Field Guides

Knowledge Transfer, Community Based Adaptation, and Field Guides

Knowledge to be transferred in community-based adaptation needs to be a two-way transfer. Experts and remote, rural community members have different positions and expectations. Bridging these requires mutual understanding—understanding that can be complicated by culture, language and experience.   Developing a short, concise field guide helps in a number of ways. It allows you to compile how-to information from diverse sources into a guide that best fits your community’s context, and gives you the basis for a workshop lesson plan.

Field Guide 1.	Participatory Capacity and Vulnerability Assessments
	CBA combines local climate knowledge and scientific climate knowledge in a way that will empower community members to take charge in an effective bottom-up campaign of adapting to climate change. Their project will be sustainable—as this bottom-up approach gives them project ownership. How do we learn about local climate knowledge? The first step is to facilitate a PCVA workshop for exchanging knowledge about the community’s vulnerabilities and capacities. You will learn from them about their coping strategies in the face of a changing climate.

Field Guide 2.

Participatory Mapping for Soil and Water Resources

Participatory mapping is an excellent way of learning in greater detail about a community, their resources, the hazards they face, and how the village, farm fields, roads, forests, water sources, and climate challenges interrelate. It’s also an excellent method for community members to see their assets and vulnerabilities through a new lens. Participatory mapping is an inclusive tool: all workshop participants can engage in the activity as it’s very visual—non-readers won’t be sidelined.

Field Guide 3.

Simple Techniques for Soil and Water Conservation

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 managing water and conserving soil by developing barriers on farm fields for stopping the flow of water so that it can percolate into the soil and build up soil moisture. The barriers also reduce the loss of soil from erosion. Topsoil suspended in water settles behind the barriers creating level terraces. These low cost/no cost techniques can be incorporated  into their fields over the span of time.

Field Guide 4.

Developing a Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Plan

It is estimated that over 50% of all disasters are now related to extreme weather events. Because of this, disaster risk reduction should be an integral part of adaptation projects. Community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) holds the same merit that community-based adaptation does: ownership and sustainability. This field guide presents a consciousness-raising overview for community members for establishing a CBDRR program in their community.

Field Guide 5.

Diversifying Livelihoods

Diversifying livelihoods is a good option for increasing resilience in the face of climate change challenges. There are many micro-lending and micro-enterprise programs in the developing world able to assist.   However, not everyone is an entrepreneur. Another challenge is that frequently people think of a product they can sell, begin making it, and have trouble finding customers. There are several simple techniques for addressing these challenges.

Routledge CBA Book:

A Field Guide to Community Based Adaptation by Tim Magee

This how-to field course in a book is arranged in a step-by-step progression that leads readers through problem assessment, project design, implementation, and community take over. Chapters have the tools needed by field staff and their community partners to complete sequential, concrete steps in developing a real project from the ground up. Routledge has announced a December 1 book launch. In addition, the book includes a range of short field guides—like the five in this newsletter—containing activities complete with illustrations, how-to information, and workshop plans on universal climate challenges that communities face in water, food security, agriculture, disaster risk reduction, and livelihood diversification.

Spring Quarter	Are you interested in:
	A Diploma in Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change? A Diploma in Integrated Community Based Adaptation, DRR & Rural Development? Designing and Funding Sustainable Development Projects? Water Conservation and Management? Climate Smart Agriculture? Community Based DRR?

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

Diversifying livelihoods may be a good option for increasing resilience in the face of climate change challenges. There are many micro-lending and micro-enterprise programs in the developing world able to assist. However, not everyone is an entrepreneur. Another challenge is that frequently people think of a product they can sell, begin making it, and have trouble finding customers. There are several simple things can be done to address these challenges.

One
	The first step is to form an association of community members for the purpose diversifying livelihoods and finding alternative forms of income generation. An association can give direction, consistency, management and a single point of contact for a buyer. These services can be a benefit to association members who are not individually entrepreneurial.

The first step in forming an association is to introduce the concept in a participatory workshop setting. Frequently communities are made up of groups of people pursuing similar activities. For example, there might be groups of weavers, artisans or farmers. Ask your community contacts to approach one of these groups of community members about participating in a consciousness-raising workshop on alternate sources of income. In the workshop you can begin by introducing the rationale and importance of having an income generation association with its own management committee—and what benefits it could offer association members. In the beginning, the association does not need to be a formal, legal entity.

In this introductory workshop, ask if there are members who would be interested in sitting on the association management committee. Discuss the types of skills that will need to be developed by committee members. Suggest appointing an interim committee who over the course of six months could develop the ultimate committee structure, establish committee member responsibilities, ensure gender inclusiveness, set goals, and establish a plan. Have an open discussion with the workshop participants to set a number of people that should serve on the committee—and then ask for volunteers for the interim committee.

Two.
Conduct a survey of businesses in the region that buy products in their type of work on a routine basis. Pick businesses that are purchasing products which are appropriate for your level of production capability. Ask them what products are they most in need of. Ask if they would have interest in forming a market link with the association. Ask if they would be willing to partner in developing a training program so that the association members will be able to produce to their quality expectation.

An example could be an association of smallholder farmers who through these surveys discovers a buyer who needs more cucumbers for their wholesale markets in the city—and for export. Frequently buyers such as these, since they need additional product, will make an investment in farmer training and a micro-loan of seeds for planting. These agricultural produce buyers frequently have extension agents which provide follow-up to the farmers. They also would prefer to work with a single association contact rather than work with 20 individual farmers.

But don’t overlook other potential markets. Perhaps the market in the next big city has vendors which need products every week. Perhaps there are products that are in short supply that your association could sell themselves from a market stall. Before beginning production however, make certain that there is a market. Your NGO might have individual donors with connections or board members with business experience who can help develop a strategy or make introductions.

Search and Rescue Training
Search and rescue team members learn specific techniques that are safe, and are given simple tools such as lifejackets, safe boats, inner tubes, and flashlights which give them the confidence and the capability to look for a missing person or of rescuing a trapped, elderly or disabled person.

Three.
Once you have identified an actual market for a product or service and solidified a relationship, you might need training in delivering that product or service. Solicit assistance from the buyer for the training, your local government, the central government—or perhaps an NGO for delivering the training.

Four.
Before beginning production you should have a clear definition of the product’s value, its seasonality, the quantities that the buyer is intending to purchase, and the costs and time investment for producing the product. It might be a good idea to ask someone with bookkeeping skills to lay this out in a simplified presentation. This way, you can determine how much money association members could make through the sales of this product. You might also find that sales levels limit the number of people that can belong to the association.

Five.
Get training for the association committee. They will need to know basic bookkeeping skills, basic management skills and organizational skills. If they are the contact point for the buyer they will also need to learn basic negotiation skills.

Six.
Try and organize the trainings to coincide with production. In other words, using the theme of the farmers above, if they’re going to receive training on field preparation and planting of cucumbers for the buyer, try to organize the training so that they are planting something that they will actually be able to sell to the buyer. Frequently the extension agents of large produce buyers are willing to provide startup and incremental training for producers throughout the course of the season.

Copyright © 2012, Tim Magee