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The Soul Beat 230 - Communicating About Climate Change

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230
The Drum Beat

Soul Beat Africa

 

The Soul Beat 230 - Communicating About Climate Change

October 9, 2013
From SOUL BEAT AFRICA - where communication and media are central to AFRICA's social and economic development

In this issue:


Climate change and related shifts in weather patterns affect people all around the world, most significantly the most economically poor and vulnerable. This edition of The Soul Beat focuses on climate change and includes a selection of programme experiences, research reports, and resources and guides that highlight how communication and media are helping to promote community adaptation to changing climate, and ensure the involvement of women and youth. It also looks at the role of the media and social media in creating awareness of climate change.


COMMUNITY ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE
  • 1. Joto Afrika: Climate Communication for Adaptation [June, 2013]This brief shares insights from a range of programmes in Kenya, Niger, and Ghana which are developing approaches to incorporating communication of climate information into their work with farmers and pastoralists in climate vulnerable areas. Using a range of communication mechanisms, the programmes demonstrate how such information has reached and supported communities to make their own decisions, diversify their livelihood choices, and protect their assets. According to the brief, climate change is continuous and unpredictable. Adaptive capacity to make informed and flexible decisions for action is becoming even more important to ensure resilience to climate change impacts. These case studies demonstrate how access and use of weather and climate forecasts, together with increased understanding of uncertainties as expressed in probabilities, can be transformed into useful and usable information.

  • 2. Toward Resilience: A Guide to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation [2012]By Marilise Turnbull, Charlotte L. Sterrett and Amy HilleboeThis introductory resource is designed for staff of development and humanitarian organisations working with people whose lives and rights are threatened by disasters and climate change. The guide is a core resource developed as part of the Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project, a collaborative effort by six agencies: CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Save the Children, and World Vision International. It provides introductory information, principles of effective practice, guidelines for action in a range of sectors and settings, case studies, and links to tools and resources, for the application of an integrated, rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

  • 3. Climate Change: From Concepts to Action - A Guide for Development Practitioners [December, 2012]By Jacqueline Ashby and Douglas PachicoThis guide, produced by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), reviews the evidence of climate change, introduces three strategies for dealing with climate change, and provides concrete ways to help the rural poor adapt. The goal is to consider how to modify and use existing CRS strategies, frameworks, tools, and programmatic responses to ensure that the poor are better equipped to adapt to climate change. The main users of the guide are expected to be CRS leadership, staff, and partners at the country level, though development practitioners and policy makers in general should also find it useful.

  • 4. The Application of Participatory Action Research to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: A Reference Guide [2012]By Laura A. German, Anne-Marie Tiani, Ali Daoudi, Tendayi Mutimukuru Maravanyika, Edward Chuma, Cyprian Jum, Nontokozo Nemarundwe, Edward Ontita and Giselle YitambenThe primary aim of this Reference Guide is to provide a set of concepts and practical tools for use by Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme grantees working to support stakeholders (communities, government agencies, policy makers) in their efforts to adapt - or to help others adapt - to climate change. The Guide nevertheless presents a generic set of concepts and tools that is likely to be of use to others engaged in climate change adaptation research and development efforts in the region, or those working to address other development challenges requiring a multi-stakeholder learning-by-doing approach.

  • 5. Building Resilience: A Guide to Facilitating Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction in the Horn of Africa [May, 2013]By R. Delve, G. Guyo, H. Hulufo, and S. LembaraPublished by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, this manual describes how to help communities implement disaster risk reduction activities. It was written for development workers and community-based organisations in the Horn of Africa, but practitioners can use it to implement activities around the world. It provides staff from local community-based organisations with the tools needed to lead communities through community managed disaster risk reduction (CM-DRR) activities.

  • 6. Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis Handbook [May, 2009]By Angie Dazé, Kaia Ambrose and Charles EhrhartAccording to the author, the Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) methodology from CARE is intended to help local people carry out an analysis that will increase their understanding of the implications of climate change on their lives and livelihoods. By combining local knowledge with scientific data, the process is designed to build people's understanding about climate risks and adaptation strategies. It provides a framework for dialogue within communities, as well as between communities and other stakeholders. The results of the analysis aim to provide a foundation for the identification of practical strategies to facilitate community-based adaptation to climate change.

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WOMEN, GENDER, AND CLIMATE CHANGE

  • 7. Participatory Gender-sensitive Approaches for Addressing Key Climate Change- related Research Issues: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ghana, and Uganda [2012]This working paper discusses findings and lessons learned from pilot projects which were designed to explore the different ways that men and women are affected by and adapt to climate change. As stated in the report, "getting a better understanding of how climate variability affects rural men and women differently, and in different regions, is challenging. Since their ability to respond to change and take action that will make them more resilient and able to adapt to a changing climate differs, we need to focus more research efforts on enhancing this understanding and linking this knowledge with actions aimed at enhancing livelihoods and food security."

  • 8. Gender and Climate Change: Toolkit for Women on Climate Change [February, 2012]By Cai Yiping, Anna Dinglasan, Luz Marinez, Marilee Karl, and Lalen de VelaThis toolkit on Gender and Climate Change is part of an endeavour by Isis International to explore innovative and strategic ways to communicate gender justice and climate justice issues, especially from Southern feminist perspectives. The toolkit seeks to provide community-based or grassroots organisations with basic information on climate change and how to communicate climate justice with their constituencies and target groups.

  • 9. Training Guide: Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development [January, 2012]By Sibyl Nelson, with inputs by Moushumi Chaudhury The purpose of this guide is to promote gender-responsive and socially-sensitive climate change research and development in the agriculture and food security sectors through participatory approaches. It provides agricultural development professionals and other readers with resources and participatory action research (PAR) tools for collecting, analysing, and sharing gender-sensitive information about agricultural communities, households, and individuals who are facing climate changes. Tested by researchers in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Ghana, the guide was jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

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YOUTH AND CLIMATE CHANGE
  • 10. Unite4Climate Zambia - ZambiaLaunched in December 2009, Unite 4 Climate Zambia is a nationwide programme to inspire and foster child-led action on climate change reduction advocacy and HIV and AIDS prevention. Through media programmes, debates, and advocating for the construction of floating schools in flood-prone areas, Zambia's young Climate Ambassadors are working to be agents of change. A programme of UNICEF, Unite 4 Climate partners with young people in all of the country's nine provinces to develop child ambassadors through workshops that seek to empower and inspire.

  • 11. Climate Change for the Secondary Teachers on Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development (CCESD) [January, 2013]By David Selby and Fumiyo KagawaThis online learning course from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a training kit designed to give teachers confidence to help young people understand the causes and consequences of climate change today. The course, a series of six-day programmes "aims to bring climate change education outside the science classroom into all subject areas liable to be affected by climate change. These include ethics, social studies, economics and political science, among many others."

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MEDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE

  • 12. Media Perceptions and Portrayals of Pastoralists in Kenya, India, and China [April, 2013]By Mike Shanahan This report, published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), discusses the relationship between the global environment, pastoralist tendencies, and global climate change. It explores how the media portrays pastoralism, focusing on the content of newspaper articles about pastoralists in Kenya, China, and India, as well as the results of an online and telephonic survey with journalists. According to the report, in all three countries, important topics such as climate change, the economic importance of pastoralism, and the links between mobility and resilience were under-reported. The majority of articles about pastoralists fail to include their voices, and stories that focus on women and children were uncommon. This report discusses these patterns and suggests ways to ensure more accurate media coverage of pastoralism and its potential to contribute to sustainable development in a changing climate.

  • 13. Social Media Guide for Climate Change Practitioners in Africa [August, 2012]This social media guide was produced by AfricaAdapt and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It is designed to increase understanding of different types of social media, and their potential role in accessing and sharing knowledge on climate change adaptation in Africa. It offers practical advice on sharing, accessing, and exchanging climate change knowledge from and about Africa using social media. According to the publishers, it is by no means exhaustive, but it is a good place to begin the journey of exploring social media. This guide is suitable for researchers, civil society practitioners, or information intermediaries working on climate change in Africa, as well as anyone with a particular interest in social media.

  • 14. Hidden Heat: Communicating Climate Change in Uganda [October, 2011]By Adam CornerThrough a series of 30 interviews with key climate change communicators - members of civil society organisations, the media, and government representatives - this report identifies some of the challenges and opportunities of communicating climate change in Uganda. The report aims to amplify these voices, to summarise the expertise that exists in Uganda on climate change communication, and to disseminate this as widely as possible.

  • 15. The Earth Journalism Network GrantDeadline for application: October 15, 2013The Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is launching its third round of small grants to invest in strategic opportunities for media development around the world. These grants aim first and foremost to build the capacities of local environmental journalism networks, and thus in turn respond to the needs of the grant recipients' local communities and environments.

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THE SOUL BEAT ARCHIVES

For previous Climate Change related Soul Beat e-newsletters, see:
Click here to view ALL past editions of The Soul Beat e-newsletter.

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