About Project

The Research and Innovation (R&I) in Community-Based Natural Resources Management and Waste Management (RINaWa) project, funded by the European Union through the OACP-RI program, aims to improve sustainable natural resource management (NRM) and waste management (WM) across Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. Aligning with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Development Agenda and the 2020-2030 RISDP, RINaWa seeks to address critical challenges in the region by fostering evidence-based solutions.

The R&I outputs will in particular facilitate effective implementation of the RISDP actions on NRM and WM. It is therefore not only relevant to both the government needs and constraints of the target countries, but also to the citizens of the SADC region at large including the local communities who are the primary beneficiaries. The project targets the research and tertiary education institutions, government entities, local and national groupings, value chain actors and the public-private sector linkage.

The use of R&I in NRM and WM involves development and application of new knowledge, technologies and approaches to address challenges in these areas. It encompasses identifying innovative solutions, testing them in real-word scenarios, and refining them into practical applications. In the NRM context, R&I involves studying sustainable practices, conservation methods and ecosystem management strategies. This also includes investigating efficient use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation techniques. In the WM context, R&I focus on novel waste reduction, recycling and disposal techniques. Further, this involves investigating innovative waste-to-energy technologies, exploring ways to minimize plastic pollution and improving waste collection and processing methods. The overall objectives for applying R&I approaches in NRM and WM is to contribute to more sustainable and efficient locally-adapted practices, enhancing environmental protection and resource utilization. Through the application of R&I approaches, the expected outputs are new and adapted technologies, best practices, data and insights, policy recommendations, educational materials, collaborative networks, pilot projects, publications and capacity building programmes.

The main objective of the project is strengthened sustainable WM and NRM in the targeted countries of the SADC region. Its specific Strategic Objectives (SOs) or outcomes are:

• SO1: Research and tertiary education institutes applying up-to date research and training in waste management WM and NRM;
• SO2: Government entities drafting, implementing and monitoring WM and NRM policies based on scientifically developed evidence;
• SO3: Strengthened and effective participation of local and national groupings from society (IPLCs, CBOs, CSOs) in evidence-based decision making in WM and NRM;
• SO4: Effective WM and NRM practices applied by value chain actors from the formal and informal sectors; and
• SO5: Improved collaboration between experts from the public and private sectors on WM and NRM R&I issues (science-policy-practice interface).

In order to realize these twin NRM-WM specific objectives, the project adopts a wider ecosystem-based approach that seeks to innovatively strengthen capacity through Science, Action, Policy and Engagement. The specific activities of the project are as follows:

• Capacity strengthening of research and tertiary education institutes in delivering research and training in WM and NRM;
• Capacity strengthening of government entities in drafting, implementing and monitoring WM and NRM policies;
• Capacity enhancement of local and national groupings from society in effective participation and decision making in sustainable WM and NRM based on scientifically driven evidences;
• Demonstration of innovative operational and management solutions to value chain actors in the WM+NRM sectors; and
• Effective collaboration of actors from the science-policy-practice on WM and NRM issues.