Facilitating Community-based Adaptation: Lessons from Climate Smart Villages

This course is grounded on IIRR’s decades-long experience in Asia and Africa addressing household food security and livelihoods using regenerative agricultural approaches. This course is suitable for people working in the field of agriculture, nutrition, natural resource-based livelihoods, and climate change adaptation.

Course description

Climate change has a considerable impact on the food security and livelihoods of rural communities. Effective and sustainable interventions are linked to the engagement of stakeholders in identifying risks and possible actions. Small holder agriculture and family farming are now recognized as important platforms for delivery on scale.

This course draws from a seven-year rich experiences of IIRR with CCAFS – Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security, where establishment of local adaptation platforms i.e. climate smart villages played a role in the promotion of agro-ecological approaches collective called – Climate smart agriculture. The course introduces basic concepts, emerging trends and issues, and facilitation strategies that address challenges brought by climate change. You will engage with practitioners of well-proven innovations that increase the resilience of rural communities against climate risks. Participants will be introduced to participatory approaches through field visits to rural areas where community-based adaptation processes are practiced.

Objectives

By the end of this course, you shall have:

• Gained understanding of basic concepts, principles,A and approaches to sustaining natural resource-basAed livelihoods, and household food security and nutrition;
• Increased awareness on the risks and vulnerabilities posed by climate change to food security and livelihoods;
• Gained skills and knowledge in participatory approaches that manage food security risks and vulnerabilities;
• Identified innovative approaches for improving their respective food security and livelihood initiatives, amidst climate change; and
• Identified benefits derived from community-based adaptation programs.

Methodology

This is a field-based and experiential learning with minimal classroom discussions. At least 4 learning sites will be visited where you can interact with farmers, researchers, extension workers, and innovators.

Module 1. Basic Concepts: Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience, Food Security and Nutrition

Key concepts and relevant development frameworks will be discussed to broaden analysis of current challenges. This will provide you with a solid conceptual basis when partnering with communities to tackle climate change issues.

Module 2. Engaging Communities in Climate Change Adaptation Work

You will be exposed to participatory approaches in vulnerability and climate risk assessments, identification of CSA options, innovation development and community planning like participatory technology development, participatory action research, and community adaptation planning. Process of setting up climate smart villages, which IIRR has championed, will be discussed thoroughly.

Module 3. Managing Challenges and Building Resilience

Discussions include farming systems and proven technologies that help sustain agriculture economies like enterprise diversification, which increase farm resilience. Scaling and sustainability approaches will be discussed. Communities’ access to resources for resilience building can be widened through collaboration with different stakeholders.

Module 4. Action Planning

You will prepare an action plan that synthesizes lessons learned from the course and translate these into actions that will improve your climate change programs/projects. Facilitator(s) will ensure that action plans are based on the your fi eld realities and organization and program thrusts.

Fees

The course fee is USD1,800 and it covers the course materials, meals, single occupancy accommodation, field visits, and airport transfers. Fees do not include international airfare, laundry, and incidental expenses.