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?

El Bendito: the Peruvian Pacific
Sylviane Bilgischer (Belgium/ Perú), Roberta Colombano (Italy/Netherlands), and Carolina Quiroz (Mexico) began developing a project to restore and conserve a fragile Mangrove ecosystem in a village in Perú in January.

Young Mangroves in El Benedito
	El Bendito is located close to the Tumbes in Perú comprising a portion of the eco-region of mangroves in the Gulf of Guayaquil. This is a protected area for the conservation of mangroves. This community lives in close relation with mangroves through the extraction of hydro biological products.

After a participatory needs assessment they discovered that the community members of El Bendito are finding it difficult to maintain productive livelihoods due to an increasingly stressed mangrove ecosystem linked to climate change related variable weather patterns and rising sea levels, and solid waste placing additional pressure on mangrove forest resources (such as shellfish and crab).

A mangrove forest in its natural habitat
	After a thorough literature review and discussions with colleagues they developed their project using two compatible programs–a mangrove restoration program and a solid waste management program:

[Problem 3]. Increasingly stressed mangrove ecosystem
Mangrove protection Program [Solution to underlying causes: variable weather patterns and rising sea levels]:
[Activity 1]. Workshop on the importance of mangroves to the health of their fisheries
[Activity 2]. Workshop on community involvement for mangrove restoration or reforestation
[Activity 3]. Facilitate the organization of the community-based mangrove forest management committee
[Activity 4]. Mapping and Identifying degraded mangrove systems
[Activity 5]. Mangroves restoration (by a “put into action” workshop)

Their solid waste program places importance on a governmental advocacy campaign:
Solid waste management Program [Solution to underlying cause: lack of a government management plan and infrastructure investment]:
[Activity 1]. Solid waste awareness workshop, quick-wins through local actions and follow-up
[Activity 2]. Facilitate the organization of a community-based solid waste management committee
[Activity 3]. Develop an advocacy campaign to determine the best way of Elaborating of a solid waste management plan by the Provincial Government

Download their report and needs assessment:
Needs assessment

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