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the various actors and how such interests influence the arguments put forward
and the actions taken.
The three-lens framework facilitates analysis of how various actors and
organizations engage in the processes of generating information and planning
for adaptation to climatic-change impacts in agriculture (Naess et al. 2011; IDS
2011; Chinsinga et al. 2011; IDS 2006). Using this framework, we can explore
how various actors make and shape policy through narratives and their interests
and position of power (or lack of such), while being constrained by them at the
same time (IDS 2006). Studying these processes is crucial for understanding
how research evidence is generated and interpreted by the various actors, and
how they in turn use it to achieve their own goals.
Keeley and Scoones (2003) describe policy processes as incremental, complex
and non-linear, encompassing actors with different views and discourses,
networks and power relations. Similarly, interactive research models recognize
the non-linearity of policy development processes, which can be complex,
protracted and with a multitude of actors and interests (Hanney et al. 2003).
These models therefore require a longer time frame for research utilization
(Stephenson and Hennink 2002). The interactive model design involves a range
of interactions between researchers and policy-makers throughout the research
process, and exposes each party to the other's world (Hennink and Stephenson
2005). According to Hanney et al. (2003), research is less likely to be used if
there is no interaction across the interface between producers and users of
knowledge. Interactive research can therefore provide a more realistic view of
the researcher-policy-maker interface.
Case description
We use the case of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted by researchers
from the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), in Morogoro, Tanzania,
titled 'Managing Risk, Reducing Vulnerability and Enhancing Agricultural
Productivity under a Changing Climate'. This PAR project was implemented
in Same District in north-eastern Tanzania, funded by the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC), Climate Change Adaptation in Africa
(CCAA) 2006-2012 programme (SUA 2009). The authors were not part of
the PAR project team; they had a separate research team which was part of a
Department for International Development (DFID)/IDRC funded Research to
Policy for Adaptation (RPA) project that aimed at investigating the processes and
outcomes of the interactive PAR project using the three-lens framework. This
chapter reports the results.
The RPA project was also conducted in Same District, a semi-arid area in the
Western Pare Lowlands on the western side of the Pare Mountain ranges, in the
Kilimanjaro region. The district covers an area of approximately 5,730 square
km, located between longitude 37°55' E and 40°15' S, and has a population of
202,235 (Kulindwa 2011). Same District is already experiencing erratic and
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