Site stakeholder workshops report for Mbire and Murehwa

The concept of agroecology is rapidly gaining recognition in science, practice, and social dimensions as a sustainable approach to improving food and nutrition security and livelihoods. A set of 13 principles described by the High-Level Panel of Experts on food and nutrition security and 10 elements described by FAO are prominent in the agroecology discourse, encompassing productivity, economic, environmental, social and human concerns. (HLPE High Level Panel of Expert, 2019; Muchero & Greenberg, 2022). In congruence with these approaches, the CGIAR launched a research and scaling project, focusing on agroecology, the AEI, in seven countries. The AEI defines agroecology as “an approach to food production that harnesses nature’s goods and services whilst minimising adverse environmental impacts, and improves farmer-consumer connectivity, knowledge co-creation and inclusive relationships among food system actors”. The activities in each location are framed within key, prioritized value chains to enable operationalization. The AEI is organized into work packages (WPs), one of which focuses on the policy environment. Work package 4 (WP4) was designed to identify policies and local institutions that favour or limit AE transitions, as well as enable opportunities for policy integration in support of scaling and to develop innovations that contribute to the solution of bottlenecks. This report details the WP4 initial engagements with local stakeholders in the two participating districts in Zimbabwe, ahead of designing policy innovations for policy integration in the communities. It builds on a policy scan which resulted in a summary of a shortlist of the policy instruments that are critical for agroecology transitioning. Key policies were drawn from agriculture, climate change, natural resources and the environment sectors. In Zimbabwe, policies with a bearing on agriculture are held by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development. The Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry holds the departments responsible for, and hence the policies for environment, climate change and natural resources, except for water, which is held by the ministry responsible for agriculture, and was promulgated by a stand-alone ministry for water at the time of development. There are many overlaps between these sectors. The national policy for gender was also included, which comes from a stand-alone ministry for women’s affairs. A review of these policies provided the initial list of key stakeholders from various government departments and units.In each of the two districts where the AEI is being implemented in Zimbabwe, that is Murehwa and Mbire, activities are implemented in two wards. The project seeks to facilitate the co-creation and co-development of agroecological practices and policies in such a way that at the end of the project, the processes are sufficiently institutionalized to sustain future progress. The global project goal in these communities is to enhance yields, environmental integrity, social cohesion, human dimensions, and economic viability, as defined by agroecological principles. The project works through the concept of ALLs that are defined by physical boundaries/territories within which participants are drawn that have a stake/interest in the agroecology transition.The stakeholders in these local communities have varying “skin in the game” or stakes in implementing the policies and the transition towards agroecology. Some are custodians of the policies to the extent that they have a key role in supervising the implementation of the different policies. Some are key in supporting through funding and/or training in the activities/ practices that promote the agroecology transition. Other stakeholders are only guided by the policies but have no direct mandate or capacity regarding policymaking or policing. It is important to understand the different interests and influences of the stakeholders in formulating and operationalizing agroecological policies. Understanding these power dynamics will help determine the most plausible transition pathway from conventional agriculture to agroecological approaches. These dynamics have a bearing on the success or failure of the project. Hence, the initiative needs to understand them, to facilitate synergetic relationships towards establishing the previously defined agroecology vision of the communities and institutionalizing agroecology in the communities. A series of stakeholder workshops were conducted in the two districts to facilitate a descriptive stakeholder analysis with the objectives: (i) identify the agroecology stakeholders in the communities, (ii) categorize the stakeholders into homogenous groups of influence and interest, and (iii) identify key opportunities and challenges that can be anticipated and (iv) decide on some means of communication that can be used to keep stakeholders engaged appropriately.