AIACC_AF14 Project: Environmental Strategies for Increasing Human Resilience in Sudan: Lessons for C

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AIACC_AF14 Project Environmental Strategies for
Increasing Human Resilience in SudanLessons for
Climate Change Adaptation in Northern and Eastern
AfricaTitle Supporting Community Adaptation
Strategies with Policy Analysis

• AIACC Regional workshop, session D3
• South Africa, March2003

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Overview

• Rationale
• Objectives
• Approach for policy analysis
• Problem encountered or anticipated
• Solutions

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Rationale

• There is a need for small scale community level
  adaptation strategies to respond to the needs of
  the most vulnerable groups and to diversify and
  strengthen national adaptation planning (mostly
  dominated by large-scale approaches)
• To enable these strategies, need to understand
  interplay between local livelihood conditions
  (micro-scale) and the range of policies,
  institutions and processes which support or
  hinder them (micro-, meso- and macro-scale)
  (Goldman, 2000)

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Objectives

• To understand the ways in which existing policies
  and institutions support or inhibit
  community-based resilience building activity.
• To identify the specific policy and institutional
  factors that enable the success of
  community-based resilience building activity.
• To draw out lessons on how such factors can be
  used to implement, support (for a lasting effect)
  and scale up community level adaptation.
• To provide useful information to relevant
  decision-makers on how to support this process.

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Approach

• Origin Building upon approach developed by the
  Improving Livelihood Policy Relationships in
  South Asia project. This project begins with
  policies and seeks to identify their livelihood
  outcomes.
• Key Modification AF-14 is beginning with
  successful livelihood outcomes and backcasting
  to identify any policy/institutional
  determinants.

This research project is funded by DFID and is
being led by University of Leeds Geography
Department. Partners including International
Institute for Environment and Development (IIED),
the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies
(BCAS), Development Alternatives in India, the
International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal and the Lanka
International Forum on Environment (LIFE), in Sri
Lanka.
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Approach Main question

• What policy and institutional factors (local,
  district, national, others) enabled SL/NRM
  strategies to
• be effectively implemented and supported for a
  lasting effect.
• succeed in building resilience of vulnerable
  communities

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Approach Main steps (1)

• Determine outcomes and impacts of policies and
  institutional arrangements for livelihoods
• This step is the livelihood assessment process of
  project AF-14 (discussed in Day 2)
• Identify key policy and institutional issues at
  macro, meso and micro levels that considered
  important in the development and success of the
  SL project
• Identify the policies and institutions that are
  seen as important to the development,
  implementation and success of the SL project
• This step will rely on interviews with key
  stakeholders (from govt., civil society, etc),
  household surveys, community consultation, and
  desk-based research

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Approach Main steps (2)

• Explore relevant policy development processes
• Ask How relevant policies and institutions were
  developed? Who are the key actors in policy
  development process at all levels? How can
  actors (particularly local groups) influence
  policy development and implementation?
• This step will involve primarily interviews with
  key stakeholders and desk-based research
• 4. Establish a picture of the policy,
  institutional and process contexts
• Develop a series of nested pictures to describe
  SL project context from the village (micro) to
  district (meso) and up to the national or
  regional (macro) level. Use these to
  understanding enabling factors and the work
  needed to support implementation of SL activities
  and to enhance their effect
• This step will involve primarily interviews with
  key stakeholders, community consultation, and
  desk-based research

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Approach Main steps (3)

• 5. Create a history of key policy milestones
• To understand the landmark legislation, reforms
  etc. that play a direct role in enabling SL
  activity today
• This step will rely on interviews with key
  stakeholders and desk-based research

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Problems encountered or anticipated

• Determining causality between project outcomes
  and policy/institutional factors
• Multiple stakeholder perspectives
• Interaction between factors
• Dealing with cross-scale issues
• Other?

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Solutions

• Causality
• will rely on triangulation techniques to reduce
  uncertainty about linkages between policy
  institutional factors and project outcomes
• Other?
• Cross-scale issues
• ?
• Other?