INTERFACES - Supporting Pathways to Sustainable Land Management in Africa

INTERFACES is a support project that will support the BMBF-funded regional projects in their endeavor to drive change for sustainable land management in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will do so through impact-oriented service activities, building on the networking of the regional projects, science communication, societal learning processes and capacity development, as well as through complementary transfer analyses that enable or facilitate implementation and improve the relevance and reach of research-based  results of the regional projects.

To achieve changes towards sustainable land management, a fundamental reorganization is needed across technological, economic, political, institutional and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.

Therefore, INTERFACES has four work areas that together strengthen the integration, coherence and reach of the regional projects with regard to sustainable land management: 1. Knowledge synthesis through dialogues about future visions and theories of change for sustainable land management - together with the regional projects and actors from science, policy and practice, 2. Support of innovation and implementation processes by identifying change strategies to bridge knowledge-behaviour gaps, 3. Communication, networking and knowledge management and 4. Education, e.g. through the integration of teaching content into African and German Master's and Graduate programs. The methods and results of the regional projects find their way into the training of project partners and students with regard to the training of future "change agents".