Applying the Adaptive Systemic Approach to strengthen co-learning in two Learning Watersheds in Ethiopia: a pathway toward participatory adaptive governance

Résumé

Centuries of subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia's highlands have led to extensive soil erosion, reduced vegetation cover, and declining rural livelihoods.In response, six Learning Watersheds (LWs) were established in 2012 to restore degraded landscapes through integrated watershed (catchment) management.Built on long-term empirical research and sustained community engagement, these sites provided a foundation for land rehabilitation and local institutional development.A case study in the multi-country African project "Unlocking Resilient Benefits from African Water Resources (RESBEN)" was undertaken between 2020 and 2024 in two of the LWs using the Adaptive Systemic Approach (ASA).Debre Yacob and Aba Gerima LWs, located in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, had different restoration outcomes from the LW process despite broadly similar agroecological and socio-cultural contexts.In this paper we do not seek to explain the historical causes of these differing outcomes, but rather examine how the ASA engaged with this pre-existing context.We explore how co-learning and adaptive watershed management can be strengthened through the integration of the ASA with a long-term participatory context.We draw on qualitative analysis of workshop outputs, participant reflections, and researcher observations from the ASA process.The existing relationships between watershed residents and LW researchers enabled the prompt application of the Adaptive Planning Process (APP; ASA Phase 2), with the LWs largely fulfilling the scoping and stakeholder connectivity functions of Phase 1.The APP provided evidence of co-learning among residents and contributed to renewed engagement and more structured collective planning within the LW context, supporting ongoing commitment to restorative practices.It also foregrounded governance challenges, including the absence of formally recognized bylaws and uneven community compliance, while fostering intentions for continued inter-watershed collaboration.These processes informed Phase 3 activities and contributed to more structured and coordinated planning.Together, the LW and ASA offer valuable insights into participatory and adaptive watershed management, demonstrating how linking long-term participatory practice with structured adaptive planning can strengthen governance processes in complex social-ecological systems, with implications for rural Ethiopia and more widely in Africa.

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