Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011
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Transcript of Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011
![Page 1: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
CHANGING FOCUS: CAN DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS TAKE
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY SERIOUSLY?
Lindsey Jones Simon Levine Eva Ludi
Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA)
![Page 2: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
o Change is a constant in the lives of rural people in Africao shocks (war, displacement, rain failures, food price
spikes)o stresses (population pressure, terms of trade, land
degradation)
o Climate change is another pressure - and interacts/magnifies other shocks and stresses
o Climate change is uncertain at local level
Why adaptive capacity matters
![Page 3: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
ACCRA and why adaptive capacity matters
o Change is certain – but uncertain!o People need the ability to maintain wellbeing in
the face of change – i.e. adaptive capacity o No development is sustainable without adaptive
capacity
But...o How well can communities adapt to change ? o How much do existing development interventions
help (or undermine) adaptive capacity ?
![Page 4: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
ACCRA and why adaptive capacity matters
Assumptions: o development interventions are influencing adaptive capacity (AC), whether we realise it or not
o AC cannot be built through ‘adaptive capacity programmes’ – but development interventions can be harnessed to build AC
Problem:
o Little consensus about what AC is and what it depends on
![Page 5: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
The local AC framework
5
•Assets•Institutions•Knowledge•Innovation•Decision-making
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Availability and interplay of appropriate key assets that allow the system to respond to evolving circumstances in a changing environment
The Asset Base
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Institutions and EntitlementsAn appropriate and evolving institutional environment ensuring access to key assets
Institutions and Entitlements
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Knowledge and Information
Collecting, analysing and disseminating information so it can be used in support of sustainability
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InnovationAn enabling environment to foster and make use of innovation
Innovation
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Flexible Forward-looking Decision Making and Governance
governance structures which can anticipate and respond to a changing environment
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Insights from the Field
• People do adapt and innovation exists, but• Not to climate change directly or in
isolation• reactive • short-term, immediate needs
• So... high risk of maladaptation
11
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• What’s going on with development interventions?o Technology packageso Direct provision of assetso Increased income and livelihood
diversification o Group creation and capacity building
• A missing link: assets – AC o Helping people find, adapt and use assets
• A strong focus on assets – but much less on what makes assets ‘come alive’
12
Insights from the Field
![Page 13: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
o Institutional dimension sometimes undermining sustainabilityo Elite capture (e.g. irrigation and women)o New institutions created without being socially
grounded (e.g. project committees and savings groups, quotas)
o No institutions created to support what was introduced (e.g. communal pasture enclosures)
o DIs not informed by analysis of institutions and power
o Institutions sometimes undermining innovation and its spread
Insights from the Field
![Page 14: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Insights from the Field
o A missing link: innovation !o We’re not identifying the blockages to innovation
o confidence, information, finance, risk tolerance, community acceptance, perceptions of ‘failure’, paradigms of ‘authority knows’
o Information treated as a technical packageo Assumption: correct and appropriate (e.g. yields/ha)
o But if we saw information as part of AC...o Emphasis on range of info o Emphasis on sources of info o Emphasis on use of info – communication and capacity
to interpret (e.g. seasonal forecasts & uncertainty)
![Page 15: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Insights from the Field
o Existing planning and programming is short-term – often fed by ‘shopping list’ participation
o Longer term climate & economic context not being considered in many progs (e.g. irrigation in arid lands)
o But, misinterpretation of information leads to poor planning and maladaptation
o How to plan for uncertainty?o Adaptive capacity!o Flexibilityo Local agency
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We’re missing out on the huge potential contribution that development interventions
could bring to AC
DIs need to refocus on AGENCY – people’s ability to make their own decisions and achieve their
own plans(at household, community, local... level)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE?
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Better decision-making (‘governance’ ) is not only about Governments – also NGOs, communities, private sector actors, households, etc.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE?
Need to change the skill-set in development planning
•institutional (power, culture, sociology, etc.) analysis,
•scenario planning, •understanding uncertainty, •how to support agency, not give
messages
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The Big Five
Longer-term future and uncertainty.
Innovation, not introducing specific changes.
Institutions – social, cultural, political, economic
Power. (There are reasons why status quo exists)
Knowledge – not just information
ACCRA research showed how these are interlinked, cannot be thought about separately
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE?
![Page 19: Simon Levine's Presentation of the ACCRA research findings, Sept 2011](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062707/55864e70d8b42a6b3d8b45a2/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE?
But the problem is...
None of this is new. Climate change re-underlines
their importance and urgency.
But what has stopped us from taking it
on board?