Background
The Smallholder Systems Innovations (SSI) programme was an applied research initiative which started in January 2004, and was funded by the Swedish and Dutch governments through SIDA, WOTRO, DGIS and by UNESCO-IHE and IWMI. The programme was a multidisciplinary applied research programme with direct relevance to rural development. It addressed the environmental, social and institutional conditions required to enable a sustainable upgrading of rainfed agriculture among smallholder farmers in water scarce tropical and sub-tropical environments.
The programme involves five interacting R&D components:
- Adaptive and participatory identification, development and assessment of system innovations in rainfed farming systems.
- Spatial analysis of potential and criteria for upscaling of system innovations at watershed scale.
- Research on vulnerability and resilience of ecological functions to water dynamics in managed tropical agro-ecosystems.
- Research on hydrological, environmental and socio-economic impacts of upscaling.
- Research on institutional and policy requirements to balance water for food and environmental security at watershed and basin scale.
Outputs
The SSI Program produces a variety of knowledge products, ranging from research papers, journal articles, conference papers, abstracts, poster presentations, popular articles, book chapters, synthesis reports, working papers, posters, leaflets, fact sheets, etc.
Participating Institutions
- UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
- International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
- Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania)
- University of Kwazulu Natal (South Africa)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
The research within the SSI program was being carried out by 8 PhD and 2 Post Doc fellows in two pilot catchments in Southern Africa, the Thukela in South Africa and the Pangani in Tanzania in addition to several MSc students from various academic institutions.
