On demand of the Joint Strategic Framework of Rwanda, two members of SECORES made a stop-over in Kigali while travelling to Burundi to facilitate a two-day workshop on social-ecological resilience, biodiversity, One Health and agroecology.
The participants were representatives of Belgian non-governmental cooperation actors, their Rwandan partners, the DGD and the Belgian embassy in Kigali. Five people took part online and thirteen in person, making a total of 18.
On 29 February 2024, an introduction was given on SECORES, the concepts of social-ecological resilience, driving forces, ecosystem services, the conceptual framework used by SECORES, how this led to its Theory of Change and how one of its members (Join For Water) translated it in their program. Questions related to planetary boundaries, the tension between industrial agriculture and agroecology and what this means for awareness raising in Belgium.
Based on the outcomes of the 15/12/2023 seminar in Brussels, some findings were presented on how to assess social-ecological resilience, explaining 4 possible tools and some results of the application of the SEPLS tool in Burundi (toolkit for the indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes).
In the afternoon a participatory exercise applied concepts of social-ecological resilience to the context of Rwanda. In a first step, participants reflected on what the concept of SER means in their work via 3 thematic groups on (a) agriculture, (b) environmental protection, and (c) health care. Each group reflected on the shocks and stresses related to their theme and on the factors (human, natural, institutional) that increase and decrease resilience (indicating, where possible, the link with gender). In a second step, the reflections from the first exercise were applied to a ‘fictitious’ village drawing a participatory map of the area, indicating shocks and stresses and identifying elements that increase or decrease resilience, based on the lessons from the first step.
This exercise highlighted the complexity, the vision and the holistic approach that are essential to consider each concrete case and context, as well as the need to work together on institutional, social, economic and ecological elements.
On 1 March 2024, CEBioS gave an introduction on biodiversity including definitions; the importance of biodiversity for human well-being with some illustrative examples; threats and their impact based on the examples; the link with socio-ecological resilience; the link between climate change and biodiversity; and a reminder of the different types of ecosystem services.
After the presentations, participants played a game that clarified the link between biodiversity and the services provided by 6 examples of living beings (game developed by CEBioS).
In the afternoon, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Rwanda gave an introduction on the concept of One Health, what it means, why it is important and how it relates to the concept of social-ecological resilience. The exchange included questions on how to attract more health organizations to the concept of One Health, how to bring messages on One Health to the decision level, and how we can stimulate more collaboration between organizations.
This session was followed by an presentation on agroecology and its link to social-ecological resilience by the Rwandan organization APROJUMAP. The session emphasized the objectives of agroecology and its 10 principles (reducing the use of artificial inputs; recycling; soil health; animal welfare; biodiversity; synergies; economic diversification; co-creation of knowledge; social values and types of food; and equity
