Project implementation and key events

The project included 4 phases over 2 years:

Phase I - Project Preparation (April - June 2002)
The project preparation phase culminated in a week-long workshop in Lusaka for the project team. The purpose was to provide basic orientation for the project team (in agricultural biodiversity assessment issues, economic and policy issues relating to on-farm conservation, and participatory field work approaches); to constuct an Inventory of all relevant projects in Eastern and Southern Africa; to develop collaboratively an appropriate methodology for the field work method and to field test it; to develop an appropriate documentation and information strategy for the project; and identify projects for the detailed case studies.

Phase II - Field Research (July 2002 - January 2003)
The field research on the case study projects focussed on collecting the quantitative and qualitative information from all relevant stakeholders necessary to identify the institutional pre-conditions for success of the selected case study projects including information on:

• impact of project activities on agricultural biodiversity in project area;
• environmental, socio-cultural and policy context of project activities;
• conditions contributing to project success, and constraints, as perceived by primary stakeholders, triangulated by interviews with secondary stakeholders where possible

Phase III - Analysis (February - August 2003)
Starting with a data analysis workshop in Addis Ababa in February 2003, the analysis phase used quantitative and qualitative techniques to identify conditions contributing to project successes and constraints and to assess the extent that these relate to underlying context, to particular types of support activity, or to internal project organization and management. The emphasis was on using a range of information sources as part of the analysis and to illustrate conclusions: quantitative, qualitative, verbal histories, photographs, etc.

Phase IV - Dissemination (August 2003 - March 2004)
An information strategy for the project was developed during the Lusaka Workshop, with an emphasis on delivering a range of innovative outputs targeted to the specific needs of each category of project beneficiaries. These outputs are available on the project website. The final project outputs were presented and discussed with a wide range of practitioners and policy makers at a series of country seminars in March / April 2004. The seminar proceedings and all information outputs are being published on the website and a CD-ROM at the end of the project.