adaptive governance for adaptive farming...... station manager, voice of karamoja radio station ......
TRANSCRIPT
ACCRA CASE STUDY JUNE 2017
www.oxfam.org.uk/effectiveness
ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE FOR ADAPTIVE FARMING
Communities and government in Uganda working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
Karamojong female farmer in Kotido District: ACCRA beneficiary of seasonal weather forecast information and
advisories.
Over 80 percent of Uganda’s labour force works in agriculture, the majority of them
women. Any threat to agricultural production therefore puts a large part of the population
at risk of poverty and hunger. With climate change increasing the frequency of extreme
and unpredictable events such as floods, droughts and other climate-related hazards,
farmers find it difficult to predict when to plant. It is critical for farming communities to be
able to anticipate the weather and seasonal changes. This report tells the story of how
ACCRA worked with the national meteorological department of Uganda and farming
communities on collaborative action research to improve Uganda’s climate and weather.
2 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
CONTENTS
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3
ACCRA ........................................................................................................................... 3
Uganda ................................................................................................................. 4
2 The story of change ........................................................................................... 5
The first cycle ....................................................................................................... 5
The second cycle .................................................................................................. 6
The third cycle ...................................................................................................... 6
The fourth cycle .................................................................................................... 7
The fifth cycle ....................................................................................................... 7
Intermediate outcomes ......................................................................................... 8
Who has benefited? .............................................................................................. 9
3 The theory of change ....................................................................................... 12
First-order and deepest assumption ................................................................... 12
Second-order assumptions ................................................................................. 13
Third-order assumption ...................................................................................... 15
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 3
1 INTRODUCTION
This story of change was developed using information generated during an external evaluation of
ACCRA’s work in Uganda, including through a series of interviews and a learning history
workshop held on 27 September 2016 in Kampala.
During the learning history workshop, participants co-constructed their story about ACRRA’s role
in supporting the development of a seasonal weather forecasting and advisory system for farmers
in Uganda.
The interviews and workshop have enabled the ACCRA team to identify the outcomes and impact
of its work and to refine its theory of change, which are set out in this paper.
This document uses quotes from interviewees and workshop participants with their permission. In
this way, the voices of the stakeholders involved in developing Uganda’s system of weather
forecasting are incorporated throughout. The authors and ACCRA are extremely grateful to all the
people who have participated in the co-creation of this story of change.
ACCRA
Since 2009, the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) has effectively enhanced
governance systems and climate resilience in Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique.
ACCRA believes change at a system level is required if climate justice – in particular, fairness
toward vulnerable communities – is to be achieved. This is possible when a government shares
power with its citizens and with civil society in understanding and prioritizing climate issues; in
designing policies, strategies and plans; and in implementing, reviewing and learning from those
plans.
Governments everywhere need to find new ways of planning to address climate change. In sub-
Saharan Africa, this challenge compounds the other challenges facing governments. However,
ACCRA’s experience shows that when governments are supported to adapt their planning and
budgeting systems to better address climate change, they also become more able to tackle other
challenges such as food security, gender inequality and poverty.
This is because climate change cannot be addressed through governance systems that are top-
down, siloed across sectors and focused on short-term funding streams. It cannot be addressed
when the voices of women and men affected by climate change are not heard, and when
governments are not accountable to their citizens. This is also true for other complex challenges.
The need to resolve long-standing, systemic weaknesses in governance systems is therefore as
urgent as the need to find scientific and technological answers to the challenge of climate
change.
ACCRA’s experience proves that action on climate change is also a catalyst for systemic change,
with wide-reaching benefits for inclusive and sustainable development.
ACCRA is an alliance of Oxfam, World Vision, CARE, Save the Children and the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI), working closely with the International Institute for Environment and
Development (IIED). Until 2016, ACCRA was funded by the UK Department for International
Development (DFID).
4 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
UGANDA
Uganda is a low-income country; the backbone of its economy is agriculture, with over 80 percent
of the country’s labour force employed in this activity, of whom the majority are women.
Therefore, any threat to agricultural production degrades Uganda’s socio-economic status and
puts 80 percent of the population at risk of poverty and hunger. With climate change increasing
the frequency of extreme and unpredictable events such as floods, droughts and other climate-
related hazards,1 farmers who rely on only indigenous weather forecasting methods find it difficult
to predict when to plant. It is therefore critical for farming communities to be able to anticipate the
weather and seasonal changes, so they can plan effectively to avoid losing their crops and
livelihoods.
The Government of Uganda is working towards becoming an upper-middle-income country, but
its progress towards this goal will be set back by climate change. Against this background,
Uganda has recently developed governance instruments to enable it to deal with the impacts of
climate change and variability.
These include:
• Uganda’s Vision 2040, which states the goal of achieving upper-middle-income country status
based on green growth.
• The National Climate Change Policy 2015, which links climate change adaptation, mitigation
and economic development, and harmonizes climate change action across governance levels
and sectors, providing a legal basis for action.
• The National Development Plan 2015–2020, which sets out the aim for low-carbon
development.
• National climate commitments to the international community under the Paris Climate
Agreement, including the Nationally Determined Contributions 2015, which, if met, will enable
Uganda to access the Green Climate Fund.
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 5
2 THE STORY OF CHANGE
In 2011, ACCRA’s research found that the national meteorological department of Uganda was
producing weather forecasts which were not easily understood by farmers, the intended users.
The forecasts were bulky, complicated and disseminated in English through inappropriate
channels, often reaching them too late to assist with their planning. Furthermore, the forecasts
were not gender sensitive.2 Other research conducted in some African countries suggested that
the production and appropriate dissemination of usable climate forecasts could increase
communities’ adaptive capacities.3
As the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) is mandated to provide climate and
weather information for different sectors as well as to communities who need it for planning and
decision making, ACCRA reached out to UNMA to work together to improve Uganda’s climate
and weather forecast services.
What developed was a process of collaborative action research involving UNMA, communities
and ACCRA. This progressed through five distinct phases or cycles, which are described below.
THE FIRST CYCLE
Establishing a national inter-agency team
„ACCRA set a platform, bringing people together. The ability to bring them all as one face
to the public adds more value to the product. They come as one voice, one face.‟
Evaluation participant
„ACCRA also contributed by opening a platform where we can interpret difficult expressions
in simple terms – then go ahead and develop advisories for various sectors such as water,
agriculture, health and disasters, according to climate forecasts. This added value on
climate forecasts, and therefore ACCRA activities, influenced the direction of UNMA
services.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
In 2012, ACCRA convened a national, multi-sector team that brought together technical staff from
government ministries and departments, including people responsible for disaster risk reduction
(DRR), energy, water, environment, health, agriculture, education, works and transport, and local
government. This inter-agency team, hosted by UNMA, now meets three times a year, before the
release of each seasonal forecast. In these meetings, the team considers UNMA’s weather
projections and develops advisories for their respective sectors. The team also receives feedback
on the previous season’s advisories, to support ongoing improvements. Once agreed, the
seasonal advisories are communicated by the Minister of Water and Environment in a national
press conference and broadcast on national TV and via the national press. They are then
translated into local languages and disseminated via a variety of routes to smallholder farmers.
The first simplified seasonal forecasts and advisories were released in June 2012 in four local
languages; this was increased to 10 languages with further support from ACCRA.
ACCRA supported dissemination of the forecasts to communities where its alliance members
were operating. Dissemination channels included audio CDs which were handed to different
media outlets, including local FM radios. Alliance members also printed and shared the advisories
at community gatherings.
6 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
„As UNMA, we have found it useful to work with ACCRA on translating seasonal climate
forecasts because we wanted the information to reach more people directly. Our products
were too difficult to understand, and some of the terminologies also needed to be
simplified.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
„At Voice of Karamoja FM radio, we get the translated weather forecast information and we
play it three times per day: at 6:30am, 3:00pm and 8:20pm… We do get feedback from
farmers. Sometimes they tell us that the forecasts did not match the situation. We also get
people who say it has helped them get proper yields.‟
Joe Wacha, Station Manager, Voice of Karamoja radio station
THE SECOND CYCLE
Establishing feedback mechanisms
UNMA and ACCRA collaborated to create and institutionalize a system to enable the users of the
forecasts and advisories to give detailed feedback to UNMA. A standardized questionnaire, which
focused on the impact of the forecast, was used in focus group discussions at community level.
Another questionnaire, which focused on dissemination, was used as a basis of discussions with
district officers. These discussions revealed that the radio broadcasts were not easily accessed by
women; this was due to the timing of the broadcasts and the fact that men owned the radios and
preferred to use them for news or football, making it hard for women to find the correct channel.
The survey also revealed weaknesses in coordination among the different stakeholders that
carried out the dissemination. This made it difficult to assess the coverage of the forecasts, and
highlighted a need to use more channels for dissemination. It was found that local FM radio
stations that were late in accessing the weather forecast from the meteorology department
compensated by providing information from the internet, which was often inaccurate. The surveys
also showed that many farmers still relied heavily on traditional and indigenous knowledge for
forecasting. At local government level, it was found that the district office responsible for
disseminating information to farmers did not provide them with climate-related information.
This feedback triggered the collective drafting of a national seasonal forecast dissemination
strategy, which was the first of its kind at UNMA and in the country as a whole.
„An important governance aspect was to get weather information to communities and then
[get] feedback from communities.‟
Geoffrey Muhumuza, former Save the Children Uganda staff member and ACCRA Focal Point
THE THIRD CYCLE
Establishing a dissemination strategy for a gender-responsive national
seasonal forecast
Based on the country-wide impact assessment findings, UNMA and partners collectively
developed a national dissemination strategy. ACCRA supported UNMA to draft the dissemination
strategy by leading the reflection, learning and drafting process.
The objectives of the resulting strategy are to:
• Improve access to seasonal forecasts by end-users amidst the changing climate.
• Improve coordination of the dissemination process by key stakeholders.
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 7
• Increase the number of stakeholders and communication channels, including gender-
responsive channels, in order to reach more end-users.
• Devise means of reaching different target groups, including women and schoolchildren,
through relevant communication channels.
• Improve monitoring and evaluation of progress in the country.
As part of operationalizing the strategy, especially at local government level, it was agreed to
utilize existing government systems. The Office of Information at district level was designated as
a focal point for disseminating seasonal forecast information (it previously wasn’t included in the
information the office disseminated to communities).
UNMA presented the strategy to stakeholders to build national ownership, and obtained
additional funding from donors to scale up the forecasts. This triggered the next cycle: scaling up.
THE FOURTH CYCLE
Scaling up the seasonal forecast
„The weather forecast model has been scaled up country-wide, partly through partners like
GIZ and USAID‟s Feed the Future programme.‟
Jane Nakiranda, ACCRA-Uganda Capacity Building and Advocacy Coordinator, World Vision Uganda
Based on lessons and interactions with different experts, the fourth cycle focused on scaling up
the system to more users by increasing the number of local languages to 35 in total. This was led
by UNMA, which attracted new donors, including GIZ and USAID.
USAID also funded ACCRA to establish new linkages between UNMA and the National
Agriculture Research Organisation, which provides agro-meteorology information, and the
Directorate of Water Development, which produces hydro-meteorology information. These key
technical institutions provided additional information to enrich the seasonal forecasts. The new
information on water was important for pastoral communities and provided better early warning to
farmers. This linkage also helped these institutions to work together more effectively. The first
agro-hydrological forecasts were produced in September 2016.
„ACCRA brought a new initiative which is now being copied by many members of the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) – translating weather forecasts… The visibility of
UNMA has increased as a result of the efforts of ACCRA.‟
James Bataze, Senior Meteorologist, UNMA
THE FIFTH CYCLE
Integrating traditional, indigenous and scientific knowledge
„Incorporating indigenous knowledge into climate change policies can lead to the
development of effective adaptation strategies that are cost-effective, participatory and
sustainable. There is the need, therefore, to integrate this local knowledge into formal
adaptation policies.‟
From Nganzi et al. (2015) Use of indigenous knowledge in weather forecasting in Uganda, UNMA and ACCRA4
The fifth cycle is based on one of the survey findings, which showed that famers continued to use
their traditional knowledge to forecast the weather. UNMA and ACCRA have conducted a
nationwide study to better understand how traditional and indigenous knowledge is used in
weather forecasts, towards developing local adaptive capacities.5 Plans are now underway to
pilot the integration of scientific, traditional and indigenous knowledge in forecasts.
8 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES
Drawing on the interviews and learning history workshop, the external evaluation was able to
identify a set of linked outcomes from this specific area of ACCRA’s work in Uganda, as follows:
• Simplified and translated weather and climate forecasts have been produced and
disseminated since June 2012 to the present.
• Seasonal, sector-specific advisory information has been produced and disseminated through
the collaboration of UNMA and climate-sensitive government sectors, using forecasts that are
rendered more accurate by regional weather data information and historical climate data.
• Seasonal launches and press conferences on advisory services have taken place, where
different government departments come together and deliver a unified product ‘as one voice
and face’.
• A weather forecast and advisory feedback platform involving the people, civil society
organizations and UNMA has been institutionalized. Feedback from users, including rural
communities, is used to improve the quality and delivery of information.
„The model has helped us distribute timely and usable forecasts, and significantly improved
coordination among stakeholders. It raised the profile of UNMA among community
members. Now we need more support to engage climate scientists with people that are
using traditional [weather forecasting] methods.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
• A gender-sensitive national weather forecast and dissemination strategy has been produced
and is operational.
• Communities’ planning and decision making is informed by the weather forecasts and
advisories, e.g. farmers are deciding which crops to grow and when, and are adapting farming
calendars and diversifying their livelihoods through raising poultry, beekeeping and planting
locally non-traditional crops.
„Since 2012, we have been receiving weather forecasts. I started growing eggplants and
raised a lot of money. For example, in 2014/2015 I raised 400,000 Uganda Shillings. [The
forecasts] also guide me in terms of the best time to harvest honey from beehives. For
example, if there is going to be a lot of rain in September, I harvest between July and
August. I used the income to buy two goats, and now I have a cow. I use some of the
money for my regular medical check-up.‟
Ario Teddy, female farmer and weather forecast beneficiary, Otuke district, Northern Uganda
„Weather information has guided me in choosing crops to grow, and to diversify crop
production – [I now grow] pineapple, guava, passion fruit, bananas and a range of cassava
varieties. I harvest water. When the season is bad, I make bricks… This year, very
recently, I opened a vocational training school to diversify income sources.‟
Peter Otim, male farmer and weather forecast beneficiary, Otuke district, Northern Uganda
• Decision making and planning informed by the weather forecasts and advisories is taking
place in local governments (e.g. in District Development Plans) and by other government
ministries (e.g. of agriculture and water).
„ACCRA has also contributed to disaster preparedness and management… through mapping
disaster-prone areas, creating community awareness of the disasters, and assisting some of
the communities to anticipate disasters, such as landslides in Elgon sub-region.‟
Roland Taremwa, Monitoring and Evaluation official, focal point for the integration of climate change indicators in
the Outputs Budgeting Tool, Office of the Prime Minister
• The business sector is utilizing weather and climate information to scout for business
opportunities in Uganda and beyond, through identifying food deficit and surplus areas.
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 9
• International funding has supported the scaling up of the model into more languages and
districts, and into government planning and decision making systems.
• The geographical and thematic scope of the weather forecast advisory model has expanded to
include agro-hydrological components. The first rainfall-agro-hydrological forecast was
produced in September 2016.
Learning and action research
These five learning cycles illustrate one of the ways in which ACCRA works – by supporting
the co-creation of innovative solutions through action research and iterative learning by
doing. This approach helps to break the disconnect between researchers and decision
makers, and between different levels of governance, through a focus on the real needs of
climate-affected populations, in particular women.
Learning through action research is combined with strengthening agency. Agency is the
capacity to act upon or respond to situations towards a purpose,6, 7
and comprises individual,
collective and relational agency. Relational agency is about exchanging ideas, negotiating,
tolerating diversity, respecting differences and aligning one’s thoughts and actions with
those of others towards a common purpose. Collective agency is about working with others
towards a common objective, with relational agency serving as the glue that binds the actors
together.8
These forms of agency resonate with ACCRA’s approach to partnership development, policy
influencing, and the management of action research and learning.
WHO HAS BENEFITED?
In addition to generating assumptions, a theory of change identifies those whom the action aims
to benefit. The people that ACCRA Uganda intended to benefit from quality weather and climate
information are rural and urban women and men, as well as government and public sector actors.
Rural and urban communities
The following quotes show that women and men in rural and urban communities were the
intended beneficiaries:
„The weather forecasting component has assisted these communities to be more resilient,
especially in terms of food security.‟
Roland Taremwa, Monitoring and Evaluation official, focal point for the integration of climate change indicators in
the Outputs Budgeting Tool, Office of the Prime Minister
„As UNMA, we have found it useful to work with ACCRA on translating seasonal climate
forecasts because we wanted the information to reach more people directly. Our products
were too difficult to understand, and some of the terminologies also needed to be
simplified.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
„I think the weather forecasts are a very good piece of information – particularly for our side
of the world, where radio is a reliable means of communication; and when communication
is in the local language, even when people can‟t read and write [they] can access it and
use it.‟
Joe Wacha, Station Manager, Voice of Karamoja radio station
10 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
Government agencies
The following quotes show that weather and climate information was also intended for
government:
„ACCRA also contributed by opening a platform where we can interpret difficult expressions
in simple terms – then go ahead and develop advisories for various sectors such as water,
agriculture, health and disasters, according to climate forecasts. This added-value on
climate forecasts, and therefore ACCRA activities, influenced the direction of UNMA
services.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
„The model has helped us distribute timely and usable forecasts, and significantly improved
coordination among stakeholders. It raised the profile of UNMA among community
members. Now we need more support to engage climate scientists with people who are
using traditional [weather forecasting] methods.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
Business community
The business community also benefits from weather forecasts, as suggested below:
„The business community is very much interested in the advisories, and also the marketing
people… [because] they can plan where to sell their product… where there will be rainfall
deficit.‟
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, UNMA; ACCRA Steering Committee
member
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
12 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
3 THE THEORY OF CHANGE
„Theory of change is about generating better assumptions, better hypotheses of change to
strengthen our work, learn from what happens and improve it.‟9
The long-term goal of ACCRA in Uganda is to enable governance systems to transform so that
they increase gender-sensitive and people-centred adaptive capacity across sectors and levels
including community, civil society, and local and national government.
Through the evaluation process, ACCRA in Uganda was able to develop and refine its theory of
change. This is based on ACCRA’s overarching theory of change and comprises a set of
stratified assumptions which can be understood as first-, second- and third-order assumptions.
These are outlined below, and examples are given of quotes from which the assumptions were
inferred.
FIRST-ORDER AND DEEPEST ASSUMPTION
Climate change justice is possible and can be realized through developing the decision
making capacities of duty bearers on the one hand and the knowledge and agency of rights
holders on the other, and through creating spaces for continued engagement.
This assumption is underpinned by dialectical thinking, in which qualitative improvements of
practices and societies are caused by revealing, challenging and synthesizing or resolving
competing positions, opposites and contradictions.10
By working with different sectors and
stakeholders, including duty bearers and rights holders, by promoting knowledge generation and
transmission, and by working with the known past as well as the uncertain future, ACCRA puts
dialectical thinking at the centre of its approach to transforming governance systems.
„ACCRA believes that climate justice is possible. It seeks to achieve improved national
decision making in order to reduce vulnerability and to strengthen the agency and
resilience of communities… Increasing vulnerable communities‟ resilience can only take
place by reducing inequality and distribution of risk so that this does not fall
disproportionately on the poorest in society… ACCRA‟s approach is to support pro-poor
and participatory planning, enabling communities to better exercise their agency through
access to information and to national policy frameworks. ACCRA also uses capacity
building to explore ways in which people think about adaptation, disaster risk reduction and
collaboration with one another.‟
Isabel Crabtree-Condor, ACCRA consultant
ACCRA’s unified range of programme activities and relationships appears to be underpinned by
the idea of power with, which is explained in the box below.
The concept of ‘power with’
There are two main ways in which the concept of power is used: power over others – the
coercion and domination of one by another, false consciousness11
and cultural hegemony.12
The expanded concept of power that ACCRA works with is referred to as power with. This
has been called a feminist model of power: it has been traced to the work of women who
warned against conflating power with domination, and instead defined power as the human
ability to act in concert with others.13
Others have defined power with as the capacity to bring
about change, including by nurturing and empowering others.14
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 13
Systems theorists have also conceptualized power in a positive sense. These include the
phrase integrative power,15
which includes cooperation and reciprocity, the growth of a
sense of community, and the ability to create and pursue desirable futures together. These
positive views of power have also been called mutualistic power relations.16
In the real
world, power over exists, and building relations around power with is an important way of
bringing about the kind of change ACCRA seeks.17
Community members and district officers play the ACCRA game to learn about and experience forward and flexible
decision making.
SECOND-ORDER ASSUMPTIONS
There are three assumptions within the second order layer of ACCRA’s stratified
assumptions: valuing community voice, working in alliance with others, and using a joined-
up approach. These are about how governance systems can be transformed towards
climate adaptive development.
1 Valuing community voice
Developing community adaptive capacities should combine the inclusion of community
voices in governing and accountability instruments with context-specific and contextualized
evidence, flexible and forward-looking planning, and collective action across sectors and
scales.
„What should shape the governance of adaptation should really be vulnerable people… We
should have the evidence of vulnerabilities to inform systems – and systems should be
able to reflect those needs and work accordingly… The impact of climate change is
context-specific. If you miss local evidence, do you think you are going to do good
development?‟
Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA International Coordinator, Oxfam
14 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
„Flexible, forward-looking decision making is informed by how climate trends are happening
and impacting, and also having the flexibility in programmes. How do we build risk of
drought into programming?‟
Geoffrey Muhumuza, former Save the Children Uganda staff member and ACCRA Focal Point
„We need to be able to move beyond policy influence because it cannot, on its own, be
able to make that much difference – [it] needs to translate into action.‟
Alfred Mugo, Livelihoods Specialist, Save the Children Uganda
2 Working in alliance with others
Tackling complex problems of climate change requires alliances between government and
civil society (at multiple levels), without conflating their respective mandates and role„
The most important lesson that I learned from working with ACCRA is that cross-cutting
issues like climate change can only be addressed through collaboration between various
parties with different specialties and expertise; both government and non-government
actors.‟
Roland Taremwa, Monitoring and Evaluation official, focal point for the integration of climate change indicators in
the Outputs Budgeting Tool, Office of the Prime Minister
„ACCRA‟s work is special in that they have succeeded in coordinating government and
non-state actors for the improved performance of their [respective] mandates.‟
Christine Kaaya, Parliamentary Coordinator, Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change (PFCC-U); ACCRA
Steering Committee member
„ACCRA‟s work stands outs in terms of developing collaboration and partnerships as a way
of working with different stakeholders, both state and non-state actors.‟
Busingye C. Nicholas, Programme Officer, PFCC-U; ACCRA Steering Committee member
„We have helped to bridge civil society and government by managing perceptions and
telling them, “this is our mandate, this is your mandate”... The only danger, of course, if you
are not careful, is that you can be swallowed, co-opted, and lose your oversight role as civil
society.‟
Antony Wolimwa, Climate Action Network-Uganda (CAN-U); ACCRA Steering Committee member
3 A joined-up approach
Joined-up action research, capacity development, partnership development and policy
influencing is more effective than using any one of these approaches in isolation when
working to transform climate-related governance systems.
Action research and learning
„The climate change and DRR policies and strategies of governments and INGOs [in terms
of content], have improved through using ACCRA‟s research and capacity building.‟
Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA International Coordinator, Oxfam
Capacity building
„My fondest memory of ACCRA is when it trained me in climate change vulnerability
analysis with field-level exercises.‟
Christine Kaaya, Parliamentary Coordinator, PFCC-U; ACCRA Steering Committee member
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 15
Information and advice dissemination (capacity development)
„I value the weather information that is shared in my own language. It enables me to plan
and prepare according to predicted seasonal rainfall patterns. Sometimes I need to harvest
water. [The information] has also helped me to start sustainable farming for a comfortable
life in the future.‟
Peter Otim, male farmer and weather forecast beneficiary, Otuke district, Northern Uganda
Mainstreaming climate change matters (process and systems capacity development)
„I am fond of ACCRA because when I felt it was an uphill task to mainstream climate
change issues in my organization, ACCRA always showed me the way… For an
organization like mine [World Vision], governance and transformation boil down to how we
interact with communities.‟
Enid Ocaya, DRR and Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Manager, World Vision Uganda; ACCRA Focal Point
„Two things that I value a lot [about ACCRA‟s work] are spreading the process of
developing climate change indicators [to seek and obtain multiple voices], and
mainstreaming of climate change issues in District Development Plans, where local
government fully participated.‟
Dr David Musunga, co-author of the national climate change indicators report18
Partnership development and policy influencing
„We like how ACCRA has been able to map out key players and then use its position to
target the right people, and use the comparative advantage of different alliance members.‟
Alfred Mugo, Livelihoods Specialist, Save the Children Uganda
THIRD-ORDER ASSUMPTION
The third-order assumption is linked to specific ACCRA Uganda programme interventions:
Context-specific, gender-sensitive, understandable and usable climate information is central
to the development of adaptive capacities.
Figure 2: Stages of individual and institutional capacity development
16 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
„Women are more vulnerable to climate change than men… It is therefore critical for
farming communities, especially women in Africa, to have information about weather…
Most often the information and the dissemination channels are not gender sensitive… This
is why ACCRA attempts to ensure equal access to information and guidance, taking
gender-based access barriers into account.‟
From M. Barihaihi and J. Mwanzia (2016)19
„When we did the assessment, some of the governance issues came out very clearly. For
example, UNMA, which was then a Met Department, was producing seasonal forecasts
whose dissemination was poor. The forecasts were disseminated through the chief admin
officers at district level, who were then expected to disseminate to the end-users. But the
dissemination seldom happened because they were not compelled [to do it] and didn‟t
have the resources. We saw this as a gap, and that is why we found it necessary to work
with the Met Department. We also advocated for more personnel and other resources. The
Met equipment was also old. We also did advocacy on its quality of forecast data.‟
Monica Anguparu, Programme Manager, CARE International Uganda; ACCRA Focal Point
„ACCRA's research in Phase 1 found gaps in the way communities receive weather
information… there was no understandable scientific forecast that people could use. So
ACCRA worked with UNMA to design and disseminate an improved forecast.‟
Léa Doumenjou, former ACCRA International Programme Officer, Oxfam
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 17
NOTES 1 Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2016) Climate and development outlook: Stories of
change from CDKN – Special Edition on Uganda. London/Cape Town: CDKN Global/CDKN Africa.
2 L. Jones, F. Ayorekire, M. Barihaihi, A. Kagoro and D. Ruta (2011) Preparing for the future in Uganda: Understanding the influence of development interventions on adaptive capacity at the local level. Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance Uganda Synthesis Report. ACCRA.
3 Africa-adapt 2010 Background paper, Improving Accessibility and Usability of Seasonal Forecasts for Food Security in Africa: Lessons from CCAA Participatory Action Research Projects.
4 P. Nganzi, T.C. Kajumba, M. Barihaihi, J. Bataze and G. Mujuni (2015) Use of indigenous knowledge in weather forecasting in Uganda. Kampala: UNMA and ACCRA.
5 Ibid.
6 Y. Engeström (2015) Learning by expanding: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research (Second Edition). New York: Cambridge University Press.
7 M. Mukute (2015) Developmental work research: A tool for enabling collective agricultural innovation. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Press.
8 A. Edwards (2007) Relational agency in professional practice: A CHAT analysis. Action: An International Journal of Human Activity Theory 1 (pp. 1–17).
9 Alfredo Ortiz, researcher and facilitator Quoted in Vogel (2012) Review of the use of ‘Theory of Change’ in international development, http://www.theoryofchange.org/pdf/DFID_ToC_Review_VogelV7.pdf
10 Y. Engeström (1995) Objects, contradictions and collaboration in medical cognition: an activity-theoretical perspective. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 7, pp.395–412.
11 K. Marx and F. Engels (1967) The Germany ideology. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
12 A. Gramsci (1971) Selections from the Prison Notes of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International Publishers.
13 M.P. Follett (1942) Power. In C.M Henry and L. Urwick (Eds.) Dynamic administration. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers.
14 J.B. Miller (1982) Colloquium: Women and power. Centre for Developmental Services and Studies. 82(1), pp. 1–5.
15 K.E. Boulding (1989) Three Faces of Power. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
16 M. Karlberg (2005). The power of discourse and the discourse of power: Pursuing peace through discourse intervention. International Journal of Peace Studies 10(1), pp. 1–23.
17 See also J. Rowlands (2016) Power in Practice: Bringing Understandings and Analysis of Power into Development Action in Oxfam. Power, Poverty and Inequality. IDS Bulletin 47(5). http://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/idsbo/article/view/2796/ONLINE%20ARTICLE
18 Ministry of Water and Environment 2015, The Mapping Report of Standard National Climate Change, Indicators for the Output Budgeting Tool and Local Government Assessment Tool.
19 M. Barihaihi and J. Mwanzia (2016) Enhancing farmers’ resilience and adaptive capacity through access to usable weather information: A case study from Uganda. Paper presented at the Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: Fostering African Resilience and Capacity to Adapt, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21–23 February 2016.
18 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
RESEARCH PARTCIPANTS
Interviewees
Members of the Uganda ACCRA National Steering Committee
Monica Anguparu, Partners for Resilience Programme Manager, CARE International Uganda
Jackson Muhindo, Rukara Resilience and Livelihoods Officer, Oxfam
Alfred Nimungu, Livelihoods Specialist, Save the Children Uganda
Enid Ocaya, DRR and Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Manager, World Vision Uganda
Anthony Wolimbwa, Advocacy and Research Coordinator, Climate Action Network-Uganda
(CAN-U)
Richard Okuku, Uganda Local Government Association (ULGA)
Christine Kaaya, Parliamentary Coordinator, Parliamentary Forum for Climate Change-Uganda
(PFCC-U)
Deus Bamanya, Director, Applied Meteorology, Data and Climate Services, Uganda National
Meteorological Authority (UNMA)
Medhie Ssemambo, Climate Change Adaptation Officer, Climate Change Department (CCD)
Raymond Nungi, DRR Officer, Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)
Country Directors of ACCRA consortium members
Gilbert Kamanga, National Director, World Vision Uganda
Peter Kamalingin, Country Director, Oxfam Uganda
Delphine Pinault, Country Director, CARE International Uganda
Vanlith Brechtje, Save the Children International Uganda
ACCRA Uganda staff
Tracy Kajumba, former ACCRA Uganda Country Coordinator, Irish Aid Uganda
Joselyn Bigirwa, ACCRA Uganda Country Coordinator, World Vision Uganda
Jane Nakiranda, ACCRA Uganda Capacity Building and Advocacy Coordinator, World Vision
Uganda
ACCRA global staff
Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA International Coordinator, Oxfam GB
Léa Doumenjou, former ACCRA International Programme Officer, Oxfam GB
Oxfam ACCRA global advisors
Marta Arranz, Senior Advisor, Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) –
Influencing, Oxfam GB
Helen Jeans, Agriculture and Natural Resources Unit Manager, Resilience and Climate Change
Adaptation Advisor, Oxfam GB
Participants of the ACCRA Uganda Stakeholders’ Evaluation Workshop, Kampala, 27 September 2016
Farmers
Biira Annet, Farmer, Bundibugyo district
Otim Peter, Model farmer, Otuke district
Teddy Ario, Apiary farmer, Otuke district
Government officials
Musanga David, District Production Officer Bulambuli District Local Government
Maate Jackus, Senior Environment Officer Bundibugyo
Ronald Bless Taremwa, Senior Analyst – Monitoring and Evaluation Office of the Prime Minister
Semambo Muhammad, Climate Change Department focal person on adaptation, Ministry of
Water and Environment
Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda working
collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers 19
Godfrey Mujuni, Senior Meteorologist Uganda National Meteorological Authority
Bataze James, Senior Meteorologist Uganda National Meteorological Authority
ACCRA national steering committee
Anthony Wolimbwa, Advocacy and Research Coordinator Climate Action Network-Uganda
Geoffrey Muhindo, Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinator Climate Action Network-Uganda
Busingye C. Nicholas, Programme Officer Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change-Uganda
Kaaya Christine, Project Coordinator Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change-Uganda
Anguparu Monica, Partners for Resilience Programme Manager CARE International Uganda
Jackson Muhindo, Resilience and Livelihoods Officer Oxfam
Jane Nakiranda, Capacity Building and Advocacy Coordinator ACCRA-World Vision
Léa Doumenjou, ACCRA Programme Officer ACCRA-Oxfam
Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA International Coordinator ACCRA-Oxfam
Media
Joe Wacha, FM Radio Station Manager Voice of Karamoja
Partners
Doreen Tukezibwa, Climate Change Officer USAID ‘Feed the Future Enabling Environment for
Agriculture’ programme
Consultants
Mutizwa Johnson, Social Learning Innovation Ltd
John Colvin. Emerald Network
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to the national government and local government authorities, civil society networks,
United Nations and donor organizations, and the farmers from Otuke and Bundibugyo districts
for sharing your stories of change that were inspired by ACCRA Uganda’s work.
This work has been supported by these donors:
The UK Department for International Development (DFID).
USAID through its Feed the Future Uganda Enabling Environment for Agriculture programme.
Authors
Dr Mutizwa Mukute, Social Learning & Innovation Ltd
Dr John Colvin, Emerald Network Ltd
Helen Jeans, Oxfam GB
Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA International Coordinator, Oxfam GB
20 Adaptive Governance for Adaptive Farming: Communities and government in Uganda
working collaboratively to produce seasonal forecasts for smallholder farmers
© Oxfam International June 2017
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must be secured and a fee may be charged. E-mail [email protected].
The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.
For more information on the issues raised in this paper please email Margaret Barihaihi, ACCRA
International Coordinator: [email protected]
Published by Oxfam GB for Oxfam International under ISBN 978-0-85598-999-6 in June 2017.
Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK
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as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. Please write to
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ACCRA is:
A champion of development planning which is adaptive to climate change, grounded in the
needs and priorities of citizens, and equitable toward women, girls, boys and men.
An enabler of local and national systems, which never replaces existing institutions.
A process facilitator of collaborative design and planning.
A go-between or ‘systemic intermediary’ that strengthens vertical and horizontal relationships
across different levels, sectors and organizations.
A responsive partner that provides know-how and capacity development that responds to the
real needs of local and national institutions.
An alliance of Oxfam, World Vision, CARE, Save the Children and the Overseas Development
Institute (ODI), working closely with the International Institute for Environment and Development
(IIED).
To find out more:
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