Landcare Africa/Africa grassroots initiative for livelihood and enviromnent

Initiatives towards the improvement of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in Sub-Saharan Africa have illuminated weak institutions and inadequate institutional arrangements. The paper describes the Conservation and livelihood initiatives in Uganda, where land degradation is evidenced by soil erosion, declining soil fertility, low yields and increasing incidences of landslides. The consequence of land fragmentation on the livelihoods of an increasing population further exacerbates natural resource exploitation. The paper describes the process undertaken in the adoption of the Landcare approach. It illustrates the role of Landcare in facilitating a local level by law reform process. Through two case studies on local multi-stakeholder development and on local bylaw reforms the paper examines the role of the Landcare approach in tackling specific high priority issues and the implication of the resultant outcomes. It describes the development of the AGILE process which was holistic, involved various community groupings who felt they owned the process, and were empowered enough to not only seek assistance from government but also influence local level policy reforms to address their circumstances.