Conservation Agriculture Communities of Practice

ACT uses the Conservation Agriculture (CA) Communities of Practice (CoP) categories to support interact amongst its members and stakeholders, and in this way, contribute to the agenda of the network, modalities of and services to be provided to the membership and the public. ACT has formulated and classified various communities of practice as below:

1. Academia and researchers (COPAR). Comprised of colleges, universities and research institutions.
2. CA equipment manufacturers, suppliers and service providers (COPMSSP). Comprised of CA equipment manufacturers, repair workshops, importers, hire service providers, financial institutions.
3. Farmers and farmer organizations (COPFFO). Comprised of individual smallholder and large scale CA farmers, CBO, farmer NGOs, and farmer cooperatives.
4. Women and youths in agriculture (COPWYIA). Comprised of individual smallholder and commercial women farmers, women in agriculture organisations, youths engaged in agriculture, gender equality advocacy groups, and professional mentors.
5. Developers and disseminators of CA (COPDD). Comprised of Government staff, development partners (observers), extension agents, and NGOs

Each applicant for ACT membership will choose to join CoP(s) of his/her interest while registering as a member of the organization. All members will be required to comply with the general terms and conditions of the CA-CoPs.

The purpose of CA-CoPs is to provide a forum that enhances dialogue and actions on issues related to the promotion of Conservation Agriculture in Africa.

The roles of the CA-CoPs are:

1. Collect, synthesize and disseminate information on Conservation Agriculture
2. Innovate mechanism to further develop conservation agriculture programmes/initiatives
3. Lobbying and advocacy for promotion of enabling environment through policy change in support of CA technologies in Africa
4. Provide advice to stakeholders on strategies for the promotion of CA in Africa
5. Identify and share information on opportunities for resource mobilization that can be utilized to support investment plans in areas of CA in Africa
6. Network among CoP members and interlink with other CoPs on relevant actions augmenting the development of CA in Africa
7. Periodically report and receive feedback to and from ACT to further support promotion of CA in Africa

CoP Membership Guidelines

1. CA-CoPs will meet occasionally to share experiences and sound practices emanating from the implementation of Conservation Agriculture policies and technologies.
2. Meetings for the CA-CoPs will be organized by the African Conservation Tillage Network secretariat and supported by stakeholders.
3. Members should be committed to support the community of practice existing and emerging initiatives towards furtherance of conservation agriculture agenda in Africa

Benefits of participating in any CA Community of Practice