About us
The Center for Ecosystems Research and Development (CERD) aims to promote an ecosystems and systems thinking approach in research, education and community engagement. Our goal is to apply our extensive experience in working with the agro-ecosystem to bring about development policy change, improve people's livelihoods, and contribute to achieving food and nutrition security. CERD was established in 2018 after the Agro-ecology project in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and funded by Sida. Graduates and students of Agro-ecology can find a practical home at CERD. Additionally, young school children will be taught to appreciate and respect nature, knowing that every component of the ecosystem affects and benefits the other in one way or another for overall sustainability. CERD also influences policymakers to engage in participatory and systems thinking approaches in development planning and management. We offer these and many other sustainable development values to the community in Uganda and the African Region at large, especially women and youth.
Vision:
A sustainable agro-ecosystem where development is in harmony.
Mission:
The mission of CERD is to provide all stakeholders with comprehensive and relevant knowledge and skills that contribute to the sustainability of the ecosystem, health, prosperity, food and nutrition security.
Goal:
CERD aims to understand the entire ecosystem, which includes the agricultural value chain, and then use the knowledge and skills gained to inform policy makers, women, youth and school children.
Objectives:
1. Provide organic agriculture services like inspection and access to organic products.
2. Add value to agricultural products in an integrated manner to ensure the health of communities.
3. Assist small scale farmers and young farming organizations in developing ecologically sustainable agricultural systems.
4. Undertake participatory research on the agroecosystem using a systems thinking approach.
Activities
Outlined below are activities that CERD performs with the aim of promoting sustainable agriculture and ecosystem-wide development:
1. Conduct participatory and multidisciplinary research using a systems thinking approach.
2. Provide ecosystem-wide training to school children and women through summer school programs.
3. Add value to agricultural products in an integrated manner to ensure the health of the community.
4. Share ecosystem-wide derived information widely by attending conferences, workshops, and exchange visits with likeminded organizations.
5. Offer organic agriculture inspection, internal control systems, and certification standards and policies.
6. Assist young organizations in developing their ecologically sustainable agriculture plans.
7. Moderate ecological, organic, and sustainable agriculture workshops.
8. Offer field research supervision to graduates and post-graduates.
9. Provide re-tooling training to those intending to go into sustainable agriculture production and other related development activities.
10. Train local leaders in sustainability, networking, and systems thinking for development planning and implementation.
11. Host an annual convention for sharing research findings and success stories.
12. Document research results as proceedings, case studies, and videos.
13. Analyze agriculture systems for climate-smart agriculture.
14. Restore the Savannah environment by planting Tamarind trees (Mukooge), soap trees (Mpiki), and others.
15. Conduct any other consultancy services that ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem