The KHSA works with in-country partners in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa to identify and fill knowledge gaps related to the effective uptake of sustainable food and farming systems that align with the principles of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements. 

We work with a range of stakeholder groups that are affected by or that can influence the current structure of the sector. This includes lead farmer organisations and lead farmers, policymakers and civil servants, research institutions and academia, sector organisations and the media.

Our goal is to provide validated, context-specific and needs-based technical knowledge on agroecology and organic agriculture to stakeholders in Southern Africa to promote widespread adoption of these approaches. Our objectives are to:

• Gather, validate and disseminate needs-based technical and methodological knowledge products about organic agriculture and agroecology.
• Build capacity of multipliers across the region to effectively promote organic agriculture and agroecology.
• Build and strengthen relationships between networks of stakeholders involved in organic agriculture and agroecology across the Southern African region.

KHSA aims to scale up the adoption of agroecological and organic agriculture practices by finding, creating and sharing knowledge with multipliers. Multipliers are those who pass knowledge on in different networks, such as trainers, farmer organisations, research organisations, extension officers, media, and other stakeholders in the agri-food system. Our approach focuses on both sector-wide and targeted programmes with multipliers. These are our multiplier support programmes (MSPs).

SECTOR-WIDE APPROACH

This focuses on strengthening the relationships between a broad range of relevant stakeholders in and across project countries, as well as providing them with the opportunity to share and disseminate needs-based information on organic/agroecological agriculture. This approach has been designed on the basis of the Country Implementing Partners (CIP’s) networks and knowledge of stakeholders with the most influence and therefore the best multiplication effect. The selection of these stakeholders has also been informed by the regional baseline undertaken in the project countries.

THE MSP

This is a targeted intervention that aims to enhance the capacity of multipliers to more effectively convey information and build capacity of small-scale farmers. The design of each MSP is different and is premised on the findings of a baseline of the targeted multipliers and sample group of farmers they support rolled out at specific sites. The MSP provides opportunity for deep learning, and to assess the impact of KHSA on the multipliers. The MSP concept was developed based on the success of the Pollinator Programme in South Africa, a programme developed to support lead farmers in establishing and running PGS groups.