Improving people’s livelihoods and resilience in the ...

TAA Curry Club 29/03/18 London

Improving people’s livelihoods and resilience in the drylands of the Sahel and Horn of Africa through agricultural interventions

Concern – Who we are

Improving people’s livelihoods and resilience in the drylands: Concern’s approach – TAA 29/03/18

§  Irish humanitarian NGO founded in 1968 – 50th years anniversary §  Long-term development and response to emergencies §  Head offices in RoI, UK, USA and Republic of Korea

§  Mission: reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries §  Focus: addressing extreme poverty understood as a lack of assets

and low return on assets; inequality and risk and vulnerability

Where we work


Concern is working in 25 countries set in different contexts

Concern’s programme framework


How does Resilience fit in Concern’s work?


Concern focuses on community resilience ‘The ability of all vulnerable households anticipate, respond to, cope with, and recover from the effects of shocks, and to adapt to stresses in a timely and effective manner without compromising their long-term prospects of moving out of poverty.’

A more integrated approach to addressing risk and vulnerability particularly in disaster-prone contexts A ‘systems approach’ to analysis and programming, recognising the interconnectedness of e.g. livelihoods, the environment, gender, social dynamics, conflict and governance. Adaption – being able to adapt to a changing and increasingly unpredictable environment.

Concern’s work on Resilience


Resilience in the DRYLANDS


Dryland: •  Arid and semi-arid region, high temperatures, very low annual precipitation (<500mm/year) •  Grassland with dispersed trees •  Rural livelihoods, mobile pastoralism (shoats, cattle and camels), rain-fed agriculture, major

crops millet, sorghum, pulses Climate change risks: more frequent drought and dry spells, erratic rainfall, delayed onset or early end of rains, more intense rainy events, increase in temperatures Dryland is Concern’s country region that include Niger, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya Aim: Improve community and household resilience in the ”dryland” through climate-resilient

agricultural interventions

Resilience building with climate-resilient agriculture


Map of African drylands where Concern works

NIGER


NIGER


Rangeland management – tree planting Community not broadly engaged, poor ownership

Previous work on agriculture and natural resources management:

Adapted version of Conservation Agriculture Low adoption rate - top-down approach

Climate change impacts, soil infertility, population pressure, low crops production, degradation of natural resources

NIGER - Innovation Platform


New approach - Innovation Platform (IP) model: §  Multi-stakeholder platforms at community, cluster and regional level §  Representatives from different groups §  Focus on soil fertility, soil and water conservation, agroforestry and NRM §  Specific practices based on innovator farmers and their own adapted innovations

§  Local solutions, action-research and community-wide participation and ownership §  Staged approach

NIGER – Local Innovators


Could this farmer be a Local Innovator?

NIGER – Innovation Platform


Expected benefits of the IP: §  Solutions to problems better fit the local context

§  Higher rates of adoption through the engagement of innovator farmers

§  Community-wide approach increases the reach

§  Increase ownership and sustainability in the long-term

§  Improve organisational capacities and leadership of community structures

CHAD


§  BRACED programme §  65 villages in Sila Region, Kimiti Department, Sub-Prefecture of Goz Beida §  Agricultural interventions

-  Crop production -  Agroforestry -  Livestock/Pastoralism -  Early Warning System

§  Partnership with ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre) and Feinstein International Centre of Tufts University

CHAD – Crop production


CHAD – Agroforestry


Training and capacity building, 7 nurseries, 5,000 tree seedlings distributed, 2 Rural Resource Centre

CHAD – Agroforestry


Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration

•  20 villages identified for FMNR •  200 EC members trained •  1288 volunteers registered •  129 sites selected, covering 1874,93

ha •  FMNR implemented in 32 sites,

covering 324,7 ha •  14891 shoots protected

CHAD – Livestock


§  Access to veterinary services §  Support the Pastoralist Federation §  Support mobility and conflict management

of agro-pastoralist communities

SUDAN


§  Largely arid and one of the hottest in the world (temp as high as 50ºC).

§  Land cover: 13% crops, 14% herbaceous plants, 12% shrubs, 10% trees and 51% without vegetation.

§  Deforestation, over ten year period, the standing forest and woodlands which makes up the 10% tree cover have decreased at a rate of 598,000 hectares per year (FAO 2012)

§  Mixed farming and livestock production. Millet, sorghum, groundnuts; sesame, mostly rain fed cultivation and winter production (for vegetable crops)

§  Climate change effects: intermittent rainfall, more frequent dry spells, floods and droughts, increases in

average temperature with serious impacts on the country’s agriculture and pastoralism §  The dryland context and extreme rainfall variability from year to year mean that poor rainy seasons and

drought occur frequently, interspersed with years of good rains, and possibly floods

SUDAN


§  Concern operates in West Darfur §  DFID-funded BRACED programme

§  Partnership with Al Massar and Feinstein International Centre of Tufts University

§  Main sectors of the agricultural intervention: o  Improved crop production o  Agroforestry – FMNR o  Vegetables production through access to water o  Livestock

§  Introduction of two improved varieties of sorghum and millet and seeds multiplication

SUDAN – Improved crop varieties


§  Ashana and Butana - improved varieties of sorghum and millet developed by Sudan Agriculture Research Corporation (SARC)

§  Concern and SARC promoted the varieties among farmers §  Establishment of Seed Banks for re-distribution purposes §  New varieties highly appreciated by farmers (beyond the community)

§  Farmers and traders request to purchase the new seeds

§  Resilience building: increased food security in the face of erratic rainfalls/prolonged dry spells, reduced hunger gap, surplus for sale.

KENYA


§  Livelihood programmes in Marsabit County (ASAL region in Kenya) – arid, pastoralist livelihood

§  Droughts, increase in temperatures, erratic rainfall, degraded rangeland, shortage of water and fodder for

livestock

§  Recent droughts (2016 and 2017) severely impacted agro-pastoralist livelihoods, sever food insecurity,

relief programs

§  Concern’s programme focuses building resilience through Community-

Managed Disaster Risk Reduction and livestock and nutrition interventions

§  Livestock and CMAM (Community Management for Acute Malnutrition)

Surge models

KENYA - Livestock Surge Capacity Model


§  Early Warning (EW) tool geared towards monitoring livestock production.

§  Risk analysis, indicators and threshold setting,

monitoring against thresholds, and triggering surge scale up and scale down.

§  Support packages provided are based on LEGS §  It supports the strengthening of the public system and

its capacities to deliver services §  Fits well in the institutionalization process of the EW/EA

in Kenya

KENYA- E-Wallet mechanism


§  Market based approach to increase access to veterinary drugs and feeds during dry season.

§  Selection of most vulnerable pastoralist HHs (criteria) §  Provide a voucher of the value of $30 redeemed at

specific agro-dealers selling high quality and certified drugs (Sidai)

§  Win-win situation, it also supports private business that are valuable in remote and marginalised areas

SOMALILAND


§  Largely agro-pastoralist livelihood

§  Affected by the recent Horn of Africa crisis – two continuous droughts, loss of pasture, loss of livestock, low crop production, severe food insecurity §  Concern’s programmes based in Gabiley region – Somaliland’s bread basket §  Building resilience to climate change through:

§  Soil and water conservation to manage natural resources sustainably §  crop diversification

SOMALILAND – Soil and Water Conservation


SOMALILAND – Fruit production and irrigation


Fruit production through rainwater harvesting system has been particularly successful to build resilience against climate change, and adoption and replication by farmers is on the rise


Thank you

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