Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) bring together representatives from different interest groups to discuss shared challenges, opportunities, policy actions and advocacy strategies. They have the potential to tackle complex development challenges and to assist in the scaling up of necessary innovations.

Recent studies also demonstrate MSPs’ potential in addressing climate change. With its three-part approach to climate change—mitigation, adaptation and food security—climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been gaining increasing attention.While there has been considerable research on scaling up CSA practices, less attention has been given to assessing the policy environments most conducive to addressing climate change.
Sustainable scaling up of CSA technologies can seldom be achieved without an enabling policy environment.

The objective of this chapter is to examine the role of MSPs in facilitating climate change policy making in East Africa through a case study of eight national and sub national MSPs in Uganda and Tanzania.

Findings from the social network analysis suggest the importance of platform composition in the knowledge-exchange process. Furthermore, concrete policy action such as budgeting for tangible CSA projects at the local level, recommending specific packages of CSA water-efficient technologies for enhanced adoption and mainstreaming CSA and climate change in district development plans exemplifies the role that continuous science-policy interaction through MSPs can have in influencing policy making.