Ecological land use participation management (W’ITONDE/ELUM)
Ecological land use participation management (W’ITONDE/ELUM) is a network of Civil Society Organizations working with farmers in East, Central, and Southern Africa.
ITONDE/ELUM EAC is the East Africa Community countries chapter of the ITONDE/ELUM Organization and has a membership of 20 Member Organizations. ITONDE/ELUM EAC network promotes agroecological principles and practices through the following approaches; advocacy and policy influence, networking, capacity development, information, and knowledge sharing. the various agroecological practices promoted include; organic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, permaculture, conservation agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, family farming, and bio-intensive agriculture.
All ITONDE/ELUM EAC Member Organizations do not promote GMOs or the use of synthetic agricultural inputs.
Where Does ITONDE/ELUM Operate?
- Eastern Africa
DRCongo,Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,Burundi and Rwanda; - Central Africa
Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi - Southern Africa
South Africa, Lesotho , Swaziland and Botswana
What Does ITONDE/ELUM Organization Do?
- Promotes Participatory Ecological Land Use, Management practices in the East, Central and Southern region.
- Builds the capacity of members and partners to respond appropriately to community needs as they work to empower the communities they work with.
- Increases the visibility of the farmers.
- Promotes sharing of information of development experiences, innovations, and best practices.
- Strengthens linkages and collaboration through action learning among partners and members.
- Lobbies (directly) for change and formulation of policies in favor of farmers.
- Promotes Seed Security and hence food security among farmers.
- Promotes the use of indigenous food Programme
- Promotes the mainstreaming of the Gender and HIV / AIDS in Agriculture Development Programme.
- Offers Consultancy
To promote agroecological principles and practices among member organizations, small holder farmers and pastoralists communities in EAComminity
Our Values
Commitment to Partnership, Participation and Networking
ITONDE/ELUM EACommunity will strive to establish linkages with strategic partners and strive to ensure Member Organizations work towards a common goal.
Commitment to Gender Equity and Social Inclusion
Transparency and Accountability
ITONDE/ELUM-Organization Structure
Country Working Group (CWG)
The members in a country are called the Country Working Group. Presently ITONDE/ELUM-E.A.Community has 47 members of its CWG operating in 7 countries of E.A.Community
Country (National) Board
This is an advisory / governance body of ITONDE/ELUM at the Country level. ITONDE/ELUM-EAC has a Regional Board of 8 (4 Male, 4 Female) including the Country Coordinator, who is the Secretary to the Boards and is also non-voting.
Country Secretariat (Offices)
This is where the activities of ITONDE/ELUM Organization are coordinated at the country level and Country Level. The Country Secretariat for ITONDE/ELUM in EACommunity is based in DRConfo, Kenya Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan. The head of the Country Secretariat is called a Country Coordinator and is also the CEO of ITONDE/ELUM Organization in that country. Presently ITONDE/ELUM-EAC Country Secretariat (Office) has 13 full-time staff members.
The Regional Secretariat
This is where the activities of ITONDE/ELUM Organization are coordinated at the regional level. The head of the Regional Secretariat is called a Secretary General. ITONDE/ELUM regional Secretariat is located in Kinshasa,DRCongo.
The Regional Board (made of Country Board Chairpersons)
The Country Board Chairpersons of the countries where ITONDE/ELUM-EAC is operating make up the regional Board. They Country Board Chairpersons are also the Country Representatives for their respective Countries.
Triennial General Meeting (TGM)
This is the highest body of ITONDE/ELUM and meetings after every three years. The first TGM was held for ITONDE/ELUM was held in Kinshasa, DRCongo
Our Thematic Areas
Institutional Strengthening, Networking & Capacity Development
ITONDE/ELUM EAC is a member-driven network with 47 Member Organizations across 42 Countries in EAC. The network’s vibrancy is essential and vital for relevance and sustainability. ITONDE/ELUM EAC is a network that understands that there is a need to strengthen and improve the capacity of network members for learning and information sharing of Agroecological practices. This involves training of member’s organizations, monitoring, and Evaluation visits to support member organizations in the implementation of joint activities. The capacity building also entail enhances the capacity of ITONDE/ELUM EAC Secretariat for improved service delivery based on gaps identified during ITONDE/ELUM EAC staff performance appraisal and Human Resource capacity needs.
ITONDE/ELUM EAC endeavors to achieve this strategic theme through conducting Training Needs Assessment (TNA) and Training on the gaps, organizing for capacity building Trainings based on identified needs for the network and Secretariat; strengthening resource mobilization skills to ensure adequate funding and resource base for the network and individual Member Organizations; and, improving and strengthening the governance of the network and individual Member Organizations. All our activities will be geared towards targeting ITONDE/ELUM EAC Network including Member Organizations, ITONDE/ELUM EAC Board Members, and Secretariat. ITONDE/ELUM EAC will invest and tap on the wealth of knowledge from the network and source outside whenever the need arises within the next five years (2021-2025).
Policy Influence & Advocacy on Agroecological Practices
The goal of ITONDE/ELUM EAC in its advocacy and policy influence is to advocate for better policy outcomes that enhance agroecological practices and improve food and nutritional security and environmental conservation. This is realization that most of the existing agricultural and environmental policies do not promote agroecological practices, they promote conventional agriculture that is not environmentally friendly, unsustainable and lead to health complications. Most extension officers do not believe in agroecological practices and they discourage farmers from practicing agroecology. This is cross cutting approach which realises the importance of people participation in decision making and utilises the following key strategies;
- Media engagement
- Public awareness
- Engagement meetings
- Sensitization meetings
- Memorundums
- Campaigns- E.g. Green Action Week Campaign
- Alliance and partnership building
Agro-enterprise and Market Development
The goal of ITONDE/ELUM EAC in its promotion of agro-enterprises is to improveHousehold incomes among Small Holder Farmers through adoption, development of agroecological enterprises and access to markets. ITONDE/ELUM EAC ha been involved in agro-enteripise and market development , intentionally incorporating emphasis on agro-ecologically appropriate farming practices Of particular interest are production and marketing of ecological organic products and healthy foods. The thematic area focuses on up scaling best practices such as PGS certification of organic products, information sharing, promotion of microfinance practices, market linkages and capacity development.
The small holder farmers have continued to generate low incomes from their farm produce due to poor farming practices, failure to engage in value addition/ processing and weak marketing strategies. Poor farming practices are attributed by poor agroecological practices in soil health, pest and disease management, inaccessibility to quality farm inputs and weak technical skills. This results in low yields and poor-quality farm produce that do not yield adequate incomes for improved livelihoods among the farmer groups. Failure of farmers to engage in value addition and processing makes farmers vulnerable to gaining fewer incomes from their farm produce.
Weak engagement of farmers in value addition and processing is attributed by poor capacities among the farmers and limited engagement of youth innovators in agriculture. The youth and women will be engaged in start-up and incubation projects to enhance their incomes and increase agricultural shelf life of products. Value addition will increase shelf life of produce and transportation hence creating cottage industries for youth employment hence increasing value for farm produce and pastoral products. There is a growing potential on organic agriculture markets with more consumers being more conscious about their health both locally and internationally. The consumers are however interested in getting assurance of the quality of organic products in the market. Accessibility to organic foods and lack of structured markets for farmers has continued to contribute to low incomes. To address these issues, SHF need to embrace agro ecological farming practices, value add their products and adapt good marketing practices.
Climate Change Resilience and Natural Resource Management
The goal of ITONDE/ELUM EAC’s interventions on Climate change resilience and Natural resource management thematic area is to enhance resilience of small holder farmers on effects of climate change and natural disasters. ITONDE/ELUM EAC promotes agroecology as a means of climate change adaptation, and also promotes indigenous knowledge. ITONDE/ELUM EAC as well creates awareness on the subject of Climate Change and its effects in general but in particular building the resilience of the communities. ITONDE/ELUM EAC as well focuses on climate governance and increased participation in decision making. The increasing frequency of climatic extremes has been a growing threat to sustainable development and poverty alleviation hence the need to enhance community adaptation measures to effects of climate change and natural disasters.
Notable effects include unexpected changes in farming calendar affecting good yields, loss of pasture leading to high migration rates among the pastoralists, water stress, persistent pest and diseases and disruptions of communities’ livelihoods which have highly affected food security. The natural disasters and pandemics have also led to big losses among communities due to unpreparedness.
ITONDE/ELUM EAC seeks to influence policy makers at county, national, and regional levels and official development partners to systematically integrate CCA issues into policies and in particular to provide more support to the communities to respond, cope and bounce back from the negatives effects of Climate Change and natural disasters. ITONDE/ELUM EAC endevours to engage the communities through the member organizations on the following key interventions; Natural Resource Management, Disaster preparedness, Climate governance, Soil and water conservation, sustainable water management including water governance, watershed management and rehabilitation, Diversification of Agro enterprises and Issues affecting pastoralists.
Women and Youth Inclusion in Agroecology
ITONDE/ELUM EAC aims to to increase women and youth involvement in AE in EAC through its women and youth thematic area. Men and women have a shared responsibility in producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or other rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes.
According to existing data, women comprise over 50% of the agricultural labour force in DRC. It is evident that women are key agents for development. They play a catalytic role towards achievement of transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. Women produce 60-80 percent of the world’s food, and women due to this important role they play, women are inherently better stewards of the environment than men. Therefore, within this narrative, there is a great need for women to drive the AE agenda. But how are they prepared to play this leadership role? Available evidence shows that AE is dominated by Men. Equity is a social justice issue because in many cases, women have less access and control, fewer rights and opportunities, than men. For example, out of the 52 MOs of ITONDE/ELUM EAC, only a paltry 12 are CEOs and of this, their organizations are weak. There is a clear need for to strengthen women leadership in AE.
Young people are usually not interested in Agriculture because of their perception of farming being antiquated and unprofitable. The image of agriculture traditionally has been more about subsistence – producing enough for you to eat. There is a need to change this narrative and bring in the element of agribusiness in Agriculture. This will encourage the youth to take up farming without bothering about the market risks.
Agricultural literacy initiatives should focus on helping teachers make connections with the environment, how food is produced, and the importance of agriculture in students’ lives. An important implication is the avenue agriculture provides to help students learn about the ecosystem.
While earning their undergraduate degree in agricultural education, students become involved in field experiences related to teaching agricultural education in public schools. Graduates find jobs in a wide range of fields including secondary education, agricultural extension, sales, marketing, finance, and management.
The justification / rationale for strengthening women and youth leadership in agroecology is brought about because of:
- Most farmers are women and hence resonate / connect and learn well from women trainers.
- There is a need to mobilize and organize ad empower women leaders to push for their space in leadership in agroecology.
- Women are best in practicing and scaling up what they learn.
- Women are best placed to feed the family and the world hence placing them as leaders in agroecology is putting agroecology in sustainable and safer hands.
- The youth are ambitious, enthusiastic and energetic and hence can push the AE to help
Promoting elum for Networking and Livelihood Improvement (PENELI)
The fourth phase of PENELI aims at contributing towards resilient livelihoods through sustainable agricultural and environmental practices among smallholder farmers and pastoralists in DRC. Seed Savers Network is a key partner in the PENELI IV project and is involved in implementation of seed sovereignty focused interventions
The Programme has four main objectives:
- To strengthen the institutional capacity of ITONDE/ELUM EAC network
- To promote integration of Agroecology in policy spaces as an effective strategy for food security and resilience building
- To enhance agroenterprise initiatives among SHF for increased household incomes and adoption of agro-ecological practices
- To enhance resilience of small holder farmers and pastoralists on the effects of climate change and environmental degradation
- To empower women and youth to actively engage in leadership and agroecological practice
Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative
Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative is an African led initiative aimed at promoting organic farming in Africa, as a response to the African Heads of States Decision EX.CL/Dec.621 (XVII) on Organic Farming that was made following the report of the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture held in Kinshasa, DRCongo in 2010.
The initiative is being implemented in six interrelated Pillars that complement each other in addressing different facets of ecological organic farming.
The Initiative has been under implementation since the year 2012. ITONDE/ELUM EAC is in charge of implementation of Pillars 1, 3, 4 and 6 in DRC on Research, Training and Extension (RTE) though SACDEP; Value Chain and Market Development (VCD) through KOAN; Networking and Partnerships (N&P) through KOAN; and Institutional Capacity Development (ICD) by ITONDE/ELUM EAC, respectively.
ITONDE/ELUM EAC hosts the Eastern African Regional Secretariat and is Lead Coordinating Organization ITONDE/ELUM EAC is a member of the National Steering Committee, Regional Steering Committee and the Continental Steering Committee.
Integrated Watershed Management for Diverse Farming Enterprises (IWAMA-DIFE) Project
The project is being implemented in Aberdare’s forest catchment which falls within ITONDE/ELUM EAC’s Nairobi and Central Networking zones and particularly in Kiambu and Murang’a Counties. ITONDE/ELUM EAC is coordinating the implementation of this project in the Aberdare Forest Reserve and is working directly with five of its member organizations namely: SACDEP-Kenya, ICE, OACK, RODI-DRC and COSDEP. The project aims at promoting diverisfication of livelihoods among tea farming communities of Sub-kivu and North-Kivu while at the same time promoting issues related to water governance.
Global Advocacy Project (GAP)
The aim of the project is to complement the efforts of Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative (EOAI) in advocacy for change in policies, programs and investments. The specific goal for the project is to create awareness and better understanding among policymakers (and also practitioners, technocrats and development partners) for the benefits of Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) and stimulate discussion and debate among them about EOA and health (ecosystem, human, animal). The project is implemented in partnership with BioVision Africa Trust (BVAT)
Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture and Marketing through Youth Involvement (PSAMY)
Promoting sustainable agriculture and Marketing through Youth Involvement (PSAMY) project aims at increasing youths’ participation in sustainable agriculture and agricultural and market value chains through knowledge and cultural exchanges between DRC and Kenya youth. The focus is sustainable agriculture and marketing. It is acknowledged, however, that there are many challenges associated with engaging youth in agriculture. Agriculture remains unattractive to most youth. This is exacerbated by perception of agriculture as a career of last resort, one of drudgery and low monetary benefits. Information on access to markets, factors of production including land and financing remain extremely limited hindering meaningful and adequate engagement of youth in agriculture in both countries.
Notwithstanding the noted challenges, there are vast opportunities to be realized through engaging the youth in agriculture. To this end, the 2014 Malabo Declaration includes specific targets on youth engagement in agriculture, the creation of jobs in the agriculture value chains and the support and facilitation of preferential entry and participation for women and youths in gainful and attractive agribusiness opportunities.
Recognizing the presence of COVID 19 pandemic in countries, the participants and partners in PSAMY will leverage on technology and use digital tools to exchange knowledge in sustainable agriculture and marketing.
The programme will enhance the partnerships and collaborative arrangements between ITONDE/ELUM EAC and FOMIPD, with the participants, the farmers. The participants will transfer the knowledge and skills to the member organisation, farmers groups and youths. The participants in the programme will train other staff members and lead farmers in order to create a broader institutional memory.
The project involves the following strategies:
- Integrated Knowledge Management Systems Strategy (IKMS)
The IKMS of the hub involves collecting, adapting and validating knowledge and ensuring that it is made widely available in friendly formats for different target groups along value chains in the region. - Dissemination & Entrepreneurship Strategy
Development of a holistic, context specific and gender sensitive extension system for knowledge sharing with various target groups along the value chain based on the target groups’ needs and constraints. This is intended to create a multiplier effect in reach at the target group level and impact along value chains by leveraging on EOA networks and projcts and other initiatives. - Market Systems Development and Networking Strategy
This focuses on networking and facilitating market linkages for creating incomes, providing services and improving livelihoods farm households and other community members.
DRC Women Leaders in Agroecology (DRCWOLA)
DRCWOLA initiative focuses on enhancing the leadership capabilities of seasoned and emerging women in agroecology for effective decision making and participation in agroecology. Strengthening the role of women leadership in agroecology will bring an impact to the field of agroecology. The initiative will empower the emerging women leaders to enable them to join the seasoned cluster of women. The initiative will also utilize the seasoned women leaders to empower the emerging women leaders in to excellent leadership. DRCWOLA will also ensure that emerging women with leadership potential who have not had a chance to be in leadership opportunities are well equipped with skills that place them in better place in terms of becoming future leaders while leadership opportunities emerge.
The end goal is to have more seasoned women leaders in various agroecology institutions in Africa now and in the future. The target women leaders will be from agroecology institutions including CBOs, networks and NGOs. The subject of interest will not be on technical skills on agroecology but on leadership aspects such as negotiation skills, governance etc. The project will be scaled up in other Countries after piloting in the three Countries.
Overall Objective
To inspire, mentor, nature and fast track the leadership development of African women in Agroecology.
Advocating for Sustainable Agriculture and Agroforestry for Livelihood Improvement (ASAALI) at local and global levels
The overall objective of ASAALI is “agroforestry and sustainable agriculture are adopted in policy documents and implemented at the county; national and global levels for improved climate resilient livelihoods among smallholder farmers”. Contributing to this overall objective are three outcomes. These are
- Increased budget allocation for sustainable agriculture practices by county and national governments,
- Regulation for standard unit of measure for key farm produce are developed, adopted and implemented for improved fairness in marketing, and
- Agroforestry and sustainable agriculture are adopted in policy documents at local and global levels to enhance attainment of the right to food.
Attainment of these outcomes will be aided by three key outputs, which include Improved capacity of core partners to advocate for budgetary allocation towards sustainable agriculture, Improved capacity of core partners to advocate for standard unit of measure for key farm produce by small holder farmers and enhanced policy dialogues about agroforestry and sustainable agriculture at local and global levels.
To attain the above results, the project will enhance the capacity of core partners in advocacy and policy influencing, media engagement for local to global advocacy actions, organise key events during celebration of the World Environmental Day, Soil Day and World Food Day, support farmers and core partner participation in decision making as well as hold dialogues with policy makers. The project aims impacting the lives of 29945 direct beneficiaries with 11,146 men and 18,799 females. Gender and youth will be a key consideration in all activities. Further, the project will be reaching 1,000,138 indirect beneficiaries. The project is in tandem with PELUM Kenya strategic plan (2021-2025), outcome 2.1 of ALIVE program, Big Four Agenda, and Sustainable Development Goals 1,2,5, 13& 15.
Policies for Agroecology
The overall objective of PA is “Sustainability of food systems in DRC and beyond is increased through coherent policies and favourable institutional frameworks that enable food systems transformation.
Contributing to this overall objective are two outcomes; These are
- Horizontal (across sectors) and vertical (across scales) policy coherence in DRC is increased resulting in enhanced support for agroecology and
- Food system actors in DRC have increasingly equitable agency in policy development processes. Attainment of these outcomes will be aided by 3 key outputs, which include: multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) at County and national level established or strengthened, Enhanced coordination and information flow across sectors (e.g., agriculture, environment, health, economy) and scales on food system related policy processes and small-scale farmers, women and youth groups are empowered and capacitated on effective engagement in policy processes.
To project approach aims at creating a pool of policy makers at the national and county level and identify a few individuals who will act as policy champions to push for support of agroecology , peer to peer learning, learning exchanges at the county, national and regional levels, strengthening and establishment of Multi Stakeholder Platforms (MSP) to support agroecology policy processes at the national and in 3 counties as well as supporting small scale farmers, women and youth participation in policy processes. Gender and youth will be a key consideration in all activities. Further, the project will be reaching annually reach 415 women and 385 men and 2490 women and 2310 men indirect beneficiaries.
Promoting Agroecology and Inclusive Water Governance in Sud-Kivu County, DRC
The overall objective of this project is promote agro-ecology and inclusive water Governance in sud-kivu County, which are part of the Aberdare Ecosystem . the project is implemented in partnership with FOMIPD DRC
Green Action Week Campaign
Is a global Campaign that is held by partners in many parts of the world to spontaneously to promote green consumerism through profiling sustainable organic production and consumption during the month of October.
Agroecology Hub DRC
The project is implemented in partnership with Manor House Agricultural Centre. The project focuses on engaging farmers and their supporters with evidence based agroecological practices while building the evidence base by investigating other practices using farmer research network approaches.
Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security
The project is funded by BMZ-GIZ. The project focuses on increasing soil protection and rehabilitation for food security
