From 27th to 31st August 2012 TFO hosted a team of two international reviewers and a representative from PT/DRL. The visit took place in two of TFO’s partner countries and included intense discussions in a workshop-type setting as well as visits of TFO project sites along with informal presentations and discussions with TFO stakeholders and farmers at the local level. The trip started off in Maun, Botswana with 25 participants including an OKACOM representative, TFO’s major stakeholder at the regional level. The main theme of TFO’s review tour was the level of transdisciplinarity and stakeholder inclusion. During several presentations and subsequent discussions we addressed this topic and set the ground for demonstrations and further communication at the project sites. The following field trip to Seronga in Botswana, Mashare and Tieye in Namibia included the active participation in two FIRM meetings (Forum for Integrated Resource Management), one of TFO’s main instruments for transdisciplinary communication and action. We also visited local farmers that work with TFO to demonstrate their realities and needs and took part in conservation agriculture training. Large scale irrigation agriculture plots were also visited to show the other end of current agriculture developments in the region.

We would like to thank all the involved people for their time, energy and enthusiasm and for sharing their insights and realities with our guests from the review team. Also thanks to the reviewers for their comments and helpful suggestions. We hope that this trip will spark further discussions on how we do things on the ground and implement our ambitious project goals to inspire positive change beyond our project period.

• Protocol of the TFO Review tour meeting (Maun, 27 August 2012)
  The document is available after logging into My TFO