NGOs in the Sahel

This paper explores NGOs working in natural resources management in the Sahel. By combining historical perspectives and cultural analysis, the paper provides an overview of the issues and actions taken over the past 40 years. Special attention is given to national and international NGOs, grassroots organizations, donors and the governments involved. The Objective of this paper is to situate the NGO movement of the West African Sahel within the context of the evolving regional situation, with particular reference to the paramount concerns for managing natural resources. What is the impetus for the emergence of NGOs and rural organizations, how do national and foreign NGOs relate to each other and to other institutional actors; What are their roles in reshaping local governance of resources; what are the opportunities, responsibilities and risks for NGOs at this juncture. These are the questions we will attempt to address. This survey of NGOs and other major actors involved in natural resource management presents an overview of the complex institutional relationships found in the Sahel. In taking this focus we will touch upon other related issues, such as public finance, economic policy, ethnic factors, the special problems of rural women, pre-colonial history, and technical aspects of agro/silvo/pastoral production systems, among many others. Although the focus on institutions emphasizes political factors, this emphasis in no way denies the environmental, economic, demographic and other factors, contributing to the current crisis in the Sahel. It is hoped that this overview of relationships among institutional actors will open the door to further, more integrated investigation of relationship dynamics and to better understanding of how improved relationships can improve the management of natural resources

Chairs of Excellence Annual Report 2018

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Have the National Resources Inventories advanced conservation policy?

Background. Over the last three decades, the USDA's conservation policy has changed dramatically. Not only has the number of programs multiplied and the scope of issues expanded, but a once-casual link between commodity programs and conservation activities has been formalized. One reason for the changes may have been an effort within the USDA's conservation agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), to collect information on natural resource conditions through the National Resources Inventories (NRIs). In the 1970s, Congress mandated the NRIs and also a national agricultural-conservation appraisal and the development of a national program to devise conservation-policy recommendations. Together these mandates constituted the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (RCA) appraisal process. The NRIs have been produced on a huge scale and through great effort, and they have evolved successfully over time. Recently formed Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) offered another opportunity to use the NRIs. But their integration into policy has been neither consistent nor smooth -- nor, heretofore, well understood. Question. Have the National Resources Inventories advanced conservation policy? Methods. I followed three policy layers over the last thirty-five years: the intra-agency dynamic that produced informational products; the USDA conservation-program structure, and the federal legislative branch in its policy-making dimension. In all, I interviewed over 40 experts, looked through nearly 800 speeches, reviewed 47 Congressional hearings, analyzed dozens of databases, and relied on hundreds of internal documents. Conclusion. Yes, the National Resources Inventories have advanced conservation policy. However, NRI influence has been directly unambiguous only once. NRI influence has mostly been through the RCA, and it has been greatest when support has been high at both agency and USDA levels, when participation from constituent USDA agencies and other federal agencies has been enthusiastic, when willingness to restructure programs according to actual findings has been ascendent, and when Congress members have been hearing about NRI results from many sources

Annual Diversity Report, February 3-4, 2010

This report consists of three sections – the Annual Affirmative Action Report, the Annual Report on the Regents Minority and Women Educators Enhancement Program, and the Affirmative Action Cost report. All three reports are required by the Iowa Code

Clemson Newsletter, 1989-1991

Information for the faculty and staff of Clemson Universityhttps://tigerprints.clemson.edu/clemson_newsletter/1021/thumbnail.jp