Mashreq and Maghreb Project Achievements and Lessons Learnt from Phases I and II

Abstract

In the low-rainfall areas of the countries in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), rural livelihoods are primarily based on agro-pastoral production systems in which small ruminants (sheep and goats) represent the principal economic output. These systems vary both within and between countries, from nomadic or semi-nomadic rangeland-based to mixed crop-livestock smallholder systems, with considerable interaction between the two. However, these systems face several constraints including insufficient rainfall, degraded rangelands and therefore acute feed shortages, poor livestock management practices, and inappropriate policy. As a result, the natural resource base continues to degrade and poverty continues to be widespread among herders and pastoralists. To address these issues, ICARDA in collaboration with IFPRI and the national programs of eight countries (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the Mashreq; and Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia in the Maghreb), and with financial support from IFAD, AFESD, IDRC, FEMISE, and CAPRi, initiated the first phase of a regional adaptive research program for the Development of Integrated Crop/Livestock Production in Low-Rainfall Areas of WANA, known as the «Mashreq/Maghreb Project» in 1995. A second three-year phase of the Project commenced in July 1999, aiming to achieve greater integration of multidisciplinary research by shifting to a community approach that involved far greater participation of stakeholders in adaptive research, technology testing and validation, as well as project planning and evaluation. The Project approaches and methodologies were scaled out and institutionalized in the participating countries. A functional regional network was established. The spillover effect of the Project resulted in the adoption of its approach and methodologies by other national and international institutions. The successes in the first two project phases prompted IFAD and AFESD to support a third phase of the Project aiming at scaling out the Community Development Planning approach and linking the Project activities with national development projects in order to realize higher impact on livelihoods in rural and agro-pastoral communities. This document highlights the achievements and lessons learnt from the first two phases of the Project. We hope it will be useful to the countries in the region at both technical and policy levels, as well as to donors interested in improving the livelihoods of the pastoral communities in the region. I would like to thank the national program managers and scientists and policy makers for their dedication and commitment, and IFAD, AFESD, IDRC, FEMISE and CAPRi for their valuable financial support and long-term commitment to livelihood improvement of the rural poor in the WANA region. Thanks are also due to IFPRI for a successful model of inter-center collaboration with ICARDA.