In the early 1990s a USAID-funded multi-university consortium to promote sustainable agriculture and natural resources management in developing countries (SANREM CRSP) was started.  The Consortium sought to combine local knowledge and science to promote livelihood security and sustainable use of natural resources in agricultural settings.  Its goal was to enable better natural resource management decisions by local communities as well as by other decision-makers at sub-national and national levels.  Through the work of interdisciplinary teams, whether in biophysical or social sciences, the Consortium sought to learn from this experience more effective ways to design science and research to support local and national natural resource managers and processes.  Its focus was on strengthening analytical and implementation capacity within civil society, and enhanced local government NRM capacity in NRM planning and policy analysis. It provided analytical tools, technologies and training to natural resource managers.  With these resources the latter were able to test and select agricultural livelihood and NRM practices most appropriate to their needs and resources, monitor the health of the environment, and develop and implement a plan to conserve community resources. This presentation outlines the Consortium’s firs ten years’ trajectory and discusses some of the lessons derived from such experience.