Smallholder farming (cultivation and pastoralism) is the mainstay of EthiopiaÂs economy across the six regions in which this project will be implemented. Farming takes place in often highly degraded and vulnerable environments where there is a substantial loss of vegetation, associated erosion, and declining soil fertility. Huge demand for natural capital including biomass fuels exacerbates environmental degradation and affects food production. This project proposes an integrated approach that brings together a capacity to achieve food security with the need to restore and sustainably manage key environmental resources. It does this through three interrelated components: Component 1 ensures effective multi-stakeholder platforms are in place to support the dissemination and uptake of integrated approaches; Component 2 develops specific approaches and puts in place effective mechanisms to scale up across target sites and, more widely, in the country; and Component 3 establishes a systematic monitoring, assessment, learning and knowledge management mechanism that supports influencing at a wider scale in Ethiopia  and via the Regional Hub project  across other SSA countries under the IAP. Infusing all components is a commitment to gender-responsive development, in which women stakeholders within smallholder communities play a central role in economic and environmental transformations.