Action aid and climate change regional workshop

ActionAid Approach to DRR/

CCA

Strengthening Climate

Resilience workshop 2010.

Why ActionAid is concerned ?• Hitting the poorest and most vulnerable particularly

women and children.

• Devastating effect in poorest countries with limited means to cope and adapt who have actually done the least to contribute to the problem

• Climate change impacts reflects and reinforces inequalities and injustice

• Rich countries are not doing enough to cut their own emissions and are not funding and supporting adaptation in developing world.

• 2.4B people affected in the last decade compared to 1.7B in the previous decade.

• Around 70% of disasters are now climate related up from 50% two decades.

How is AA tackling climate change?

3-pronged approach:

1. Adaptation – helping people to adapt their lifestyles to

cope better with the impacts of climate change

2. Disaster Risk Reduction – helping people analyse,

anticipate and reduce their vulnerability to climate-

related disasters

3. Local, national and international policy and

campaigning work

ActionAid’s Approach on CCA

• Work with poor people, especially women and smallholder farmers, to analyze their vulnerabilities to climate change

• Demonstrate people's capacity to adapt by recognizing and supporting their efforts. Examples include:

– Providing new varieties of seeds, i.e. short-term crops

– Education and Training on planting seasons, cropping patterns and agricultural practices

– Irrigation projects.

Diversification of

livelihoods-

Livestock keeping

communities

embracing dry

land farming.

DRR Approach

• ActionAid through schools project

• Started in 2006 designed to reduce people’s vulnerability to natural disasters by building on the role of schools in the community through HFA implementation

• Schools as focus for disaster preparedness through knowledge and action on risks and hazards.

• HFA 3

Design principles and methodology

• Outreach

• Capital investment

• Involve people

• Get local govt on board

• PVA

• Specific capacity building for stakeholders

• Support community mobilization and advocacy

• Raise climate change awareness

DRR approach• Facilitate communities to analyse their own vulnerabilities to

disasters and climate change and develop actions to address

them

• Using children as vehicles for DRR and CC messages

• Help communities to increase their resilience to disasters and

climate change (assets, livelihoods etc)

• Help poor communities be more prepared (e.g. working with

schools to teach them what to do and where to go in the

event of a disaster.

• Build the capacity of communities and partners ( PVA,

programme design, analysis of links between vulnerability

and poverty) to generate evidence for policy work at district,

national and international levels

School children undertaking participatory

vulnerability analysis process.

School children in DRR clubs raising

climate change awareness

With communities.

Water projects to

support communities

adaptative capacities.

Policy and campaigning-National platform

-Curriculum

- Lobbying for

governments of rich

countries to reduce their

emissions and provide

resources to poor countries

to adapt to the changing

climate Campaigning

around international events

e.g. G8 summits, UN climate

change conferences

(Denmark, Dec 09)

Research and documentation

• Studies

Challenges.

– Inadequate awareness of the HFA

– DRR/CCA seen as separate issues as

opposed to being part of long term dev.

– National level policies not translating

adequately into action at local level.

– More focus on ER as opposed to DRR

Recommendations.

– Empower communities and their

organizations to participate, represent and

negotiate local level planning and policy

making

– Advocate for a strong local government

with active participation of local

communities that is able to influence

provincial and national government

policies and implementation mechanisms

– Integrate DRR/CCA into HA.

Way forward contd.

– DRR and CC National policy / strategy /act in

place and reflects the interest of the vulnerable

people

– Institutional mechanisms able to enhance

resilience of vulnerable people to disasters and

climate change impacts

– Adequate and relevant funding from

international community reaching the poor and

vulnerable through democratic funding

mechanisms.

– Establish strong pressure groups that hold

governments and donors accountable.

THANK YOU.