Résumé
In Africa's drylands (annual rainfall between 300 and 800mm), climate change is an additional stress factor. Increasing drought frequency will affect millions of dryland people who are already- facing poverty and hunger. The global economic crisis has compounded the threat for the most food-insecure and vulnerable populations in Africa. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2009), approved by 58 governments, acknowledged that agricultural knowledge, science, and technology (AKST) must address the needs of small-farmers in diverse eco-systems and create opportunities for their development. It called for a fundamental shift in AKST and noted that success would require increased public and private investments, supportive policies, revalorization of traditional and local knowledge and an interdisciplinary, holistic and systems based approach to knowledge production and sharing for meeting sustainability and developmental goals. The major purpose of the European funded AIDA Project (AIDA, 2009, http://inco-aida.cirad.fr) is to contribute to the knowledge in the domain of rural innovations in Dryland Africa. The main objective was to document and analyse interventions and success stories to identify the drivers behind the successes for developing policy options and management strategies for up and out-scaling rural innovations in Dryland Africa. AIDA was designed, as a three year FP6 Specific Support Action, to guide future European FP7 and EDF 10 actions. By understanding the drivers of change and underlying processes, lessons can be drawn from success stories in Dryland Africa. These lessons can be adapted and replicated to out-scale successes, thereby stimulating desired development processes. Thus the project outcomes are also instrumental in serving as a basis to: - Identify the keys drivers and indicators of success; - Establish a framework for analysis of cases studies; - Deliver a comprehensive and critical assessment of initiatives for rural development in Dryland Africa; - Develop policy options and management strategies in Dryland agriculture and natural resources management. This paper provides a critical analysis of the studies implemented under the AIDA Project's umbrella about factors and drivers of successes in Dryland Africa and indicate the way forward for supporting the Dryland people's capacity to manage and control their living environment.