Capacity building within developing-country institutions is an important dimension of NRI's work, in recognition of the vital role that both formal and informal institutions play in people's livelihoods. One of the most important areas of our technical support to such institutions has been in Poverty Reduction Strategy Planning. Another key area has been the encouragement of innovative ways for linking research capacity and outputs to the needs of natural resource users, against a background of declining state-funded agricultural research and extension.

• We have been working with the Ministry of Environment in Rwanda to build capacity to engage in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Planning process. The key areas of interaction were sustainable settlement construction based on a livelihoods framework, and the forging of poverty-environment links and indicators. This built on and complemented NRI work in support of the Ministry of Environment in Kenya on understanding the causal links between poverty and the environment. This included the provision of indicators for use in the Kenyan Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan.
• NRI staff have worked in Namibia and Uganda on programmes that aim to encourage decentralized approaches within national agricultural research organizations and increase the responsiveness of research planning to client needs.
• In both India and Uganda, NRI has conducted research to explore the significance of the role of local governance - particularly informal local governance - in providing the framework within which non-farm activities are promoted in rural area.