Correct Citation: Gonsalves, J. (2021). Garnering nature friendly agriculture practices: 1990 to 2020. When science simplification, participatory co-production and generous sharing is valued. Tagaytay City, Philippines. This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Research and compilation Julian F. Gonsalves Layout and design Dulce Dominguez 1 This collection of publications represents a body of work with immense value. It presents innovative approaches in community development that are a result of the collaborative participatory study, supporting a co-creation process but also provides a scaling-up mechanism for these innovations. I can’t be more proud of Dr. Julian Gonsalves and everyone involved in this effort for remaining true to Dr. Yen’s conviction and IIRR’s credo to “go to the people… learn from them, plan with them, work with them… start from what they know… teach by showing.” This is a compelling collection that will inspire many more generations of rural and community development advocates to continue working with people and translating locally-learned lessons to scale so that they are not at risk of being forgotten. A key to many of the greatest advances in rural poverty reduction and sustainable natural resource management has been pioneering grassroots participatory action research undertaken in farmer’s fields. Action research has enabled rural populations to be active and powerful players in piloting new ideas, new technologies, and new resource management practices. It has enabled the translation of sometimes complex ideas into practical approaches adapted to local contexts and cultures. There truly is no substitute for group based learning involving local farmers and producers. IFAD is extremely proud to have been associated with many of the products listed in this compendium, and to have been a partner of IIRR for so many years. Congratulations on this excellent compendium. Many items bring back memories – e.g. coastal management guides for Philippines mid 90s, scaling up, etc.! I think of all those writeshops – such a new way and efficient way of preparing guidance .This is wonderful compendium and key institutional memory of highly relevant analysis, information and practical guidance on integrated and sustainable agriculture and natural resources management for South and South East Asia, addressing directly the most pressing ongoing development and environment, poverty and food security challenges in a changing climate. I have seen first hand for nearly 30 years how IIRR have developed these an intensely participatory manner for frontline practitioners, often through the highly innovative ‘writeshops’. We have severe climate change challenges ahead. we need to be bold, creative and provocative in order to establish ambitious action programs that see a fundamental shift in food systems to tackle the climate crisis. In my thinking around a theory of change to achieve such an ambition, one element of the theory of change concerns empowering local organisations, local leadership, youth, marginalised groups and vulnerable populations. These groups need to be empowered to shape their future, to demand the services they need to fulfil their livelihoods and to stand up to powerful actors in the food system in order to get the prices, services and incentives that help them meet the challenges. For our development community this means understanding and valuing local practices, understanding local differentiation and power inequalities, and finding ways to participate with local communities in the change process. The work of IIRR has provided a fundamental set of tools, approaches and insights into how this can be achieved. Congratulations, and we look forward to further collaboration, bringing policy, services, technologies and empowering approaches together. 2 For almost a century, rural development applied research practitioners such as Dr. James Yen, Dr. Isaac Bekalo, and Dr. Julian Gonsalves have been experimenting and determining what works in rural communities worldwide. They have accumulated a storehouse full of well-documented experiences, all with a focus on benefiting rural communities. These topics are as relevant today, if not more so, than they were decades ago; but, as the Broadway musical says, "if that light's under a bushel, it’s lost something kind of crucial*”. It’s time that the storehouse is opened and the glowing contents therein made accessible to the Public. Dr. James Yen, who founded the Rural Reconstruction Movement said “Go to the people… Start with what they know. Build on what they have.” This is the approach followed by Dr. Gonsalves and his colleagues. I applaud his efforts to uncover this treasure trove of documented experiences and let them shine for researchers, policy makers and practitioners alike. This compilation of IIRR booklets, many already online and developed by write-shop participants describing their projects reveals IIRR’s commitment to serving the needs of small farm households as the background of agriculture, fisheries, food production and rural commerce in their country. IIRR has been instrumental since 1960 in training legions of development workers to work in participatory partnerships with farm families to develop their resources, building on indigenous knowledge and equipping them with new technologies. IIRR's global outreach came to world attention when in 1986 the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation elected IIRR to receive the award for International Understanding. The Board of Trustees citation recognized “IIRR’s training of agrarian development workers from four continents, enabling them to share experience and ideas for more effective progress.” Julian Gonsalves has made a significant contribution in bringing together IIRR’s lessons learned, many of which he himself helped make happen through his technical expertise and devotion to rural reconstruction. IIRR’s predecessor’s mission in rural development began in the 1920s in China. Thousands [maybe millions?] of impoverished people have been beneficiaries of learning about how to uplift their own lives since then. Fast forward to 2021, almost a century later, and the concepts and mission of the IIRR continue to be relevant in rural communities. Among the more treasured legacies of this important grassroots development work has been the creation and broad access to various collection of documented lessons, techniques and practices based on actual community engagement and outcomes. Such lessons were the hallmark of a mantra established by the earlier practitioners, including Dr. James Yen, Dr. Juan Flavier, Dr. Isaac Bekalo and Dr. Julian Gonsalves, to learn from and teach the people. These strategies, constantly refined from continuing engagement with different rural communities, now across Southeast Asia and East Africa, continued to be used today. Fortunately, Dr. Gonsalves has continued to be an active and passionate leader involved in the community work to this day, and has re-assembled a collection of proven ideas and research that can continue to form foundation of grassroots community development. Congratulations to Dr. Gonsalves on his continuing dedication to rural development. 3 At the heart of IIRR's work is learning. Guided by Dr. James Yen, and the Rural Reconstruction philosophy and principles of "learning by doing" and participatory action research: "Action without Research is stagnant; Research without action is sterile." Thanks to the “writeshop” approach that provided a process of engaging various stakeholders to reflect and document. Each one in this collection is a result of distilling on the ground experiences. Every experience has a story to tell. Every story has a lesson to uncover. It is an amazing effort to put together this collection of experiences and lessons, for development workers to reflect and bring new meaning and purpose in today's context. Thank you and Congratulations! The role of IIRR in leading and facilitating the co-generating knowledge, co-inventing processes, and co- implementing practices has never been more important as it is now. As the global community mobilizes for what can be considered as our ‘Hail Mary Shot’ in relation to combating the trajectory of the global average temperature towards the 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels mark, IIRR once again needs to be on the frontline in working with the people and communities who stand to bear the impacts of the changing climate. This assemblage of wisdom and knowledge co-generated by IIRR with the people will serve as the much- needed fuel that will propel people’s effort to empower themselves and take their rightful place on the frontlines in the fight against the looming climate crisis. With these treasures of knowledge and practices, as those before us did, the current generation and succeeding ones would have these building blocks that they can use to build even better and timely solutions. I remember an instance about two years ago when I was with some of the leading faculty-researchers of the Visayas State University – Alangalang Campus. I was serving as a resource person, representing IIRR, during their research capacity-building program for their faculty and staff. One of the participants, a senior member of the faculty of the university, approached me. He proudly told me that he still has in his possession IIRR’s Manual on Regenerative Agriculture. He was happily sharing with me and with the other faculty members who were there that his copy was even a mimeograph copy. That was the ‘high-tech’ way of reproducing knowledge products during that era. I was so happy to hear his story and his testimony as to how this humble product of IIRR has helped him and many others learn and practice regenerative agriculture. I made a promise to him that the next time we see each other, I will give him a copy of the newer version of IIRR’s knowledge product, especially one that has regenerative agriculture in it. It did not take long, that same year, I visited the Visayas State University – Alangalang Campus as part of the regular activities of the Leyte Sab-a Peatland Restoration Initiative Project. I gifted him with a copy of the Integrated Community Food Production. A Compendium of Climate-Resilient Agriculture Options (2016). You can just imagine how joyful he was at that moment. IIRR also turned over several publications to the Library of the Visayas State University – Alangalang Campus. 4 1 Foreword 6 Introduction 8 Regenerative agriculture technologies 9 Restoring landscapes: A role for agroforestry 11 Integrated aquaculture-agriculture 12 Diversity of rice ecosystems and associated agroecologies 14 Smallholder food system 15 Bringing back life, diversity and food sources to our rice systems 17 Southeast Asian experiences on resource management 18 Shifting or rotational farming systems 21 Restoration and regeneration of degraded agricultural lands 23 Sustainable and regenerative agriculture and related participatory processes 25 Restoring the environment, resources and livelihoods in coastal areas of the Philippines 26 Valuing indigenous knowledge 27 Fostering farmer-centered approaches in order to facilitate spontaneous scaling 29 Agrobiodiversity conservation and use 30 Climate resilience in agriculture 31 Participatory monitoring and evaluation 32 Thematic compilations 33 Reproductive health and maternal health care 34 Environment, agriculture and natural resources management 36 Participatory technology development processes and farmer-led extension approaches 38 Participation in research and development 39 Linking disaster risk reduction, climate change and nature-based solutions 40 Water-smart agriculture 42 Valuing tenurial rights and access to resources 45 Scaling up and research partnerships 48 Writeshops: Fostering peer review, constructive critique and co-production 50 Publications translated into other languages 52 Climate-smart, nutrition-smart and socially inclusive agriculture 53 IIRR resources links 5 I have always thrived on being out in the “field” and, in the rural communities, where the real action is. As recently as in the years 2017 to 2019, I spent more time travelling overseas than staying at home, here, in the Philippines. Somehow, I always have that sense of urgency to make full use of each day in my life. In fact, the last quarter of 2019, into the first quarter of 2020, I travelled to Tanzania, India, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, with less than a week in between trips, sometimes just a day. My last overseas trip was to Laos with the WFP and IIRR, returning three weeks later, on that last Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Manila last February 28th 2020. The pandemic was starting to disrupt our lives, our plans and our local food systems. The pandemic, we soon realized, would also serve as a major setback to previous development gains. But here in the Philippines, while in that year-long lockdown we witnessed a spontaneous peoples’ response to the pandemic. Everywhere, people starting to grow vegetables, ornamentals and flowers. Plant sellers and fruit and food stands rose in response. Indeed, Filipinos have been calling each other “Plantitas” and “Plantitos” (a term combining plant and tito/tita, Filipino for uncle and auntie). There is also a growing movement now for more natural solutions, redeeming back nature. School gardens, community gardens and now community pantries are surfacing all across the Philippines. We all started to reconnect with the natural environment and have started to realize the importance of the natural resources to our food systems. Having lived in the Philippines since 1984, I have a special interest in what happens here in the country side: I have noted dynamism and a science-based approach within the Department of Agriculture (DA) in transforming agriculture in recent years and, especially in response to food insecurity during the pandemic. The DA’s multi-faceted programs and financing led by Scientist and Secretary William Dar are already reaching every province in the country. A major revival and transformation is underway in the Philippines, on a scale I had not previously seen or imagined. This campaign is helping us all realize that agriculture matters; is worth investing in and giving attention to. The need to build back better, and to do so in ways that transform our food systems cannot be contested. The road to recovery is a complex one. It must be done in a manner that is affordable, inclusive, scalable and sustainable, while helping address inequality and poverty. We need to think of how we can build back, while restoring and conserving our natural resources. We need to ensure that we are not depleting the very resources (soil, water and biodiversity) on which our future depends on. The restoration, protection and management of our natural ecosystems, farms and landscapes will generate a range of services on which we humans depend. We need to factor in nature and natural processes in this effort to address development challenges made even more difficult, as a result of the pandemic. 6 The knowledge to do this (mostly) already exists. Internet connectivity and global databases and knowledge repositories help us access what most of us need. However, this past year, while on lockdown, assisted by my colleague Dulce Dominguez, and, with no special funding support, we decided to compile in a single location (this publication) practical knowledge resources on a wide range of topics garnered through workshops, conferences and writeshops undertaken over 35 years. Over one thousand individuals, over 400 organisations from over 40 countries were involved in these knowledge acquisition events I was associated when at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR). The global community of experts and practitioners was then always generous in partnering, sharing knowledge and practical solutions. Most publications were made available with no restriction for further reproduction. We were not charged for the time contributors spent in these “writeshops”. Intellectual property rights were less of an issue, and partnerships were more easily forged. Donors relied a lot less on competitive bids, they valued the case we made on the basis of conviction, mutual respect and trust. The richness of this compilation is a tribute to that generous spirit of the development community I had the privilege of being associated with. At the risk of leaving out many, I would like to single out CCAFS, The Ford Foundation, IDRC (Canada), IFAD (Rome), BMZ and GTZ (then) and DWHH (Germany) to acknowledge their engagement in a large number of these efforts. In these efforts to harness knowledge and exemplary practices, undertaken over multiple months (culminating in intensive week-long, 10- hour a day workshops) were many communication specialists who walked the journey: Jimmy Ronquillo, Paul Mundy, IV Domingo, Ray Montes, Mamet Magno, Ric Cantada, Joy Rivaca, Lilibeth Sulit-Villela, Hydee de Chavez, Bernadette Joven, Don Marquez, Tony Quizon, Ariel Lucerna, Celso Amutan, Dulce Dominguez, Angie Algo, Jel Montoya, Michael Victor, Dindo Campilan and more recently, Eisen Bernardo and Giulia Soria (to mention a few). There were other stakeholders who were involved, who have shared deep insights and reflections, via “messages” that were included, in different sections of this compilation. Please find time to read those messages of what real partnerships involve and imply, and what we might, inadvertently be missing out, in our current search for investments. Today, we are on the lookout for game changing solutions (with over a thousand already being identified) for transforming our food systems. Hopefully, you might find a few more game changing ideas here that you can immediately act on, as individuals or organisations. These are public goods and developed with that promise. Julian Gonsalves PhD Senior Advisor IIRR , Silang Cavite , Philippines Email : juliangonsalves@yahoo.com 7 Bio-intensive Approach to Small-Scale Household Food Production (1993) http://bit.ly/34oog6O Biodiversity in the Western Ghats (1994) http://bit.ly/3hJ9qgJ Bases Y Practicas Para Regenerative Agricultural Regenerative Agricultural Una Agricultura Technologies (1992) Technologies Regenerativa No ebook available No ebook available No eBook available 8 Agroforestry Technology Information Kit (ATIK) (1992) http://bit.ly/37v51ur Agroforestry Technology Information Kit (ATIK) (1992) http://bit.ly/37v51ur Sustainable Livelihoods for the Philippines: An Information Kit (1997) http://bit.ly/34ZAgfD 9 Thank you so much for sharing your ‘lockdown project’. Seeing this compilation of publications brings back some fond memories from the late 80s and early 90s when I started my professional career working with IRRI, ICLARM and CLSU in the Philippines. I remember well reading Low external input rice production technology information kit as a young researcher working in the Philippines on the diversification of rice farming systems with aquaculture. The integrated nutrient cycling using an ecosystem approach and the importance of the aquatic part of the system with fish and nitrogen-fixing plants were intriguing. I was therefore delighted to be invited shortly after its publication to attend a workshop on another technology information kit, this time on Farmer-Proven Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture, and this was right up my alley and like a sponge I soaked up all the important information presented there. Identifying and sharing farmer proven examples has been a challenge, and continues to be a challenge for those of us working on agricultural and rural development. I always thought that the ‘writeshop’ approach promoted by IIRR was a rather unique and very powerful way of soliciting, synthesizing, documenting and disseminating successful examples of development interventions. Working together in a team with fellow researchers, editors, graphics designers and layouters to get contents and visual appearance of these examples right seemed a great way to develop a toolkit, despite the obvious disadvantage of having to spend much time away from your actual desk - I was going to learn only much later during my professional career that it will be exactly this investment of your time that will make the difference in development work, that you must spend the time to listen, to learn, and to jointly explore, in a participatory way, together with those people whose lives you are trying to influence and change to the better. Today, with the benefit of hindsight of about 30 years of development experience, I am more convinced than ever that it is this investment of time that is critical for success. From this early experience came conviction, and from conviction dedication to do more to investigate and research and then to document and disseminate this knowledge. Taking up a position on integrated aquaculture and farming systems at FAO in the mid 90’s offered this opportunity under a leadership that facilitated and encouraged a new and innovative way of working. Joining hands with IIRR and many other partners was a logical consequence, and it resulted in two important joint publications: the Primer on Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture (IIA) and the resource book on Utilizing Different Aquatic Resources for Livelihoods in Asia. Whilst some publications such as the primer have been made available online and also translated in several languages, some others were only available in hardcopy, sometimes only as a loose collection of handouts, and I still keep some of these in my personal library. As we move on with development work, the information in these publications continues to be of immense value, and I am therefore absolutely delighted to see this effort of making all parts of the collection available to everyone. 10 Information Kit on Farmer-Proven. Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture Technologies (1992) http://bit.ly/3p4sGrz Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture: A Primer (2001) http://bit.ly/2Wr7vUn Utilizing Different Aquatic Resources for Livelihoods in Asia. A Resource Book (2001) http://bit.ly/38cvZ9u 11 Low-external Input Rice Production Technology Information Kit (1990) http://bit.ly/3nvL38D Rainfed Rice: A Sourcebook of Best Practices and Strategies in Eastern India (2000) http://bit.ly/2KGyLvC 12 Highland Rice Production in the Philippine Cordillera (1999) No eBook available Enhancing Sustainability of the Rice Economy in the Philippines (2000) http://bit.ly/3bdXdPV Addressing Resource Conservation Issues in Rice-Wheat Systems of South Asia: A Resource Book (2003) https://bit.ly/2KIfBpw 13 Integrated Community Food Production. A Compendium of Climate-Resilient Agriculture Options (2016) https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75968 14 Regenerating Rice-Based Ecosystems. Sustaining Productivity of Smallholders (2020) http://bit.ly/38jN6Yh 15 While with IDRC and ICLARM I was involved in a number of the publications and workshop/writeshops. What IIRR brought to the table was the ability to bring together very diverse experts from farmers, scientists, development workers, local and foreign experts and facilitate productive discussions, and through the writeshops develop extraordinary and practical publications. I have seen them used throughout the developing world and have distributed a number of them to colleagues, and still have a few on my bookshelves. I remember one of our early meetings at IIRR as we were discussing the development of the South-East Asian Sustainable Agriculture Network (SESAN). The major issue was how could the Philippine NGOs who were championing farmer’s rights work with the International Rice Research Institute researchers who were responsible for the evils of the green revolution. IIRR was accepted as a neutral facilitator and was able to bridge that gap to everyone’s benefit. The first SESAN regional meeting occurred in 1988 and lead to a multicounty network including a publication and a number of follow up workshops and publications reflected in this compilation. I still have the picture of that first SESAN regional meeting on my wall. Congratulations to my long-time friend Julian for pulling all this together. 16 Resource Management for Upland Resource Book on Sustainable Areas in Southeast Asia - An Agriculture for the Uplands (1990) Information Kit (1995) No eBook available http://bit.ly/3ake57i Resource Book on Sustainable Agriculture for the Lowlands (1992) http://bit.ly/2L1c2L6 Jointly published by FAO and IIRR in 1995, this information kit was based on the valuable contributions of over 30 colleagues from 8 countries who participated in an intensive two-week writeshop at IIRR during 1994. From the FAO side, the Asia-Pacific Agroforestry Network (APAN) took the lead in co-organizing the writeshop with IIRR, who hosted the event and provided technical and production support, including editors, artists and desktop publishing staff. The target audiences for this information kit were extension specialists from government and NGOs in the region. Follow-up actions to ensure proper uptake focused on translation, adaptation and dissemination of materials by APAN National Coordinators, notably in Vietnam, Thailand, China and the Philippines. 17 Shifting Cultivation: Towards Sustainability and Resource Conservation in Asia (2001) http://bit.ly/3qZjMg0 Adding Value to Shifting Cultivation in Nagaland, India (2007) http://bit.ly/2JSIRtd 18 Building Upon Traditional Agriculture in Nagaland, India (1999) http://bit.ly/3muHRst Improving Livelihoods in the Uplands of the Lao PDR: A Sourcebook (2004) http://bit.ly/3rP7oR9 19 So many agriculture and natural resource management technologies, approaches and tools are tested and piloted but few ever make it based the end of the project and even fewer are passed on to other projects, practitioners or communities. It is one of the great tragedies of the development community. Knowledge capitalisation is essential if we are not to repeat our mistakes and truly allow our knowledge and experiences to travel beyond the pilot site. We developed the Lao Upland Shifting Cultivation Sourcebooks in order to share all the proven technologies and approaches to a wider group of people. In total 72 solutions were documented in the sourcebook format. Before this, consultants and projects spent months talking to the same people about ‘what works’ and where they could find information on what was happening. All of a sudden it was ‘right there’ in an easy to use and navigate format. University professors in Laos told me that it was an essential teaching resource as for the first time they could give students easy to read explanations and real life examples of tools and approaches that can be used in their own communities. I worked with Julian on 3 sourcebooks and the joy as a knowledge manager was the ability to expose and bring to the front all the incredible learning that had taken place that was hidden in journal, research publications and reports. An important spin of all these products was the learning and networks that was established by those who contributed to them. It provided new insights and partnerships. Today “sustainable" development is changing — looking for transformative change, high impact, and ‘viral’ projects. I am happy to see this compilation as the sourcebook and capitalisation process should not be forgotten! 20 Regenerative Agricultural Technologies for Nutrition-Oriented Food Production (1988) No eBook available Resource Management in Rainfed Drylands: An Information Kit (1997) No eBook available 21 Regenerative Agriculture Technologies for the Hill Farmers of Nepal: An Information Kit (1992) http://bit.ly/38aYGn4 Social and Institutional Issues in Watershed Management in India (2000) https://bit.ly/3v8c31f Environmentally Sound Technologies for Women in Agriculture (1996) http://bit.ly/3aoNKF8 22 Sustainable Agriculture Training of Trainers: A Resource Book (2002) http://bit.ly/3gX3C33 23 Thank you for the compilation of publications. I remember many of them and still have hard copies that I still use. I was involved in the development of the Participatory Methods in CBCRM publications. I still very clearly remember being at IIRR for the writing workshop. We were all together for one week in a peaceful location. We had a great group of people there and it was so much fun talking, sharing and writing. I still have the three books and use them as a reference for trainings around the world. The work that IIRR did those many years helped a generation and future generations of practitioners, academics and researchers. It is a proud legacy. It was the year 2000 when IIRR realized that freshwater aquaculture, though a very important resource for resource poor and landless, does not get adequate attention from the point of view of learning from each other’s successes and failures. The idea of coming up with a publication that later came to be known as ‘Utilizing different aquatic resources for livelihoods in Asia: a resource book’ was thus conceived. What many organizations initially thought was too ambitious an idea to attempt representation from several Asian countries with strategic players participating, later realised it is doable when Dr. Gary Newkirk of IDRC expressed interest to be a contributor both technically and financially. The trigger eventually brought in all major aquaculture players in the region – IDRC; FAO of the UN; Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific; ICLARM (Now World Fish Center); AIT (Aquaculture Outreach Program); The Netherlands Embassy - Manila, Philippines; German Agro Action; Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center and of course IIRR came together with a publication that even a couple of decades later, sits on several portals including those of FAO and World Fish Center. 24 Livelihood Options for Coastal Communities (1995) http://bit.ly/38gDyM5 Livelihood Options for Coastal Communities Volume II (1998) http://bit.ly/3aVbBfS Participatory Methods in Community- Based Coastal Resource Management (1998) http://bit.ly/37FI1cs 25 Recording and Using Indigenous Knowledge: A Manual (1996) http://bit.ly/3mtlSBZ Paraveterinary Medicine: An Information Kit on Low-Cost Health Care Practices (1996) https://bit.ly/3aSvJOV Ethnoveterinary Medicine in Asia: An Information Kit on Traditional Animal Health Care Practices (1994) http://bit.ly/3muYEM6 26 Farmer Field Schools: Emerging Issues and Challenges (2002) No eBook available Farmer Field Schools: From IPM to Platforms for Learning and Empowerment (2002) http://bit.ly/34X8yQp These knowledge products are of unique strategic use-value because they helped: 1) transform research outputs into user-friendly and use-ready information for a wider audience of decision-makers and action planners, 2) blend science with field-tested experiences and local knowledge, and 3) elicit and value the perspectives from multiple diverse stakeholders along the knowledge-into-use continuum. 27 It was 20 years ago that I first came across IIRR and Julian, when working in the Pacific leading a large project tasked with developing appropriate sustainable agricultural practices for the diversity of farming systems in 16 countries across Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. The project was riding the wave of the farmer-first and farmer-led movement and we were negotiating our way from participatory rural appraisals through participatory learning and action to participatory technology development. The language was as complex as the locations. In many ways it was the catalogue of resources IIRR were producing at that time which helped us as a project to come to terms with the challenges we faced. We also ended up sending extension staff from the region to participate in IIRR short-term training on participatory approaches from which they came back transformed as practitioners. I am glad and proud to be able to continue the association with IIRR to this day. Glancing through this fabulous inventory of publications that Julian has put together is like the proverbial trip down memory lane. Some are still on the shelf over my shoulder as I write. Such as the 3 volume tour de force Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity – A Sourcebook from back in 2003. A magnificent landmark publication which I still delve into and don’t ever foresee being replaced or surpassed. It also reminds me how ahead of the curve IIRR has been over its lifetime. Who else was publishing collections on regenerative agriculture back in 1992, thirty years before its current proposal as a ‘game changer’ in the lead up to the forthcoming UN Food Systems Summit. It’s also remarkable to reflect on the fact that IIRR back in 1988 published a volume entitled Regenerative Agricultural Technologies for Nutrition-Oriented Food Production, decades before the need for nutrition-sensitive agriculture became the focus of attention for the global development community. Julian and IIRR are to be congratulated in curating this collection. It represents the extraordinary creativity and innovation of women and men farmers and development practitioners working in complex, diverse and risk-prone landscapes. More importantly, it contains knowledge, practices, lessons and recommendations as relevant today as ever before. Michael Pollan has a nice turn of phrase when it comes to nutrition advice which cuts through the noise, ‘just eat what your great- grandma ate’. If I was to offer up advice to a young development practitioner starting out it might be, just read what IIRR have produced. 28 Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity: A Sourcebook (2003) http://bit.ly/3mpQbtq Note: This publication was undertaken during my tenure with CIP UPWARD 2001 to 2005. 29 Towards climate resilience in agriculture for Southeast Asia: an overview for decision-makers https://bit.ly/35vuuCJ Climate resilient agriculture: educational/training posters series http://bit.ly/3nsiwzO 30 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: Experiences and Lessons. Workshop Proceedings (1998) http://bit.ly/3an53Xh Learning from Change: Issues and Experiences in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (2000) http://bit.ly/34r0Huf Measuring Change: Experiences from IFAD-Funded Projects in Asia (2015) http://bit.ly/3njvmQW 31 Environmental Health: A Sourcebook of Materials (1999) https://bit.ly/3s31B9u Towards Better Enterprises: Business Development, Marketing and Microfinance Practices (2000) https://bit.ly/2Q4wwVy 32 Reproductive Health and Communication at the Grassroots: Experiences from Africa and Asia (1997) http://bit.ly/3q7AvgD Indigenous Knowledge and Practices on Mother and Child Care: Experiences from Southeast Asia and China (2000) https://bit.ly/3gsOwE0 33 Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Basic Concepts: An Information Kit (1993) https://bit.ly/3avxnpE Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Ideas for Action: An Information Kit (1993) https://bit.ly/3xf7Zhq 34 IIRR has been a committed member of the Prolinnova International Support Team since the concept of a global network to promote local innovation in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management was first developed together with Julian Gonsalves and others in the CGIAR NGO Committee back in 1999. To this day, IIRR continues to maintain the Prolinnova website. IIRR and Prolinnova have jointly published many books and booklets on small-scale farmers’ knowledge and creativity and on farmer-led participatory research and development. Many other organisations and networks have benefitted equally from IIRR’s capacity to facilitate social learning and to document and share the lessons. This compilation of IIRR publications provides a treasure trove of information about experiences and principles that will remain valid and important for ensuring the sustainability of farmers’ livelihoods and community development. Agricultural development is driven by the relentless efforts and creativity of many practitioners, men and women farmers working together with their support agents in participatory innovation processes. Their experiences may go unnoticed unless specific efforts are done to capture them. It is one of IIRR’s major contributions that over many decades it has worked with its partners to locate relevant experiences, capture and analyze them, and document them in such a way that they feed into further practice and policy. Effective knowledge management long before this concept became popular. 35 Participatory Technology Development for Agricultural Improvement: Challenges for Institutional Integration (2002) https://bit.ly/31ZqFTT Advancing Participatory Technology Development: Case Studies on Integration into Agricultural Research, Extension and Education (2003) http://bit.ly/2Lq7IVp 36 Farmer to Farmer Extension: Lessons from the Field (1997) No eBook available Farmer-Led Extension: Concepts and Practices (1997) http://bit.ly/3pPhDCV Farmers Changing the Face of Technology: Choices and Adaptations of Technology Options (2000) No eBook available 37 Participatory Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (2005) http://bit.ly/3r7d5cA Note: This publication was undertaken during my tenure with CIP UPWARD 2001 to 2005. 38 Strengthening Resilience in Post-Disaster Situations: Stories, Experiences and Lessons from South Asia (2011) http://bit.ly/3hJ7RiR I had the opportunity to be part of the Canadian international nongovernmental organization, spearheading the secretariat of the project on Strengthening Resilience of Tsunami effected communities. A multipronged concept was demonstrated in a wholistic way the building and revitalizing local capacities in South Asia, post disaster. Every process adopted was relevant in bringing changes and building resilience to the affected communities. As part of the evaluation, we learnt there were many models and frameworks that had evolved and development practitioners, including field scientists and researchers have very little time to reflect or document their experiences. The concept of Writeshops, which I was part of in four different occasion, lent a space for recipient development professionals to contribute and actually write their stories and experiences from the field. This approach was new, very insightful, and became a platform that allowed sharing of approaches, that created newer ways to communicate research and development work. One became author for the articles they contributed during these workshops. It gave immense scope to learn more on the good practices, tools, stories of change and evidences could be better documented by the field researchers themselves. Even today, this concept is being replicated in NGOs. 39 Addressing Water, Food and Poverty Problems Together: Methods, Tools and Lessons (2013) http://bit.ly/3rTH3RQ Water-Smart Agriculture in East Africa (2015) https://bit.ly/38UqA72 *This publication was done by the author as part of a personal engagement with the CGIAR. 40 In development work, we may claim to have the “know-how”, but often lack the “do-how” that can only come from actual field experience. Yet practitioners are often too busy, lack the needed writing skills, or else are simply unaware of the true value of their work. The participatory writeshop process, pioneered by Julian Gonsalves at IIRR has brought together development practitioners and thinkers to gather tested practices, and to package these into print and other forms for wider access and use. This compendium is more than just a collection of methods and techniques for doing development; they emphasize the importance of changing values, reversing roles, and institutional re-orientations. In one of the workshops I joined, one participant commented that “participation” also does put a burden on poor people and communities. Many of us worked late into the night to discuss and produce a new article the next day on the “Hidden Costs of Participating Communities” which was included in the book. Of course, the beer helped. After seeing some of these Sourcebooks and how they provided research findings in understandable formats, we had the opportunity to work with Dr. Julian Gonsalves and the team to develop a sourcebook from 15 years’ research under the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights. It was an intensive process of distilling the information into straightforward language that still captured the essence of the findings. Working with cartoonists enabled us to use visual language to convey key lessons. This has enabled us to reach a much wider audience, from grassroots NGO workers to high-level government officials, and a new generation of researchers. 41 Enhancing Ownership and Sustainability: A Resource Book on Participation (2001) http://bit.ly/38gEobH Enhancing Participation in Local Governance: Experiences from the Philippines (2000) http://bit.ly/38pkjjM 42 A Resource Book on Enhancing Access of the Poor to Land and Common Property Resources (2006) http://bit.ly/3smFV9F Agrarian Reform in the Philippines: Status and Perspectives for 1998 and Beyond (1998) http://bit.ly/3qdQxpl Workshop Proceedings (1998) http://bit.ly/3qfmDAZ Resources, Rights and Cooperation (2010) http://bit.ly/388tW60 43 Congratulations for this powerful collection of timeless sources of knowledge and experience. The collection presents a wide array of topics concerning community development worldwide and spans almost four decades—from sustainable farming technologies to natural resources management ---to participatory approaches---to community-based adaptation and resilience ----what an amazing gateway for development practitioners, policy makers and applied researchers. The topics presented here, are more than ever, relevant to present times. No knowledge is old--it only turns to wisdom---and this collection is all that! I therefore salute Dr. Julian Gonsalves and everyone behind this powerhouse collection. Let this be known and used by everyone! 44 Going to Scale: Can We Bring More Benefits to More People More Quickly? –Workshop Highlights (2000) http://bit.ly/3gVKC4U Research Partnerships Issues and Lessons from Collaborations of NGOS and Agricultural Research Institutions (1999) http://bit.ly/3nbp5Xv 45 Writeshops do three things: Horizontal information exchange. Writeshops bring together knowledgeable individuals to present their information and experiences, combine these with information from others, and develop a manuscript based on their common knowledge. This performs the same functions as conference presentations and scientific peer review. Vertical information transformation. Writeshops bring the authors together with an editor who helps transform the information into a form that readers can understand easily. This may mean converting technical jargon into normal language, or helping people who are not used to writing to put down their ideas for the first time. It may also mean translating from one language (Nepalese? Amharic?) into another (English). Information generation. The intensive interaction during the writeshop makes it possible to split and recombine manuscripts, and import information from other sources. This interaction may identify gaps in the text. No problem: it is possible to develop entirely new manuscripts during the writeshop itself. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. Every publication borne from a writeshop process has been a story of every field practitioner’s journey. Every piece is a testament to countless years of innovations made by dedicated scientists and development workers to improve the lives of rural communities, increase the harvest of farmers, contribute to saving the environment or making social services reach those unreached. I am grateful for being entrusted to manage some of these writeshops -- for the opportunity to “walk with the writer” in documenting an innovation, for documenting a story as the innovator narrates an “aha moment” and for translating the story so it could benefit others from the experience. It was like occupying a front seat in a historical milestone. I have personally witnessed how these publications benefitted farmers and entrepreneurs. One example was when the publication “Sustainable Livelihoods Options in the Philippines: An Information Kit” co- developed by IIRR and DENR became the basis for the Government of the Philippines to support small- scale businesses in the country in the 90s. That for me is a testament where innovations reach people and make life better for them. Thank you for a fascinating journey. 46 The team of field practitioners and production staff were sequestered in a beach resort, insulated from distractions. The skeptics thought that the sight and sound of the sea will make it impossible for them to concentrate on their task. After three days, their output proved them wrong – a collection of illustrated information sheets on a range of simple technologies: home gardening, sloping land agriculture, backyard animal production, aquaculture, among others. The 1987 materials production workshop (now commonly referred to as a writeshop) was the first that IIRR organized. This “mother of all writeshops” later became the template – with adaptation – for a number of others that followed dealing with a variety of subject matters, in partnership with different agencies, and conducted in several countries. To begin with, the first is the very notion of bringing together different experts or even members of the same project/team to reflect and write on their practical experiences in itself seemed to be a huge input into the process of collective thinking, reflection and co-knowledge creation. This is something that most programmes or projects do not invest in or even facilitate. The second is the impact it has on the 'experts'. I have noticed a whole process of unlearning happening with an appreciative learning taking place. More than anything, I also noticed that they were made to dig deeper into their knowledge and experiences and thus helped them learn more of their academic or lived experiences. Everyone I have worked with as an editor seemed to have emerged more satisfied and even enlightened at what was possible or what they have missed. I also noticed that the process made the experts think out of the box and as an impact, their participation in the write-shop was therefore, a capacity building process too. They not only learner or were introduced to the nuance of precise writing in simple language, but also made them see different perspectives, which I believe will be translated or carried forward to their laboratories or the field. 47 Writeshops: A Tool for Packaging and Sharing Field-based Experiences (Workshop Proceedings) (2010) http://bit.ly/37sWfgn Writeshops: A Tool for Packaging and Sharing Field based Experiences (Case Studies) (2010) http://bit.ly/2Wo6s7I Writeshops: A Tool for Packaging and Sharing Field based Experiences (A Guide to Organizing Workshops) (2010) http://bit.ly/38jHUCc 48 IIRR has been one of the significant influencers of effective Rural Development practice throughout the world during the 20th century. Since 1921, when Dr Y C James Yen founded the Mass Education Movement in China, and later -- in 1960 -- with the founding of IIRR and its regional centers of excellence in Ghana, Colombia, Guatemala and the Philippines; IIRR and its dedicated leadership, staff and volunteers; working together with its research communities and partners, have pioneered hundreds of innovations that have enabled poor, disadvantaged and excluded communities remake their lives. The publications included in this anthology present to the reader many of these innovations, which are as relevant to good practice in 2021 as they were in 1921 and the century in between. I commend these publications to you and feel confident they will continue to inspire still more scaling-up! You have done an amazing job collecting, organizing and posting all of these reports! Very impressive indeed. This is an amazing resource for those active in the field, and now you have made it widely accessible. Congratulations! 49 Manual de Prácticas Agroecológicas de los Andes Ecuatorianos (1996) No eBook available Environmentally Sound Technologies for Women in Agriculture (1996) No eBook available 50 Small-Scale Freshwater Aquaculture in Bangladesh: An Information Kit No eBook available Participatory Methods in Community-Based Coastal Resource Management (1998) No eBook available 51 Eight guide steps for setting up a climate-smart village: A trainer's guide https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107725 Information resources for action researchers/practitioners in Climate Resilient Agriculture https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107971 Information resources on gardening, nutrition and nutrition-sensitive agriculture http://bit.ly/2Lkw3wi 52 1. Information Resources for Action Researchers/Practitioners in Climate Resilient Agriculture https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107971 1. Nutrition Compendium http://bit.ly/2Lkw3wi 2. Understanding Climate Change: A Primer for Local Government Officials in the Philippines https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68834 3. Climate Smart Agriculture: A Primer of Local Government Officials in the Philippines http://hdl.handle.net/10568/68835 4. Climate Smart Villages: Key Concepts (A primer for CCAFS partners in Southeast Asia) https://hdl.handle.net/10568/69005 5. Towards Climate Resilience in Agriculture for Southeast Asia: An Overview for Decision- makers https://hdl.handle.net/10568/71100 6. Climate Resilient Agriculture: Educational/Training Posters Series https://hdl.handle.net/10568/71099 7. Climate Resilience in Agriculture: Key Concepts for Community-based Adaptation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/79434 8. Developing Scalable Approaches for Community-based Adaptation: A Brief https://bit.ly/35SQyY4 9. Building Community-Based Models for Climate Resilient Agriculture and Fisheries across Landscapes within the Municipality of Ivisan, Capiz https://hdl.handle.net/10568/89040 10. Towards a Portfolio of Climate Resilient Technological Options: Community level Participatory Adaptive Research https://hdl.handle.net/10568/89041 53 11. Climate Smart Agriculture: Models for Empowering Women Livestock Producers https://hdl.handle.net/10568/102278 12. Resilience Building and Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal Communities (Model Building for Small Municipalities in the Philippines) https://hdl.handle.net/10568/102277 13. Agroforestry for a Changing Climate https://hdl.handle.net/10568/102276 14. Integrated Community Food Production: A Compendium of Climate-Resilient Agriculture Options http://hdl.handle.net/10568/75968 15. Leveraging the Nutritional Contributions of Agriculture http://bit.ly/3qNYWjx 16. Field Guide in Conducting PVA http://bit.ly/39Zz3GJ 17. Practical Approaches to Integrating Resilience Elements in Disaster Recovery: Brief http://bit.ly/2M0QKOe 18. Small Watersheds and Landscapes: Engaging Local Stakeholders in Conservation http://bit.ly/39VAaas 19. Participatory Climate Risk Mapping: Building Local Adaptation Capacities. A Case from Ivisan, Capiz, Philippines https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110422 20. Agrobiodiversity, School Gardens and Health Diets: Promoting Biodiversity, Food and Sustainable Nutrition https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107465 21. Co-benefits from Family Farms http://bit.ly/3bIKXWs 22. Viability of Family Farming: Brief for Decision Makers http://bit.ly/3sHDAWf 54 Policy Briefs/Info Notes 23. Fostering Local Adaptation Platforms: Relating Climate Smart Villages to Local and National Adaptation Plans https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106785 24. Pathways to Attaining a Food Secure Philippines through a Competitive and Climate-resilient Agri-fisheries Sector https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106789 25. The AMIA Experience: Supporting Local Actions for Climate Resilient Agriculture https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106787 26. Addressing Gender-based Impacts of Climate Change: A Case Study of Guinayangan, Philippines https://hdl.handle.net/10568/98473 27. Equity, Empowerment and Gender Relations: A Literature Review of Special Relevance for Climate-Smart Agriculture Programming https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99061 28. Scaling the Capacities to Adapt to a Changing Climate: Experiences of the AMIA Climate Resilient Villages, Philippines https://hdl.handle.net/10568/105717 29. Mapping the Research and Development Agenda of Food Systems in the Philippines http://bit.ly/2YaPzOD 30. Transforming Food Systems under a Changing Climate: Local to Global Policy as a Catalyst for Change: Key Messages https://hdl.handle.net/10568/101601 55 1. IIRR Engagements in Cambodia: Project Snapshot http://bit.ly/3ceOzS1 2. Biodiversity Conservation Corridors: Project Brief http://bit.ly/3pstlDC 3. BCCI Forest Ecosystem brochure http://bit.ly/3iJEkGk 4. Homestead Agriculture in Drought & Salinity Affected Areas: Addressing Climate Resilience, Livelihoods and Nutrition Challenges http://bit.ly/36ra3aD 5. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Technology Portfolios for Rice-Based Systems: (Saline, Upland, and Lowland Ecosystems) http://bit.ly/3iJJO3N 6. Climate Resilient, High Value, Intensive Vegetable Production http://bit.ly/3iJ3Z1P 7. Enhancing the Management of Forest Ecosystem brochure http://bit.ly/3iJEkGk 8. Supporting the Transformation of Livelihoods: Village Development Funds Managed by Self- Help Groups (VDF brief ) http://bit.ly/3qQ1HB2 9. Introducing Improved Practice on Native Chicken Production to Smallholder Farmers in Mondulkiri and Koh Kong Provinces - brochure http://bit.ly/3a04mkD 10. Unleashing the Entrepreneurial Potential in Rural Cambodia: Native Chicken Production (Chicken brief) http://bit.ly/3pkBmKY 11. Indigenous Chicken Primer (Improved Small-Scale Indigenous Chicken Raising) http://bit.ly/39czQ88 56 12. Conservation Corridors: How Local-Livelihood Enhancement can Contribute (Stories of Change in Communities within Forest Ecosystems in Cambodia) http://bit.ly/3sT4cUX 13. Better Local Water Governance of Community Ponds: A Role for Water User Groups http://bit.ly/3a5aCYF 14. Promoting Resilient Community Fisheries in Koh Kong Province (PRCF-KK), Cambodia: Brief http://bit.ly/2Y9aGAL 15. Engagement of IIRR in Promotion of the Agroforestry Systems in Thma Bang District, Koh Kong Province http://bit.ly/3iIKhmY 16. Sharpening our Understanding of Food Systems (English version) http://bit.ly/2M46PCP 17. Sharpening our Understanding of Food Systems (Khmer version) http://bit.ly/3c8VqMI 18. Small Livestock: Climate-smart, Environmentally Sound, Economically Empowering, Gender- fair and Transformative Agricultural Enterprises in Cambodia https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111538 19. Resilience Building against Climate Risks and Impacts at Local and Community Levels: A Role for Local Financing Mechanisms https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111540 20. Ecosystems-Based Adaptation in the Forest and Agriculture Interface: Operationalizing Action in Mondulkiri and Koh Kong https://hdl.handle.net/10568/111541 57 1. Nutrition Co-Benefits of Climate-Smart Agriculture in Myanmar https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107814 2. Resource Conservation in the Uplands of Southern Shan: How Climate-Smart Agriculture can Help https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99501 2. Regenerating Drylands in Response to a Changing Climate https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99496 4. Diversification: Reducing Risks, Increasing Incomes while Enhancing Adaptive Capacities in the Ayeyarwady Delta https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99494 4. Capitalizing on Local Livelihood Diversity: Enhancing Resilience Building of Small Highland Farms https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99491 4. Nurturing Resilience in Smallholder Farming Systems: Emerging Insights from a Climate- Smart Village in Southern Shan State, Myanmar https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108682 7. Restoring Drylands, Strengthening Resilience: Insights from a Climate-Smart Village in Htee Pu, Nyaun Oo, Myanmar https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108683 8. Promoting Nutrition in Climate Smart Agriculture (Nutrition primer) http://bit.ly/3iNpNtd 8. Nurturing Adaptation Capacities in Chin Highlands. Lessons from Sakta: A Climate-Smart Village in Myanmar http://bit.ly/3hFpG2s 9. Nurturing resilience in smallholder farming systems: Emerging insights from a Climate-Smart Village in Southern Shan State, Myanmar https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108682 For more information: International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Y.C. James Yen Center, Silang, Cavite 4118 Philippines www.iirr.org 58