Tools

CSA-Plan is a guide for CSA planning, programming and implementation. Sitting within each component of CSA-Plan are information, tools, and approaches to enable action. Engagement and capacity building are key crosscutting elements of CSA-Plan. CSA-Plan can be applied across levels of decision making. It allows for exchange of information between levels to maximize alignment and integration of information and planning. Developed in cooperation with World Agroforestry Centre and CIAT.
More information
View the CSA Plan in our interactive CSA Guide
 

CSA-Plan is a guide for CSA planning, programming and implementation. Sitting within each component of CSA-Plan are information, tools, and approaches to enable action. Engagement and capacity building are key crosscutting elements of CSA-Plan. CSA-Plan can be applied across levels of decision making. It allows for exchange of information between levels to maximize alignment and integration of information and planning. Developed in cooperation with World Agroforestry Centre and CIAT. 

Investment outcome

The CSA-Plan approach frames the steps that are needed to establish and implement a CSA program or initiative in a simple and understandable way for decision makers. The framework can apply across different levels of decision making and can be modified based on user needs. Existing analyses and planning tools can link into the CSA-Plan approach to ensure it is relevant for use in multiple contexts and planning cycles.

The challenge

Large scale systematic investment is needed for CSA to be scaled out to establish transformational change within agriculture systems. To channel funding, programs, policies, and initiatives are needed that identify entry points for mainstreaming CSA, while also addressing locally specific challenges. Decision support is needed to identify the components of CSA programs and then effectively implement them and monitor them to ensure intended impact is being established.

The opportunity

CSA-Plan provides a framework that allows users to identify what concrete actions need to be taken and how the tools they are already using can link into CSA planning approaches. Many governments are in the process of integrating CSA into National Agriculture Investment Plans and other agriculture and climate change action plans. Some regional entities are even helping countries develop CSA Country Programs. These actions demonstrate the demand for organized planning approaches around CSA from sub-national to international levels.

The strategy

Actions needed to establish and execute CSA programs are broken down into steps: 1) situation analysis, 2) targeting and prioritizing, 3) program design, and 4) monitoring and evaluation. Information flows linearly from step 1—4, but also between levels within each step. Engagement and capacity development are integrated as core crosscutting components that are part of all steps of the CSA program development and implementation process. The approach can also be iterative, as the M&E stage feeds back into the situation analysis and prioritization as new data on the outcomes that CSA actions create on-the-ground is produced.

Contact

For more information please contact Todd Rosenstock (ICRAF) and Evan Girvetz (CIAT).