Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries, where land and water resources are scarce, calls for sustainable increases in productivity-led agricultural growth. This has been achieved in areas where individuals and communities have adopted resource-conserving and yield-enhancing technologies and management practices to increase the goods and services provided by a given land unit. Such areas are commonly referred to as ‘bright spots’. Bright spots offer the following local benefits to the individuals and communities that create them: (i) increased agricultural output and income; (ii) improved soil fertility; (iii) enhanced productivity of scarce land, water, nutrients, labour, energy and capital resources; and (iv) improved agrobiodiversity and enhanced resilience (Bossio et al., 2004; Noble et al., 2006). Bright spots also offer additional society-wide benefits such as: (i) increasing employment opportunities and income; (ii) empowerment of local communities for more effective technology transfer; (iii) better utilization of local skills and resources; (iv) creating opportunities for the poor to enhance land- and wateruse benefits; (v) enhanced carbon sequestration; and (vi) reduced vulnerability