The first step towards the establishment of a national community of practice for extension which spans these sectors was a transformative cross-sectoral extension dialogue held on 2-3 March 2020. This was convened by the Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries, the South African Biodiversity Institute and WWF South Africa.

This report describes the systems approach applied in the workshop, reviews the identification of common issues and principles emerging from an understanding of the current situation and explores the resulting integrated recommendations. The priority actions identified through this dialog are being now being taken forward through a National Cross-Sectoral Reference Group and are grouped into three themes:

• Maintaining and growing the community of practice

• Mobilising coordinated action

• Building capacity through integrative training and monitoring

 
The overall meeting was sponsored by the EU-SA Dialog Facility. Support from Sanlam facilitated WWF’s central role in the workshop, report development and establishment of the national working group.