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2. “Under One Tree”? Exploring Pastoral, National, and International Approaches to Humanitarian Action
- Author:
- Elizabeth Stites, Merry Fitzpatrick, and Paul Howe
- Publication Date:
- 06-2024
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- Although resilience is an inherent component of pastoral systems, it must be adequately supported through effective national and international policies, programs, and approaches. However, to date the evidence provided by pastoralists and organizations working with pastoral populations suggests that international and national humanitarian assistance is rarely provided in ways that are truly helpful for pastoral communities to protect their livelihoods. This synthesis report brings together the findings from the first phase of a three-year research project exploring how humanitarian action — comprising early warning, anticipatory action, and emergency response — can be more attuned to the needs, perspectives, and approaches of pastoral communities in the dryland areas of the Greater Horn and Sudano-Sahel. The main outputs from Phase 1 are three desk studies examining humanitarian action from three perspectives: the views of the pastoralists, national governments, and the international community. This synthesis report reflects upon the cross-cutting learning and key themes and considers the implications for humanitarian action in dryland areas.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Resilience, Livelihoods, Safety Net, Gender, Early Warning, and Social Protection
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sahel, and Horn of Africa
3. Anticipatory Insurance with African Risk Capacity: A Holistic Benefit-Cost Analysis
- Author:
- Leah B. Poole, Vaibhav Anand, Alexa Gozdiff Spognardi, Anne Radday, Komal Rathod, and Erin Coughlan de Perez
- Publication Date:
- 08-2024
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- African Risk Capacity, with the support of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has designed an anticipatory insurance product to support farmers in the drought-prone regions of Malawi and Zambia. The anticipatory approach is innovative because the insurance pays out when forecasts predict a drought, rather than after drought-related losses and damages have occurred. This report explores the potential costs and benefits of the insurance product and proposes a framework for monitoring and evaluating these factors once the product is implemented. Costs and benefits are assessed with an economic model, supported by qualitative data collected from key stakeholders. The results of this research are intended to assist government decision-makers by providing insights into potential challenges and successes associated with the product’s implementation. Additionally, the research may offer a useful framework of considerations for the expansion of this initiative to other countries.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Resilience, Livelihoods, Safety Net, Early Warning, and Livestock
- Political Geography:
- Africa
4. Climate Change Act and the role of local government
- Author:
- Busisipho Siyobi
- Publication Date:
- 11-2024
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Good Governance Africa (GGA)
- Abstract:
- South Africa’s response to addressing climate change has come full circle with the passing of the Climate Change Act1 in July 2024. This breakthrough comes at a time when South Africa is warming by approximately 0.2°C per decade2 , contributing to climate impacts ranging from extreme heat and drought to sea level rise and flooding. The results of these extreme weather events have been devasting to livelihoods and, subsequently, socio-economic development, which have been worsening over the years. The Climate Change Act is a significant step, as it shows progression and commitment to advance South Africa’s climate resilience, and to see it through achieving a just energy transition. However, the success of the overall climate change response is only as strong as its implementation. This policy briefing will assess the Act and provide a roadmap on how it can be effectively operationalised to achieve its mandate.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Resilience, and Local Government
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa
5. Coordination challenges and opportunities for climate adaptation in African agriculture
- Author:
- African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Abstract:
- Climate change poses a major global threat, particularly for agriculture, and this knowledge product delves into the context of climate adaptation in African agriculture. It emphasizes the critical role of climate adaptation in safeguarding the sustainability of food systems and rural communities. African agriculture, predominantly comprised of smallholder farmers, bears the brunt of climate change’s adverse impacts, including erratic rainfall, droughts, and heatwaves, which disrupt crop yields and food availability. Climate adaptation is indispensable to ensure food security and resilient livelihoods. Substantial investments are now being directed towards enhancing climate adaptation capacities across the continent. Collaborative efforts involving governments, NGOs, donors, and local communities aim to promote climate-smart agriculture, improve water management, and enhance access to climate information services. Nevertheless, coordination challenges persist, impeding the effectiveness of adaptation endeavors. Africa’s diverse geography, climates, and socioeconomic conditions make coordination of climate interventions and policy at the international, regional, national, and local levels a complex task. In the Sahel, climate adaptation coordination encounters challenges due to varying priorities and capacities among nations. Aligning international climate policies with regional and national strategies remains a daunting task. Conversely, the Southern African region grapples with the impacts of extreme weather events on agriculture, such as floods and cyclones, necessitating coordinated disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Ethiopia’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is a model of effective multi-stakeholder collaboration. Government agencies, civil society, research institutions, and local communities collaborate to increase adaptive capacity, focusing on locally tailored solutions derived from farmers’ specific needs and indigenous knowledge. Finally, this policy brief illuminates climate adaptation in African agriculture, recognizing the continent’s vulnerability and the need for coordinated action. It shares valuable insights from diverse regions and initiatives, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities of coordinating climate adaptation. Collaboration, knowledge sharing, and coordinated efforts hold the key to ensuring a resilient and sustainable future for African agriculture in a changing climate.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Sustainability, Resilience, and Adaptation
- Political Geography:
- Africa
6. The Resilience and Sustainability Trust: Early Learning and Challenges from Costa Rica and Rwanda
- Author:
- Andrew Wainer
- Publication Date:
- 07-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- In 2022, as part of the IMF’s recent efforts to re-channel Special Drawing Rights, it created the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), facilitating the transfer of concessional finance from high- to lower-income countries for climate resilience and pandemic preparedness. It is the first new such facility following the polycrises of the early 2020s. Demand for the RST is strong and learning from its pilots can inform how future RST financing can be used most effectively. This research provides case studies of two RST pilots: Costa Rica and Rwanda. Lessons from the pilots are not only relevant for future RST recipients. The RST is operational, and therefore, uniquely worthy of analysis in terms of how additional financing—above and beyond the RST—can be effectively integrated. Our analysis finds that the RST is becoming the IMF’s de facto climate finance facility; is government-driven; is being awarded to countries with strong governance and climate credentials; and that authorities are banking on using the RST to attract additional climate finance. At the same time, the RST faces the challenges of being too small to confront climate resilience; has questionable priorities in terms of supporting climate over poverty reduction in low-income countries; is almost tripling the number of IMF program conditions some countries are facing; and is escalating IMF policy influence over governments in an area where the IMF has limited experiences.
- Topic:
- International Monetary Fund, Finance, Sustainability, Resilience, COVID-19, and Sustainable Development
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Latin America, Rwanda, and Costa Rica
7. Building Resilience Blocks: How to Improve the Quality of Work for the Egyptian Construction Precariat?
- Author:
- Hanaa Ebeid and Salma Hussein
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- IEMed/EuroMeSCo
- Abstract:
- The past two years have revealed the difficult living conditions of millions around the world experiencing compounded insecurities, especially of work and income. Within this context, this paper explores how the notion of precarity applies to informal construction workers in Egypt. It argues that their working conditions fail to satisfy the decent work indicators recommended by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and relevant literature. The paper also assesses the Egyptian government’s intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding informal irregular workers. The government pushed forward infrastructure projects in order to cushion the impact of the pandemic on unemployment. It also distributed cash transfers to irregular informal workers for six months. The paper explains why these measures were not enough. Based on focus group discussions, an in-depth interview and an extensive study of ILO literature, the paper puts forward a set of recommendations with the aim of improving the quality of work under which the majority of workers in the construction sector in Egypt live.
- Topic:
- Labor Issues, Resilience, and Construction
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Egypt
8. Lives at Risk: A study of girls dropping out of school in Juba, Rumbek and Pibor Counties, South Sudan
- Author:
- Lillian Rutandaro, Christine Lundambuyu Minalula, Rogers Otuta, and Manenji Mangundu
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- This study was undertaken by Oxfam in three South Sudanese counties as part of the SIDA-funded project 'Building Resilience through Gender and Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Education, Skills Development, and Sustainable Livelihoods'. Its purpose was to shed light on why so many girls drop out of school. The research revealed that women and girls often lack decision-making power over their lives. Early or forced marriage, the abduction of girls, perceptions that education delays marriage – and that educated girls risk not finding husbands – all contribute to dropout rates. Additional challenges include a lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools, the distances learners need to travel, insecurity caused by communal violence, floods, food insecurity, and a heavy household work burden. The Government of South Sudan has in place laws and policies to address these issues, but they remain largely on paper and enforcement mechanisms are weak. The report analyses each of these factors in turn and presents recommendations for how the SIDA project can begin to address them in its future programming.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, Food, Conflict, Resilience, and Gender
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Sudan
9. Harnessing Informal Social Safety Nets for Resilience and Development
- Author:
- Merry Fitzpatrick, Hassan Alattar Satti, Sarra Beheiry, and Elizabeth Stites
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- People turn to each other to get through difficult times, to celebrate life events, or simply to ease daily living. Humanitarian assistance usually provides support only when there are large-scale crises that affect whole populations. What do people do when humanitarian assistance is not provided, when only one or a few households are affected? And when humanitarian assistance is provided, how does it affect these systems of mutual support? Established systems of mutual support (informal social safety nets) evolve to organize reciprocal support and make that support more predictable. This report examines the nature of these mutual support systems in selected communities in North and South Darfur, Sudan. Through research conducted in these communities, we explore how a full menu of these social safety nets operate, the functions they serve, who benefits, and the obligations on community members. The informal social safety nets (SSNs) identified in this study varied somewhat from one community to another, but were largely the same across all communities, regardless of state or livelihood specialization. These SSNs operate as coherent webs that support social connections and norms, providing social and practical benefits as well as immediate emergency assistance when needed. SSNs depend on relationships and trust to function and are governed by shared norms. We have seen that SSNs can also restore broken trust and violated norms. The conflict in Darfur violated norms and disrupted many relationships, and therefore undermined the SSNs that depended on them. However, some SSNs have played important roles in reconciliation.
- Topic:
- Development, Governance, Resilience, and Safety Net
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Sudan
10. Measuring the Resilience of Livelihoods in Darfur: The Income Streams Index
- Author:
- Merry Fitzpatrick and Hassan Alattar Satti
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- Resilience is the recognition that people are active agents in their own survival in the face of crises. Understanding the dynamics of how households in crisis-prone contexts plan for and respond to crises can help structure policy, development, and humanitarian activities to support their strategies, reducing the impact of crises, speeding recovery, and reducing the amount of humanitarian assistance required. A resilience indicator that is both quantitative and descriptive is needed to see how crises affect households and the livelihoods through which they meet their needs. Previously proposed measures either use proxies of outcomes or combinations of economic and wealth measurements, but none measure livelihoods themselves in real-time. This report uses an innovative real-time index, the Income Streams Index (ISI), to teach us how households in South, West, and North Darfur states in Sudan managed and adapted their livelihood activities in the face of multiple shocks of various types and sizes over a three-year period (2018 to 2021).
- Topic:
- Development, Resilience, Livelihoods, and Structuralism
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Sudan
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