As the SustainSahel project enters its final semester, the momentum behind its dissemination efforts is gathering pace. Over the past three years, extensive engagement with farmers, researchers, and innovation platform members has laid the groundwork for a knowledge-sharing process that sought to pave the way for enhanced adoption of agroforestry practices in the project's intervention sites. Now, with a wealth of research findings emerging across all work packages, the project is entering a decisive stage—one that focuses on capitalising on results and delivering content that meets the needs and priorities of the project's main target audiences: farmers, extension officers, researchers and policy makers.
Participation as the cornerstone from the beginning
From the beginning, SustainSahel has invested in a continuous and participatory dissemination process rooted in dialogue, trust, and co-creation. In the early phases of the project, dissemination efforts focused on building relationships and introducing core concepts through open field days and workshops for lead farmers. Lead farmers are somewhat the spearheads of the project's dissemination approach, as each of them represents a village in the region. After two years of regular participation in the project's activities, lead farmers started implementing agroforestry solutions in their fields during the growing season of 2024. They became the disseminators themselves.
What distinguishes this new phase of dissemination is not only the volume of content being produced, but the way it is being shaped. Participatory approaches have become a cornerstone of the project's dissemination strategy. Through interviews, surveys, and interactive sessions with members of the project's innovation platforms, the voices of farmers are now directly influencing the themes and formats of communication materials. This marks a shift from dissemination to farmers, toward dissemination with farmers.
Videos - a success case in knowledge dissemination
One example is the development of two new training videos by Access Agriculture, currently in production. The video topics were co-identified by innovation platform members in Mali, who drew from their own experiences with the practices they tested with SustainSahel: intercropping with legume tree Leucana leucocephala. The IP members recommended not producing one, but two videos on the subject, one focusing on the design of such a system, and the other one of how to germinate and propagate legume trees to be used in such a system. This participatory process is not only fostering relevance and ownership, but also increasing the likelihood that the materials will be embraced, shared, and applied.
Another example is the series of videos produced with farmers of the Innovation Platform, showcasing best practices in agroforestry, a collaboration of the Uni Hohenheim and CSE. We invite you to delve into our article, "Best Practice Sharing via Videos," and watch a video that captures practices successfully applied by our model farmers. We also encourage you to explore our article, "Video Production: Uncovering the Secrets of the Miracle Tree, Faidherbia Albida," and watch our video in which scientists of ISRA, IRD, and CIRAD share their invaluable insights. Additionally, take a moment to discover our article on "Visual Posters to Encourage Collaborative Learning," featuring posters available for download and print, aiming to inspire further dialogue. Beyond these communication materials, we are excited to announce the development of a transdisciplinary booklet with inspiring insights from different scientific approaches and farmers on integrating trees and shrubs in the Sahel to increase humidity, enhance soil health, and increase yields.
Final stages of project dissemination
As the project enters its final months, all project members are working to synthesize and organize the key results and experiences of the project, ensuring that the knowledge generated during SustainSahel lives on beyond the project timeline. A key aspect in this process is the engagement of researchers and students in the shaping of recommendations based on project results, an effort that will be finalized during in-person meetings during the project's final meeting in Dakar between the 13th and 16th of May, 2025.
The following steps will build on those key results and recommendations in the elaboration of new project posters, brochures and videos portraying the main insights. These materials will be shared with farmers, extension officers, researchers and policy-makers during targeted events. At the same time, the key results of the project will be integrated in a new chapter of the African Organic Training Manual, dedicated to agroforestry in the Sahel.
tap and then scroll down to the Add to Home Screen command.