Leads: Sekhar Nagothu (Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research) and Chiye Chafuwa (University of Malawi)

Concept: Multi-Actor Platforms bring diverse stakeholders together in a formal process of interactive learning, sharing, empowerment, and collaborative governance to discuss opportunities and obstacles to a desired set of goals. Emerging research suggests that by building trust and dialogue among diverse stakeholders with interconnected but potentially divergent interests or viewpoints, Multi-Actor Platforms promote resilience and innovation in the face of risk, complexity, and uncertainty.

Objective: To explore new, innovative institutional and policy frameworks to enable use of agroecological practices to reduce biodiversity loss, sustain ecosystem services and improve climate change adaptation.

Methodology/Approach:

• Convene a Multi-Actor Platform including representatives from Malawi’s National Biodiversity Steering Committee, National Council on Environment, Technical Committee on the Environment, Agriculture Department Divisions, District Agriculture Committee, District Agriculture Development Offices, and other relevant committees as well as local farmers and traditional authorities.
• Conduct multi-actor analysis at the early stage of the project to design an operational structure, to characterize and/or classify the actors, their roles, and the institutional opportunities and constraints they will bring to the Multi-Actor Platform.
• Organize bi-annual Multi-Actor Platform dialogue meetings, where we will share results, solicit feedback, and devise strategies to further disseminate project findings.

Expected Results and Use:

• One established and operational Multi-Actor Platform
• Institutional and policy frameworks on the use of agroecological practices to reduce biodiversity loss and sustain ecosystem services.
• A police brief with inputs from WP3 and Multi-Actor Platform members.