Putiajani village, Bangladesh

In July, partners Michael Chew (Australia/Bangladesh), Sabrin Sultana (Bangladesh), and Elijah Mujuri (Kenya) began developing a project that addresses the challenges villagers face from deforestation through Concern Universal Bangladesh.

The Concern’s main project goal was to ‘Effectively integrate community based climate change adaptation and community managed disaster risk reduction in the socio-economic development process of local peoples.

Women mapping out community challenges with a problem tree
	One Village, Putiajani village had not had any DRR/CC assessments or interventions. We therefore choose this as our sample community,. We attended the village on 3 August, and convened at meeting with 14 people – 12 females and 2 males.

There was a collective brainstorm regarding hazards facing the village, and then each person was able to vote on the list with 10 seeds. In analyzing the community’s needs assessment we wrote the following problem statement:

1245 people of the village of Putiajani in the Manikganj district of Bangladesh are frequently affected by flooding and river erosion caused by the cutting of trees, Unsustainable Agricultural Practices, Climate variability and Sea level rise. These challenges have a negative impact on homesteads, livelihoods, crop yields, arable farmland and transportation routes, human and livestock health and an increase in river sedimentation. Flood waters become contaminated with sewer water causing an outbreak of diarrheal diseases, and an influx of mosquitoes—and also interfere with potable water sources and transport within.

Women voting during needs assessment
	After thoroughly researching potential project activities we developed a simple, preliminary draft of a project outline which includes a Participatory Community Afforestation Program:

[Problem 2]. River erosion
Participatory Community Afforestation Program [Solution to underlying causes: cutting of trees and river sedimentation and sea level rise]:
[Activity 1]. Workshop and follow-up in participatory community afforestation and agro-forestry training and support
[Activity 2]. Forming groups for establishment and management of tree nurseries, tree species selection, planting seeds workshop and follow-up
[Activity 3]. Planting trees along the riparian zones, catchment rehabilitation, protection and conservation

Women listening to vote tally
	There is also a sustainable agriculture program that works hand-in-hand witht e afforestation program:

[Problem 1]. Flood
Sustainable Agriculture Program [Solution to underlying cause: unsustainable agricultural practices]:
[Activity 1]. Training on conservation agriculture
[Activity 2]. Soil and water conservation training and follow up – in farms and along river catchment area/river ecosystem
[Activity 3]. Riparian/riverbanks reforestation and soil stabilization, dykes construction and rehabilitation

Download their report and project outline here:
Solution Oriented Project Outline.

Would you like to learn how to develop Community Based Adaptation Projects?

Koliapara Village, Bangladesh
Kanika Chakraborty (Bangladesh), Susan Wasubire (Uganda), Lauriane Cayet (Reunion) and Doris Kaberia (Kenya) began developing a project with a disaster risk reduction component in Bangladesh in July.

Challenges with safe water in flood-prone areas
	After a participatory needs assessment they discovered that the 3,100 community members of Koliapara village are suffering from the loss of livelihoods, cattle, productive assets and land for cultivation due to increased flooding and cyclones.

This DRR component, a participatory forest management program, will be aimed at building the resilience of the community and enhance their capacity to deal with the overreaching challenge of disrupted life style by the reoccurrence of disasters through planting trees along the river banks.

Participatory Riparian Forest Management Program [Solution to underlying causes: Climate variability causing increased incidence of flooding, cyclone and drought]:
[Activity 1]. Workshop & follow-up on consciousness raising about environmental services of riparian forests
[Activity 2]. Participatory forest management committee formation
[Activity 3]. Assessment of appropriate species for planting and locations for planting
[Activity 4]. Development of Participatory Forest Management Plan
[Activity 5]. Establish tree-seedling nursery
[Activity 6]. Workshops to plant trees in strategic areas

Children are increasingly important in DRR programs & Disaster Preparedness Plans
	Their project also includes a disaster preparedness program that will harmonize traditional with modern early warning systems

Disaster preparedness Program [solution to underlying cause Increase in the frequency and severity of floods triggered by the climate change]:    
[Activity 1]. Community-based workshop and survey with community members to identify their knowledge of risk, vulnerability, and traditional coping techniques.
[Activity 2]. Organization of a community Disaster risk reduction Committee
[Activity 3]. Community workshop on community managed disaster risk reduction approaches (CMDRR) such as participatory mapping, Participatory risk assessment, Vulnerability analysis  and Capacity Assessments (consciousness raising)
[Activity 4]. Community workshop on community contingency planning /preparedness for and responses to disasters.
[Activity 5]. Program on access to timely and reliable information and forecasts on the possible occurrence of natural calamities.
[Activity 6] Community workshop   to harmonize traditional early warning systems and scientific early warning systems.

Download their report and needs assessment:
Needs assessment
Solution oriented project outline

Would you like to learn how to develop Community Based Adaptation Projects?

Phalula Group Village, Malawi
Jo Thomas (UK/Malawi, ) Sustainable Livelihoods Programme Coordinator, Malawi for Concern Universal, and Marina France (US) Rights and Resources Group, began developing a food insecurity project in May in the Phalula Group Village in Malawi. 770 families of the Phalula Group Village face food insecurity as a result of land degradation/soil erosion/declining soil fertility, as well as climate change related unreliable rainfall patterns.

Sustainable: mono culture maize?
	They discovered several very interesting background papers to help developed their program designs:

ICRAF: Farming Trees, Banishing Hunger
IFPRI: Micro-level Practices to Adapt to Climate Change for African Small-scale Farmer
IFPRI: Are Soil and Water Conservation Technologies a Buffer Against Production Risk in the Face of Climate Change?

A woman in the village grinding maize
	After a thorough literature review and discussions with colleagues they developed their project using two compatible programs–a conservation agriculture program and agroforestry income generation program. Their agroforestry income generation program looks first at identifying markets before choosing agricultural products to plant.

Agroforestry Income Generation Program [Solution to underlying causes: Declining soil fertility and lack of income generation opportunities]:
[Activity 1]. Introduction of VNRMC members to agroforestry concepts
[Activity 2]. Survey local/regional businesses that buy and sell agroforestry agricultural produce in order to determine products they need on a routine basis
[Activity 3]. Establish a market link and ask the businesses for their help in training programs for farmers to grow the products they need
[Activity 4]. Using this input, launch training workshops on improved agroforestry/agricultural practices for these new crops
[Activity 5]. Deliver seeds
[Activity 6]. Establishment of village tree nursery
 

Their conservation agriculture program places importance on collecting traditional knowledge and on establishing pilot plots for the demonstration of improved cultivation practices:

Conservation Agriculture [Solution to underlying cause: soil erosion & land degradation and Climate Change related unreliable rainfall patterns]
[Activity 1]: Surveys and interviews to collect traditional knowledge on agriculture, changes in agricultural cycles, vulnerabilities and coping strategies
[Activity 2]: Develop plan that combines resilient and improved agricultural techniques with traditional knowledge for an overall improvement in productivity
[Activity 3]: Establish pilot plots demonstrating better cultivation practices (probably in community land)
[Activity 4]: Farmer workshops on soil restoration and conservation techniques
[Activity 5]: Farmer workshops on water conservation and management techniques

Download their report and project outline here:
Needs assessment with photos
Solution Oriented Project Outline

Would you like to learn how to develop Community Based Adaptation Projects?