Drawing insight from work in Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya and Niger to scale land restoration across the drylands in Africa, the brief defines and describes the Nested Communities of Practice (CoPs) approach and how this project implemented these with key stakeholders (farmers, community facilitators, NGOs, government and researchers) to foster co-learning and sharing with evidence in East Africa and the Sahel.

Addressing land degradation is key to achieving food and nutrition security and requires active and deliberate engagement of multiple stakeholders including farmers, NGOs, government and researchers. In order to reach the land restoration targets set by National Governments and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), successful restoration efforts need to reach larger numbers of farmers and extend over larger areas than has previously been achieved. A key constraint to scaling restoration is that the ecological, economic, social, political and institutional context varies from household to household, as well as from village to village and that no one technology will suit all. This means active continual learning and communication between farmers, local community leaders, NGO partners, government, researchers and development partners is critical to ensure context relevant solutions are implemented to meet food and nutrition needs as well as restoration targets. 

The brief illustrates how these nested communities of practice were part of the projects wider innovation with the application of the research in development (R in D) approach which aims to address key questions and challenges that inhibit the scaling of land restoration options across the drylands. Key to the success of research in development is the continuous communication amongst key stakeholders (development partners, government, farmers, and researchers). The R in D approach represents a key change in the way development initiatives are implemented, giving a larger role to farmers in selecting and adapting options for scaling and evaluating their performance.