DESFIL is a centrally funded project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). DESFIL's goal is to support USAID Missions in developing strategies that encourage the adoption of sustainable land use management practices by farmers. Rodale Institute's role in DESFIL is to develop and disseminate a Results Management System (RMS) data base to accompany the use of USAID's Natural Resource Management (NRM) Analytical Framework. The Framework is a tool for program planners and evaluators to identify the conditions and incentives which enable farmers to adopt sustainable land use practices, and evaluate the impact of those practices on human and natural resources.
In 1995, the RMS will be field tested at Rodale's Regenerative Agriculture Resource Center (RARC) in Senegal. Analyses of data collected from RARC project activities will be used to construct user and non-user profiles of regenerative NRM practices and identify programmatic options which might establish the conditions enabling the broad-based adoption of these practices in Senegal and elsewhere in West Africa.
William Fiebig, Ph.D., Project Leader