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„You must be multisectoral in your thinking”

2020-11-11

For years, place-based approaches to development have been considered important features in development cooperation, at the BMZ and in FAO. Both organisations are aiming at advancing these approaches: an interview with Adriano Campolina from the FAO on territorial and landscape perspectives.

Jan Rübel

Jan Rübel is author at Zeitenspiegel Reportagen, a columnist at Yahoo and writes for national newspapers and magazines. He studied History and Middle Eastern Studies.

Weitere Informationen

FAO and BMZ, with support from GIZ, organized the Territorial and Landscape Days (7-9 July 2020) as an online expert dialogue on spatial approaches to sustainable development. Here, practitioners and policy makers from OECD, AfD, EU, CIRAD, RIMISP, UN-Habitat, IFPRI, Wageningen University, FAO, BMZ and GIZ shared their experiences in implementing spatial approaches and discussed ways to further strengthen their contribution to rural development.

On this occasion, the results of a BMZ-funded and GIZ-commissioned stocktaking on territorial approaches by the Territorial Perspectives for Development (TP4D) partner group were presented and discussed. Workshop participants were also engaged in an expert consultation process to deepen the integration of territorial and landscape approaches. The main outcomes of the online event are summarized in the documentation, which can be accessed here.

Can you remember when the time came that you personally thought: a holistic perspective to development seems inevitable…

A long time ago. My first professional experience was in the early nineties. After having finished my studies in agronomics, I began as an extensionist and community development manager where I was supposed to work a lot around participatory breeding of local varieties of maize. When we tried to identify with the smallholder farmers the most productive variety of maize, it was very clear that there was no way that we could have an impact at the level of an farm if we focused only on one product. We had to look holistically at the farm as a whole, from soil to water management and different cash or non-cash crops - they have to ensure the food security of the household. Further, it was impossible to have one farm become sustainable while ignoring the entire landscape. And each one of these areas was correlated with challenges and opportunities like price, price formation, the role of the local trader, the role of the agricultural policies – everything was interconnected and therefore required a holistic perspective.

Did you experience one-size-fits-it-all interventions?

This or extremely precise and focused interventions would very easily get lost or not produce any impact. You could increase the yield of maize, but the prices could have collapsed or the land ownership of the smallholder farmers be at risk, Hence, I learned about holistic approaches pretty much on my first job – the need to integrate the technical solutions with many other types of solutions and dynamics. Particularly on the side of strengthening rural institutions and organizing farmers.

To what extent has this exposed the Corona pandemic?

At the early stage of the pandemic, I examined the smallholder’s access to markets. That was in March. Immediately, we witnessed an impact with holistic consequences. The fact that for instance, smallholder farmers got cut off from access to inputs and markets on initial stages of COVID-19 response with strong restrictions to movement, at once had an impact on the entire food system affected regions. Another example was the impact of restrictions of movements for rural workers: None of these impacts were isolated, they always created an impact on the whole food system. The solutions to these problems were the most effective ones when they provided a holistic response to different areas of impact: from access to inputs, access to markets and addressing liquidity.

Women at their market stalls. © Shilpi Saxena, GIZ

Do you have an example for that?

If you are a farmer producing vegetables and next morning you don’t have either access to markets to sell it, or the demand for your product collapsed due to abrupt changes on consumer preferences your entire business is at risk. You deal with many things at the same time. First you have a liquidity crisis, then a financial challenge when you have to repay loans or credits, and then there is the challenge of finding means of production again as you probably have lost an important part of your harvest. Then you have to look to what extent you will be able to have workers to help you in a situation of lockdown. And even when you manage to produce: where selling it? You need to address all those problems simultaneously, otherwise you fail.

Holistic approaches are like magic words - they are used all the time. Even sometimes as a hollow phrase?

People tempt to say “holistic” without being fully aware of the key drivers to change that need to be to address at the same time. You can make a very beautiful phrase about holistic solutions, but that alone does not equip you to act. You have to go to the next level of identifying the five, six key drivers of change that are the most important, and their interconnectedness. Looking holistically, you need to adopt a perspective which allows you to capture all relevant issues in order to reach development trajectories that are truly multidimensional and holistic.. Just saying holistic does not make it holistic. Holistic means implementing a lot of things at the same time, in different sectors, that go into the same direction. For that you need to look at the whole landscape or territory.

Are there any differences between territorial and landscape approaches?

At the FAO we are working towards integrating both territorial and landscape approaches. The two come from different experiences. The territorial one stems very much from understanding the socioeconomic interrelations within a given space. The landscape approach comes from understanding the fundamental natural phenomena of a landscape and the environmental and natural resources management related issues on the landscape. However, any good landscape practitioner would very soon realize that it is impossible to walk into promoting a sustainable landscape if you don’t deal with the socioeconomic issues that are underpinning the trends of natural resources use in that particular space. And reversely, any good territory development practitioner would very soon realize that the dynamics of the natural resources, their characteristics and their interrelation with the society are absolutely fundamental to understand socio-economic development.

But they are different?

They come from different trajectories and entry points. But they have a lot of things in common. They share the idea that you should not look for one-size-fits-all but should design solutions according to the specific conditions of a territory and landscape. Secondly, they see the interrelation between different stakeholders on a particular space as an important thing to work on. These two approaches acknowledge that there is no single sector solution. It can’t be agriculture only, the environmental conversation only, it can’t be the economy only: You must be multisectoral in your thinking to be able to bring solutions. All these thoughts share the crucial issues of scale and multi sector perspective in most of the stakeholders that allows them to come together. However, they flourish through different entry points – and these points are very important and context-related. Sometimes, there would be more and more entry points, but the more we integrate and allow the possibility of each one of them learning from each other and get the best tools of the other, we can advance what we have in common. Hence, territorial and landscape approaches are not same, but they head into the same direction and they share enough to benefit for the better exchange of tools and knowledge.

The more we allow the possibility of learning from each other, we can advance what we have in common.

What are the synergies of territorial and landscape approaches?

I would not necessarily say that we combine it all into a completely new approach, but we rather make sure that we use both of them in a more integrated way. The synergies are fundamentally the fact that they are place-based. And the other synergy is: Both approaches have a very clear understanding of the interrelations between the three elements of sustainability: social, economic and environmental – and that the three have to be brought together; otherwise, you will always lose one. The two approaches have also in common that there is a multitude of stakeholders that have to be taken into account at the same time. And although they are place-based, they are also people-centred. They both see the sense of role that people play. And finally, those are approaches that on one hand, see a given space, a territory or a landscape as the optimum scale of action, and on the other hand they also see the relationship between different scales.

Different players such as FAO and BMZ are now cooperating in the development and evaluation of the approaches. What are the benefits?

The main benefits are really to design processes of development that are inclusive, sustainable, effective and that mobilize the dynamics and different actors in a given space that are fit for purpose to the specific conditions that regions have and therefore make them more appropriate and responsive to the needs of the people.

Adriano Campolina is Senior Policy Officer at FAO in Rom © Campolina

How does the FAO benefit in concrete terms?

I can give you a couple of examples. FAO’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean identified the hundred territories that are left behind in terms of poverty alleviation and economic development. Therefore, they are now engaged in mobilizing resources to integrate them towards territorial development plans that can accelerate in those areas a number of territorial diagnosis and plans which really can bring them up to speed. Another example is the FAO “hand-in-hand-initiative”, that focuses primarily on the least developed countries and looks into how we can understand the levers of various types of intervention in each of those 50 countries to best unlock their potentials. And in these regions we work on building a dataset that allows us to understand the strands of the microregion and we work on coordinating investments, bringing together different sources of investment towards the most adequate solutions to the specific characteristics of that region. We are also undertaking territorial diagnostics in some regions. These are some examples of territorial thinking has been translated by FAO into it’s work.

Are guiding principles indispensable?

They help to reflect jointly on questions related to place-based approaches, share our learnings and develop knowledge. Elaborating these territorial perspectives for development was an important initiative that brought many development agencies together, including Cirad, BMZ, GIZ and FAO and many others. The guiding principles helped us to create a common understanding and a better way to learn from each other. Concerning territorial development and landscape management, there are a lot of initiatives around and many different organizations on various levels are trying to systematize and learn from that.

Speaking of multi-levels: Does the national level sometimes stand in the way of development at local level? Would the higher level have to give up competencies?

It goes both ways. There are moments in which a territorial development process faces impediments at a higher level. For instance, there can be a classic one: People say that you have to decentralize the use of resources – but the budget is not going to be decentralized… It does not work when you decentralize the responsibility but not the capacities and resources. Or you find out the existence of a policy or a national agency that should better be involved at decentral levels – my view is that in many ways the multi-level refers to understand the roles of the various levels, such as national policy making or specific issues that occur at community levels. Within that you make sure that you understand what the conditions and challenges are, and you plan to interact.

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From reaction to action

A contribtion by GIZ

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And a semicolon in the middle

A contribution by Jan Rübel

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A contribution by Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge

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A contribtion by WE4F

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The human finca

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“Healthy ground brings good and many fruits”

Interview with Ben Sekamatte and Boaz Ogola

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A classroom in the Garden of Eden

By Iris Manner

Deforestation harms people and the environment. With nurseries, farmers can earn money and do good. You just have to know how to do it

How much private investment is the agricultural sector able to bear?

By Pedro Morazán

Small farmers in developing countries must modernise their farming methods, but poorly understood reforms could exacerbate poverty instead of alleviating it.

No dirty dealing

Von Marlis Lindecke

Shit Business is Serious Business: A successful cooperation between research and the private sector.

Support for sustainable start-ups

Companies in Africa that need financing between $20,000 and $200,000 find relatively few investors, as this sector is too large for microcredit and too small for institutional investors. This creates a "gap in the middle" where companies have limited options. A project of the World Resource Institute provides a remedy with the Landaccelerator 2020.

A World Resources Institute project

Climate Adaptation Summit 2021: ‘We can do better’

Event report by Jan Rübel (Zeitenspiegel)

The first Climate Adaptation Summit put climate adaptation at the center of politics for the first time. The virtual meeting united global players with one goal: building resilience is just as important as climate protection itself. Around 15,000 participants discussed direct proposals.

Mr. Samimi, what is environmental change doing to Africa?

Interview with Cyrus Samimi (IAS)

Environmental change is having a particularly strong impact on the African continent. Its landscapes see both negative and positive processes. What is science's view of this? A conversation with Cyrus Samimi about mobility for livelihoods, urban gardening and dealing with nature.

Small fish with a big potential

A contribution by Paul van Zwieten

African inland fisheries are increasingly reliant on the capture of small fish species that are sundried and traded over long distances. They make an important contribution in alleviating “hidden hunger”: consumed whole, small fish are an important source of micronutrients. Only that, unfortunately, politicians haven’t yet realised this.

Edible bugs - the new beef?

A contribution by Marwa Shumo

Insect farming is economical and environmentally sustainable, they are high in protein and they live on agricultural waste. Marwa Abdel Hamid Shumo thinks: They are the best weapon to combat hunger

The 'Grey Gold'

A contribution by Maria Schmidt (GIZ)

The Cashew Council is the first international organisation for a raw material stemming from Africa. The industry promises to make progress in processing and refining cashew nuts - and answers to climate change

Human Rights, Land and Rural Development

A contribution by Michael Windfuhr (German Institute for Human Rights)

Land rights are no longer governed by the law of the strongest. That is what the international community has agreed to. Governments and private companies have a duty to respect human rights and avoid corruption.

Land is Crucial for Development

A contribution by Roselyn Korleh and M. Sahr Nouwah (WHH)

The Liberian town of Kinjor is a picture-book example for what happens, if land rights aren’t protected, and it illustrates how to move forward from there. The keyword: Multi-Actor Partnership

From Berlin to Yen Bai: 10,000 trees for Vietnam

A contribution by GIZ and BMZ

It began with clicks at a trade fair and ends with concrete reforestation: a campaign at the Green Week in Berlin is now enriching the forests of the Yen Bai Province in Vietnam. A chronicle of an education about climatic relevance to concrete action - and about the short distances on our planet.

(c) Christof Krackhardt/Brot für die Welt

Together and resourceful against worldwide hunger

A contribution by Brot für die Welt

Climate change disturbs the climate in Ethiopia. The answer from small farmers in the northern region is convincing: diversify!

No rainforest for our consumption

A contribution by Jenny Walther-Thoß (WWF)

In the tropics rainforests are still being felled for the production of palm oil, meat and furniture. It is high time to act. Proposals are on the table.

What do you expect from this Pre Summit, Mr. Haddad?

Interview with Lawrence Haddad (GAIN)

Nutrition experts from all over the world are coming together in Rome. They are not only distilling 2000 ideas to improve food systems - they are also preparing for the big UN summit in New York in September. An interview.

Mr. Campari, how do we create sustainable food systems?

Interview with Joao Campari (WWF)

Journalist Jan Rübel spoke with Joao Campari ahead of the UNFSS Pre-Summit. The Chair of Action Track 3 highlights key challenges in transforming existing food systems towards sustainable production and shares his expectations for the Summit.

The fight against illegal fishing

A Report

The oceans are important for our food supply, but they are overfished. To halt this trend the global community is now taking action against illegal fishing. Journalist Jan Rübel spoke with Francesco Marí, a specialist for world food, agricultural trade and maritime policy at "Brot für die Welt," and others.

Sustainable Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture in Rural Areas

Fish is important for combating malnutrition and undernourishment. But it is not only notable for its nutritional value, but also secures the livelihoods and employment for 600 million people worldwide.

A Project of GIZ

A Climate of Hunger: How the Climate Crisis Fuels the Hunger

A photo reportage by the Zeitenspiegel agency

Every one degree Celsius rise in temperature increases the risk of conflict by two to ten percent. The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis, as the photos by Christoph Püschner and Frank Schultze illustrate.

Engaging the Community to Solve the Bushmeat Crisis

A Contribution by the Forestry Research Institute Nigeria

The 'Domestication of Small Monogastric and Ruminant Animals' (DSMR) project led by a Nigerian research institute works with local communities to solve the bushmeat crisis.

‘Preserving and restoring fertile soils is a global responsibility.’

An Interview with Jochen Flasbarth (BMZ)

Healthy, productive soils are a prerequisite for global food security – one of the priorities of German development cooperation. State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth on Germany’s efforts to support sustainable land management and why the VGGT are more important than ever today.

Strengthening food markets across the rural-urban continuum

A Contribution by Thomas Forster

How to maintain functioning food markets in global food supply chains in the face of vulnerability and disruption? Markets that support local and territorial food systems are part of the solution. Thomas Forster presents proposals for these markets to cope with future shocks.

Water may offer the only chance

Interview with Caroline Milow and Ramon Brentführer

Groundwater resources remain dormant in the soil of African regions. Where does it make sense to use them – and where does overexploitation of nature begin? Caroline Milow (GIZ) and Ramon Brentführer (BGR) talk about potentials in the future and lessons from the past.

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„You must be multisectoral in your thinking”

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