The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade Bureau (EGAT) and participating U.S. and host country institutions around the world.
To support research, training, and technology transfer activities, USAID provided $29 million in fiscal year 2008 to support the eight programs, formerly called Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs). The CRSPs are an important component of the U.S. Government’s and USAID’s approach to addressing global food security. These CRSPs emphasize the importance of partnerships and the empowerment of countries to create solutions to end world hunger, as well as the importance of science and technology in improving agricultural productivity. SANREM is one former CRSP, now known as an Innovation Lab that focuses on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management as an important mechanism to boosting crop yields and addressing food security.
New USAID Initiative: Feed the Future
SANREM CRSP and the other CRSPs are in the process of being transferred to the new USAID Bureau of Food Security, which will oversee Feed The Future (FTF). This new global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, is unique in its approach–Instead of merely providing money in an emergency-like response, Feed the Future will address barriers to food security with two objectives: increase agricultural growth and improve nutrition. After identifying and removing political, financial, and capacity-wise barriers, the program will develop a realistic food security plan for each country. For more information about Feed the Future, please see our December 2010 Newsletter or the Feed the Future website.
Leader With Associates (LWA) Award
In 1999, USAID issued a Contract Information Bulletin (CIB) that introduced the new idea of Leader/Associate grants or cooperative agreements. With the continuation of SANREM into Phase III in 2005, the new cooperative agreement named SANREM the first Leader With Associates (LWA) Award. This LWA cooperative agreement allows the Managing Entity to give Associate Awards for research activities related to the CRSP. The LWA was designed to allow maximum flexibility to USAID Missions and Regional Bureaus to quickly initiate, design, and manage country and region-specific activities without lengthy competitive awards processes.
Our mandate is fairly broad and includes promoting sustainable agriculture and natural resources management through stakeholder empowerment, enhanced resource management, strengthened local institutions, improved market access for small-holders and communities, and sustainable and environmentally sound development. SANREM’s USAID Agreement Officer’s Technical Representative (AOTR) is responsible for determining, in consultation with the Mission, whether the program description of the Associate Award is consistent with the SANREM mandate. For more information about Associate Awards and the Leader With Associates Award, please see the following:
Marking/Branding Procedure
Publications and presentations funded by the SANREM Award should acknowledge USAID support with the following statement:
“This publication/presentation was made possible by the United States Agency for International Development and the generous support of the American People for the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Collaborative Research Support Program under terms of Cooperative Agreement No. EPP-A-00-04-00013-00 to the Office of International Research and Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University” (POP Manual – pdf).
USAID Research Focus in 2005: Biodiversity Conservation
- Biodiversity Conservation: A Guide For USAID Staff and Partner (pdf, 7 MB)(2005) – This guide provides USAID staff and partners with basic information about designing, managing, and implementing biodiversity conservation programs or activities.
- USAID-Cambodia Forest and Biodiversity Report(pdf, 1 MB) (2005) – This report details the efforts made by USAID to protect tropical rainforests and conserve biological diversity.