Influencing policy and action on Climate-Change adaptation - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 240

in agriculture. We have investigated multi-stakeholder engagement throughout
the policy process from policy design to implementation and the role of scientific
research. Specifically, we wanted to know whether and how PAR researchers
engaged with the various stakeholders across multiple levels of governance. We
employ a nuanced articulation of power relations among actors in formal and
informal policy spaces to argue that focusing on the politics of interaction can
shed light on factors such as competing narratives, divergent interests and power
amongst actors that may impede the application of sound policy strategies. By
'political factors' we refer to the power relations between actors, and the forces
influencing those power dynamics. Actors often deploy power dynamics in
attempting to shape the views and actions of others (see Gaventa 2006; Lukes
2005).
For the three levels - national, district and village - we present our findings
and our interpretation of the various aspects of interactions between multiple
actors across multiple governance levels in making and applying strategies for
climate-change adaptation strategies. For each level we indicate who the main
actors are, their interests, the spaces for interactions, and the narratives and
counter-narratives they employ when interacting in the policy spaces identified.
These components of the analysis are aimed at explaining the complex nature
of actor relations, in order to shed light on what measures to take in navigating
the policy landscape so as to achieve faster and effective use of research results.
Actors and policy spaces at the national level
We use national-level and local-level policy spaces to highlight the actors
involved and the politics of interaction among them. We present and discuss the
roles, interests and powers of the actors and how these affect interactions in such
consultative spaces. National-level policy spaces include the Agriculture Sector
Consultative Group, the Agriculture Sector Working Group of Development
Partners and the multi-stakeholder National Policy Forum, as well as the project
inception workshop. Local-level policy spaces include the field farm school and
the Decision Making Forum (DMF).
The Agriculture Sector Consultative Group is convened by the Ministry of
Agriculture, and brings together development partners, representatives of the
government, the private sector and NGOs. This forum meets four times a
year and is hosted by the Directorate of Policy and Planning of the Ministry
of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives. It is the most powerful
forum for policy-making in agricultural development because it includes all
the major players representing various interests and influence, and derives
its legitimacy from being convened by the government. The second policy
space is the Agriculture Working Group of the Development Partners , which meets
monthly. 'Development partners' is a collective term for various multilateral
and bilateral development and environmental agencies represented in Tanzania.
They are coordinated by the FAO's country office and normally invite experts