CCAFS Science seminar- “Who has a right to climate information adaptation? Social Differentiation in Promoting Climate Resilience” – Copenhagen, February 18, 2013

WHO GETS THE INFORMATION?

Equity Considerations in the Design of Climate Services for FarmersDr. Arame Tall

Climate Information Services- Scientist, Champion

a.tall@cgiar.org

2 • 3/21/11Why do African farmers need Climate Services?

Climate information as critical input to farm-level adaptation and climate risk management, by empowering farmers to anticipate and manage climate-related risks

Within vulnerable Communities, WHO GETS THE INFORMATION?

4 • 3/21/11Our Investigation takes us

to Kaffrine, Senegal (Agricultural zone)

3 target vulnerable villages 2011-2012: Malem Thierin Dioly Mandah Fass Thieeken

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CCAFS Research site of Kaffrine, arid center Senegal, where principle of Co-Producing Climate Services was experimented

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Step 1: Evaluating Community Adaptation Needs

Identification of gender differentiated vulnerabilities and capacities in the community to confront climate-related shocks

Community definition of priority adaptation needs/gaps, above and beyond local capacity to cope Across 3 communities, Priority need: Support Community EW>EA,

provision of climate services and early warnings

Method: Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Step 2: Participatory Project Design & Action Plan Validation

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Step 4: Communication of tailored suite of seemless forecast products

• Production & communication of downscaled multi-hazard climate and weather early warnings for Kaffrine farmers, with non targeting of women in season 1, and pro-active targeting in season 2:• Seasonal outlook• Mid-range weather

forecast (dekadal• Short-term weather

forecasts (72h-48h-24h-3h)

• SMS based communication

Step 3: EW>EA WorkshopDialogue between Forecasters and Vulnerable communities

3-day workshop bringing together national/regional climate scientists and farmers/CBOs, to understand and address information needs 2-way training and exchange of knowledge:

1. Probabilistic nature of climate forecasts: limits & Uncertainty inherent in climate forecasting

2. Farmers’ climate information gaps, thresholds, packaging needs

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Credit: Dr. Mariane Diop-Kane, ANACIM

The shorter the time range,

the more precise the forecast

Credit: Red Cross/PetLab

Bringing forecasters and farmers to work together to put climate at the service communities at risk from

climate-related risks

Innovative tools to communicate forecasting uncertainty

- Didactic Games

FassDjoly

Malem

Interaction & 2-way Dialogue Key to Co-

production

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Different roles: Women primarily responsible for family care, cooking and house chores, collecting water, fodder and firewood, & Farming

Rainy season hard labor for both men and women

With CC, drudgery resulting from harsher farming conditions > dwindling incomes for family care

Limited control of means of production (dependence): Men control factors of production (cart, horse/donkeys, government seeds and cash from sales)

Hightened exposure to shortfalls of early season cessation (cessation forecast particularly needed)

Finding 1: Gender-differential in CC

Vulnerability and Capacities

Emaciated Woman during Rainy season 2011 in Malem. Credit: A. Tall

Significant gender driver of CC vulnerability:

9 • 3/21/11 Finding 1 (cont’d)

Snapshot of Gendered Nature of CC Vulnerability and Coping in Dioly village, Kaffrine

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A GENDER TRAP?

ENTRENCHING WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE?

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Gender as Interactive, Cross-Cutting

Intersecting factors place rural women at greater risk from climate-related changes

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SMS in local language Rural radio Forecast bulletin boards, in

strategic village locations At mosque At water

fountains/boreholes (for women)

Through boundary organizations & community relays (Red cross, WV)

Finding 2: Leveraging the power of ICTs to reach the most vulnerable

Photo: Farmer in Ouelessebougou village, happy beneficiary of Mali’s 30year old Agromet advisory program. Credit: A. Tall

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Finding 3: Place Specificity of Adaptation Needs

Women Focus Group participants in Fass Thieken vs. Dioly. Credit: A. Tall

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• Different Cultural norms and socialization from village to village

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Finding 5: Gender blindspot in NAPAs

Senegal’s NAPA, 2006: 84-page document identifying the country’s most urgent and priority needs for adaptation and evaluating key sectors of vulnerability in the face of climate change

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• Opening Spaces for iterative dialogue, interaction and Co-production of climate service

• PAR > key to success– involving communities

(community diaries of local CC impacts)

– Capturing local innovation (forecast bulletin boards, SMS language)

• Preliminary Results of Kaffrine end project assessment – Increase in access, from handful

in 2011 to 100% by 2012– Demonstrated Usefulness of

received information, for all products across timescales

– Added value to traditional forecasts

Soxna Ndao, Dioly village, stating: ‘We women, need information on when the rainy season will stop, as men plant for us later in the season. Credit: A. Tall

Giving Women an Effective Voice in the Design of Climate information Services > Mission Possible

15 • 3/21/11Women as agents of transformation?

• To be determined in Phase-II of PAR :– Have women been empowered by sustained

access and use of climate services?– Behavioral changes– Will hypothesis be verified: When women are

targeted by climate information service programs, impact on the community at large is greater vs. when they are not targeted ?

• Need for more Applied Research to make the case for Gender responsive CC National Adaptation Policies

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• Assess Value of targeting women in CS interventions

• Keeping equity considerations in mind in design of future climate service projects:– What- Type of information (cessation)– How- Salient communication channels

to reach women and underserved groups

– When- Alert timings and thresholds 16

What next?

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We can serve as Links between Information and Action

EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY

Courtesy: Meaghan Daly

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Focus on vulnerable communities, and needs of the most vulnerable

Global / Regional Climate Providers Donors and Partners

National Hydro-Meteorological Services

National Agricultural Research and Extension Service Community-Based Organizations

Community Radios

Needed partnerships to put climate science at the service of

the most vulnerable

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• Examples surveyed by CCAFS prove that it is today Mission Possible to reach millions of smallholder farmers with salient and downscaled climate information and advisory services relevant to support their decision-making under an uncertain climate.

• CCAFS intent to Scale Up this approach in 2013-15 for many other farmers, including rural women, to have access and benefit from available climate information and advisory services.

• The time is Right for Climate Services.

Photo: Rural Woman, Mozambique, fleeing her home after flooding.For more information, contact:

Arame Tall, a.tall@cgiar.org

CCAFS on a Mission> Reaching Rural Women with Climate Services at Scale