• SANREM CRSP Brochure (pdf)
• SANREM CRSP Proposal (pdf)
• SANREM CRSP Policy and Operating Procedures (POP) Manual (pdf)

About SANREM CRSP

The Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP) is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade Bureau (USAID/EGAT) and participating U.S. and host country institutions around the world.

The objective of the SANREM CRSP is to support sustainable agriculture and natural resource management (SA and NRM) decision makers in developing countries by providing access to appropriate data, knowledge, tools, and methods of analysis; and by enhancing their capacity to make better decisions to improve livelihoods and the sustainability of natural resources.

Activities

SANREM CRSP research is organized by an innovative nested landscape systems approach beginning with field level systems, building through farm, enterprise, and watershed systems nested in broader ecological, governance and policy systems.

SANREM CRSP activities result in the development, cataloging and transfer of technologies for increased income generation, stakeholder empowerment, enhanced resource management, strengthened local institutions, improved market access for smallholders and communities, and sustainable and environmentally sound development.

Programs

Integrated research programs are conducted by a consortium of universities, IARCs, NGOs, and host country institutions, each led by a U.S. university. A participatory approach engages stakeholders in research problem formulation within priority areas of inquiry. Up to 90 percent of available research funds are distributed on an open, competitive basis. Gender-sensitive participant training programs that include degree and non-degree training plans are integral to the SANREM approach. All activities link sustainable natural resource management with the economic concerns of local populations and promotion of good governance.

Leader With Associates

Using the Leader With Associates (LWA) mechanism, USAID Missions can access SANREM CRSP expertise for the achievement of their sustainable agriculture and natural resource management objectives. USAID Mission requests are channeled through the SANREM CRSP ME, establishing scopes of work and separate awards for additional research and technical assistance.

Online Knowledgebase

All SANREM programs and activities contribute to the SANREM Knowledgebase (SKB). The SKB is an online SA and NRM knowledgebase that assists present and future decision-makers in making informed decisions.

Areas of inquiry

Technology integration
Technologies needed by stakeholders and decision makers to promote SA and NRM practices (i.e., GIS, biotechnology, decision support tools)

Governance
Policies and institutional arrangements enabling civil society to better manage natural resources

Economic policy and enterprise development
Supporting sustainable SA and NRM practices that develop niche markets and are eco-friendly and competitive

Biodiversity conservation and environmental services
Investigating synergistic relationships between production, biodiversity, and livelihoods.

Social and institutional capacity building
Training and policies promoting improved SA and NRM leadership, NGO technology transfer, and increased civil society and government synergies

Globalization, vulnerability, and risk
SA and NRM best practices to manage globalization and address risk and vulnerability caused by HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, etc.

The integrated SANREM CRSP systems approach demonstrates how linkages among gender, biophysical, technology, governance, economic, social, environmental, and globalization factors achieve sustainable development.

SANREM CRSP grants

• Any U.S. university can apply for research grants, up to 90 percent of which will be awarded competitively.
   
• Mobilize past SANREM CRSP Principal Investigators and universities in an open competition for Bridging Proposals, to provide short-term, high-impact results (Fall 2004).
   
• Planning Awards (up to 20) to fund the development of proposals for long-term research activities (Winter 2004).
   
• Implement the core research program through up to six Long-term Research Award (LTRA) activities that address critical SA and NRM issues across the developing world (Fall 2005).
   
• Promote USAID Mission objectives through independently funded Leader With Associates awards for SA and NRM research and technical assistance.
   
• Establish and maintain the internet-based SANREM Knowledgebase to assist decision makers at all levels.

Long-term Research Award activities

LTRAs involve cutting-edge research programs in SA and NRM combining:

• in situ development projects involving technical and institutional issues
• an analytical and comparative framework, and
• multidisciplinary, multi-institutional teams of U.S. and host country scientists.