Building Bridges for Resilient Landscapes – MFL Collaboration with Zim AEKN

Reflections on "Deepening the Development of the Zimbabwe Agroecology Knowledge Network (Zim AEKN)" engagement"

The Zimbabwe Agroecology Knowledge Network (Zim AEKN) has quickly established itself as a platform for uniting universities, researchers, farmers, civil society, and policymakers around transforming food and land systems. At its recent workshop in Harare, participants highlighted soil health, indigenous crops and livestock, and seed systems as priority areas for collaborative research and action. What became clear in those discussions is that Zim AEKN has both the ambition and the reach to connect local experiences with national and regional agendas. It needs strong partnerships that can help translate these ambitions into tangible outcomes. This is where the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes (MFL) program in Zimbabwe steps in.

MFL is designed around a simple but powerful idea: landscapes must simultaneously serve multiple purposes. They should provide food and nutrition security, support biodiversity, enable climate resilience, and sustain rural livelihoods. Crucially, this vision is anchored on using agroecology to scale nature-positive and regenerative solutions. Agroecology brings together ecological science and farmer innovation, offering a pathway to restore soils, conserve water, diversify production, and regenerate ecosystems while improving community well-being. By collaborating with Zim AEKN, MFL Zimbabwe can help advance these ambitions while ensuring that local priorities in soil, seed, and indigenous knowledge are embedded in regional and global conversations.

One area of collaboration is capacity building. Zim AEKN's workshop highlighted gaps in training for soil scientists, extension officers, and community leaders, particularly around practical soil monitoring and management methods. MFL Zimbabwe brings global experience in developing capacity strategies based on the needs of actors working directly in landscapes. By aligning with Zim AEKN's working groups, MFL can co-design training grounded in Zimbabwe's realities-such as the challenge of building soil organic carbon under variable rainfall or testing the effectiveness of nature-based restoration practices. Training that explicitly links agroecology with regenerative practices ensures that the next generation of land managers are equipped to deliver both productivity and resilience.

The second area is knowledge management. Discussions in the Soil Health group underscored the lack of tools that bridge scientific research and farmer practice. While evidence exists, it often fails to reach communities in forms they can apply. MFL Zimbabwe is mandated to create practical toolkits that translate science into policies and practices. Working with Zim AEKN, these toolkits could simplify soil health assessment, evaluate the economic returns of regenerative interventions, and provide policymakers with evidence to guide investment. By collaborating here, the two initiatives can ensure that Zimbabwe's experiences become accessible resources for local communities and decision-makers at higher levels.

Collaboration also extends to communities of practice. Zim AEKN was established to link institutions and actors across Zimbabwe, but the issues it addresses-soil degradation, seed sovereignty, and resilience of indigenous livestock-are shared across Africa. MFL Zimbabwe's convening role at regional and global levels provides a natural pathway for Zimbabwean voices to be amplified. By embedding Zim AEKN into wider knowledge-sharing platforms, MFL ensures that Zimbabwe learns from peers and contributes lessons that can shape broader strategies for scaling regenerative, agroecological solutions.

Finally, advocacy and engagement are essential. Workshop participants pointed to fragmented policies around agriculture, water, and environment that limit the adoption of agroecological approaches. MFL Zimbabwe is developing frameworks for engagement that include annual action plans and coordinated advocacy. By joining forces with Zim AEKN, these frameworks can gain traction, giving farmer-led evidence and university research a stronger policy presence. Together, they can press for more coherent policies, increased recognition of farmer-managed systems, and investment in agroecology as a driver of resilience and restoration.

This collaboration is timely. Zim AEKN has established working groups that are ready to shape research agendas and identify priority actions. MFL Zimbabwe, for its part, is seeking to demonstrate how multifunctional landscapes can work in practice by connecting science, policy, and community experience. By working together, they can accelerate Zimbabwe's transition toward landscapes that restore soils, protect biodiversity, and sustain livelihoods, while also positioning the country as a leader in regional and global debates.

Ultimately, the partnership between MFL and Zim AEKN is more than an alignment of programs. It is a shared commitment to agroecology as the foundation for nature-positive, regenerative solutions. By bringing together local innovation with global science, this collaboration offers a pathway toward resilient food systems that meet the needs of people today while safeguarding the ecosystems on which future generations will depend.

By Vimbayi G. P. Chimonyo (CIMMYT) and Dorcas Matangi (CIMMYT)