The Strategic Watershed Planning subcomponent will support large-scale integrated watershed management planning. Plans will be prepared for 20 watersheds, covering all of Northern Nigeria. The planning will be carried out using analytical approaches and developments of a modern knowledge base (including collating existing data from in situ and earth observation and biophysical surveys). Extensive participatory stakeholder consultations will also be fundamental. ACReSAL under this sub-component will strengthen the multisectoral planning process, prioritising project investments related to information, institutions, and those required for desertification control, SLWM in drylands, and improved natural resource-based livelihoods. The strategic watershed plans will also provide a framework and guidance to the micro-watershed-level planning in Component B and will be a foundation for the longer-term dryland management framework.