The first phase of the Amanzi for Food Programme was completed in 2016 with our final reports being published recently. Please find the Volume 1 through this link: http://www.wrc.org.za/Knowledge%20Hub%20Documents/Research%20Reports/2277-1-16.pdf or go find it on the WRC Knowledge Hub using the report number 2277/1/16.  We would like to thank all those involved in contributing to the first phase of the research programme. This programme focussed on developing an integrated, systemic approach for knowledge dissemination and use through an action-orientated, expansive learning approach.

We have been awarded the funding for Phase 2 of the Amanzi for Food Programme which will be over a 4-year period from 2017 till 2021. The outcome of this phase is to grow on phase 1 and to develop and expand three more knowledge dissemination learning networks in three provinces. Training of Trainers courses will be part of this approach as a way of embedding WRC generated research-based knowledge, materials and approaches relevant to key agricultural water management and use practices in the mediating and training practices of agricultural colleges, extension agents and practices of farmers. Other WRC materials will be used additionally to the previous two sets to add to the course content. This phase of the project will also inform policy and decision makers, and produce new co-created knowledge on social learning approaches to knowledge dissemination in rural learning settings focussing on agricultural productivity in South Africa. The aim here is to make a substantial contribution to expanding our knowledge of how to improve learning processes within connected learning systems in social-ecological contexts. Not only is this of relevance to the WRC and its programmes, but it has, at a wider level, also been identified as a gap in knowledge in South Africa by the SARChI Chair on Global Change and Social Learning Systems.

We look forward to sharing the programme’s process with you over the next four years.

By Kim Weaver