PLaW is focussed on the role of people in resource use and misuse, rather than the intrinsic quality and quantity of those resources. To that end, PLaW supports research institutions - including NGOs whose research focusses on:

• working to increase understanding and knowledge of factors that lead to environmental degradation or, conversely, to improvement of land and water resources - emphasis is placed on gender, social, economic, and policy factors, as well as current and traditional coping strategies and technologies;
• contributing to local and national policies, technologies, and institutional arrangements that equitably increase access to soil and water resources, as well as their availability and quality - emphasis is placed on policies and organisations that facilitate community-level conflict resolution or that provide incentives for fair and efficient allocation of resources; and
• developing and using communication strategies that facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among stakeholders to improve their decision making and foster their participation in joint development initiatives - emphasis is placed on 2-way communication strategies that inform and mobilise people, as well as strategies that enable local people to initiate bottom-up communication approaches that:
  • facilitate participatory problem identification and search for solutions;
  • identify useful local knowledge and facilitate its sharing by different communities; and
  • promote appropriation of development initiatives by local communities.

IDRC's mandate is "empowerment through knowledge". To support this mandate, the Centre funds research projects that are identified, developed, and implemented by researchers in developing countries. In the specific context of PLaW, activities that build research capacity in local organisations and community groups are favoured. In an effort to ensure the success of research projects and to enhance local capacity, PLAW also funds workshops and conferences, short-term non-degree and graduate training, internships, information sharing, and linkages and exchanges between researchers and institutions. For example, PLaW encourages participatory approaches and collaboration between developing country researchers, and between these researchers and the Canadian research and development communities. PLaW encourages researchers to pay particular attention to gender in research design and welcomes projects that specifically address gender issues.

To read more about specific PLaW projects, visit the project database on the PLaW site. To read a summary of one such programme, click here.

Environment and Natural Resource Management, Equity, Gender.

Soil and water resources are extremely limited in Africa and the Middle East, and yet they are being rapidly depleted and degraded, partly by human activities. Marginalised people, especially women, bear the brunt of this resource depletion. IDRC holds that increasing food and water security through equitable, productive, and sustainable use of land and water resources can increase the well being of the poor and marginalised in the region.