CLA Mainstreams Locally Tailored Solutions to Improve Natural Resources Management and Prevent Conflicts

In Niger, population growth, increasing demand for food and climate change put significant pressure on natural resources, requiring more and more land, water, and energy. This accelerates the degradation of natural resources and leads to conflicts over their use, especially between farmers and herders, further exacerbated by lacking or unenforced regulatory frameworks.

To find local solutions to these challenges, several organizations supported communes (equivalent of counties in the US) to develop local conventions (resource management guidelines) that empower communities to manage their natural resources and enhance social cohesion. But each organization was using its own model under the same label, creating confusion. The practices didn’t align with national regulations on natural resources nor enabled communes to take ownership of their own development.

The USAID | TerresEauVie Activity under USAID Niger’s Resilience Program, implemented by Winrock International and its partner TetraTech, collaborated with the host government and other development organizations (external collaboration, relationships, and networks) to co-develop and disseminate a national guide for local conventions through iterative back-and-forth movement between local experience and national regulation (Continuous Learning & Improvement, internal learning).