session 2 Powerpoint – Overview of the SIP: Background and Rationale (July 24, 2006)
• Session 2 Powerpoint – Country and Regional Driveness (July 24, 2006)
• Session 3 Powerpoint – SIP Program Description (July 25, 2006)
• Session 4 Powerpoint – Implementation Arrangements and Stakeholders Participation (July 25, 2006)
• Session 5 Powerpoint – Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (July 26, 2006)
• Session 5 Powerpoint – Sustainability and Replicability (July 26, 2006)
• Next Steps Powerpoint (July 26, 2006)

Sub Saharan Africa Technical Review Panel Meeting in Midrand, South Africa (July 20-22, 2006)

The Sub-Saharan Africa Technical Review Panel (STRP) was established by NEPAD to advise on SIP preparation, and consists of specialists from throughout SSA. The STRP met for three days in advance of the 2nd SIP preparation workshop – the recommendations from this meeting were supportive and informed finalization of the SIP documentation.

• STRP Meeting Agenda (English and French)
• STRP Meeting Recommendations (English and French)
• STRP Meeting Participant List