August Resource

50 Solution-Oriented Program Templates for Challenges in Relief, Development & Adaptation

Here are a range of solutions in the form of programs and activities that past students have used successfully in addressing project challenges. Feel free to use them, modify them, or develop your own solutions instead. Many of the programs are highly specific to one student’s project and will need to be adapted to fit yours. Many of the programs have multiple activities; these are to give you options for customizing your own programs: edit the activities down as you see fit for your project. Also, be sure to visit: Student Countries and Project Challenges.

Risk & Vulnerability in a Remote Tanzanian Village
	Chris Enns & Catalina Gheorghe are doing a community-based adaptation to climate change project in Wagete village, Tanzania, impacting 4,000 villagers. Their project is a ‘mainstreamed’ project—they are incorporating adaptation to climate change activities into a traditional rural development project.
They have a healthcare & education component— and for adaptation—a soil and water conservation program, and a farmer extension program. Detailed project outline & great photos at link. They’ve been determining their risks and vulnerabilities to climate change by combining scientific data with local community knowledge. Chris and the community developed a list of local resources, hazard maps, a seasonal calendar & a historical timeline.

CC Study in Injustice: 10 Million Additional African Children Malnourished by 2050
	The World Food Program estimate that globally, 10-20 percent more people will be at risk of hunger by 2050 than would be without climate change. Of these, almost all will be in developing countries, with 65 percent expected to be in Africa. This has severe implications for nutrition, particularly for children.
In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that 10 million more children will be malnourished as a result of climate change.

August Field Guide	Agricultural Soil and Water Management for Sloping Land.
	Subsistence farmers suffer not only from depleted soils but from challenges with water: too little water, too much water, and erosion from water. This field guide looks at different ways of developing barriers on farm fields for stopping the flow of water so that it can percolate into the soil and build up soil moisture.
These barriers reduce soil erosion by catching topsoil carried by water and offer the added benefit of creating level planting areas behind the barriers as the soil accumulates. Barriers can be terraces, stone and earth walls called bunds, or living barriers such as hedges and grass strips. Follow the link to download the field guide, workshop lesson plan and how-to card.

Do you think that local/indigenous knowledge should be incorporated into adaptation to climate change projects?
	Stephen Oluoch, Kenya, met again with his target community to gain a better understanding of their knowledge of climate change, challenges that they are experiencing attributable to climate change, and activities that they have begun on their own using indigenous knowledge to adapt to their changing situation.
Here is one list that resulted from this participatory exercise: Vulnerability Matrix 1: What is a prioritization of the community’s greatest hazards they face? Unpredictable rainfall during the rainy season makes it difficult for farmers to plan cropping Drought has caused livestock deaths and crop failures or low crop yields Intense sunshine coupled with decreased rainfall causes crops to wilt or ripen early (coconut, banana, and cashew nut) High temperatures causes people to sleep out in the open or with windows opened which increases malaria incidences Unusually heavy rainfall causes pit latrines to overflow and contaminate drinking water increasing diarrhea Shortage of household water

Student Grant Award

CSDi student Martin Sishekanu wins grant award for course project

Martin Sishekanu (Zambia) and course partner Ursula Flossmann-Kraus (Germany/Philippines) have just completed the third course of the four course diploma program on Community-Based Adaptation To Climate Change. Students develop documents in the courses which are suitable for presentation to donors—and Martin just got the good news that he has received a grant award for an agricultural income generation component of their project. Congratulations Martin!

Family Gardens	Food Security and Nutrition
	For many people living in the cycle of poverty, the idea of starting a kitchen garden might seem overwhelming. It could be the time investment, it might be perceived costs. It might be a lack of know-how: what to plant, how to plant and how to care for a garden. However, the positive benefits make it worthwhile enabling community members in gardening for nutrition.
Start small, think simple. The purpose of the first year’s garden is to give the participants a win—so that they will be encouraged to plant again the following year. Even if they plant only one bed, 1 meter by 4 meters, they should be able to get positive, delicious, nutritious results. Follow the link to download the field guide and how-to card.

Project of the Month	Martha Njoroge’s home garden program for HIV+ children in Kenya
	Martha works with the Wamumbi Orphan Care as a Project Manager organizing events for the orphaned children they  support. Martha has partnered with Kathy Tate-Bradish (US) and Genevieve Lamond (UK). Follow the link to see field reports and photos.Martha, Kathy and Genevieve have developed a project which includes these programs:
HIV/AIDS an Sexual Health Education Program Advocacy Program with Guardians and Health Care Providers Family Garden and Nutrition Program Farmer Soil and Water Conservation and Management Program

News from the Field	CSDi students face critical danger in the communities where they work
	Suleiman Barau Kadana works for People Oriented Development of ECWA as a facilitator and training officer in northern Nigeria. Sule is just finishing his second course at CSDi—he has one more assignment to turn in and he has just written:   “Regarding my week 6 assignment—due to tension in Northern Nigeria I am unable to get it done.” The Boko Haram bombed 3 Christian churches in his town on the 17th—50 people died.
I’m impressed that field staff working under dangerous conditions and taking our courses continue to develop their projects, send in reports & assignments—and sign up for new courses.

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

If you can identify the successful traders, and create a market link with them, community members such as smallholder farmers can request of them training, extension, and microloans of seed and fertilizer. Successful traders are often eager to do this if it means that they can increase product supply.

A recent article in Freshplaza.com noted that Walmart (the world’s third largest public corporation and the world’s biggest private employer) who has operations in Guatemala is giving agricultural workshops to smallholder farmers. These workshops are aimed at improving the quality of production and also welfare in the regions where the workshops are being given.

Eight workshops were recently given to 488 producers in five departments. “A priority for us is to support the producer while seeking excellence in the quality of the products we offer.” According to Marcio Cuevas, Walmart’s corporate affairs manager in Mexico and Central America.

Aside from improving produce quality for inclusion in their supermarkets, an underlying theme of the project is aimed at improving the quality of living in participating communities.

Wal-Mart rewarded the 24 best producers offering a Good Agricultural Practices certificate.

The program looks at the quality of life in participating communities and the quality of produce by checking the drink ability of water, the microbiological quality of products, and an analysis of pesticide residues.

So this is an example of connecting smallholder farmers to one of the largest corporations in the world—and Walmart is promoting this concept. That means that there are also other buyers—wholesale buyers, exporters, food processors, local open-air markets, and local grocery store chains—who will work with smallholder farmers in order to maintain access to high-quality produce.

This is not restricted to agriculture. Looking for an existing market can apply to the tourism industry, manufacturing, the clothing industry, environmental restoration, and commodity agriculture such as sugar, cacao and coffee.

Developing a survey to determine what businesses are routinely in need of products and services that match your community’s capabilities is not that difficult. It can make your income generation project successful and sustainable for your community.

Questions? Please contact:
Online.Learning@csd-i.org

Sincerely,

Tim Magee, Executive Director
Center for Sustainable Development

Upcoming Online Field Courses. September 4: learn about the courses where students develop projects in the field.