Involving Farmers and Other Local Stakeholders in Producing Seasonal Climate Advisories
By Oliver Kipkogei, Dr. Linda Ogallo and Collison Lore
Contributions by ICPAC Climate Change Technical Working Group
Eastern Africa, particularly the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of the Horn of Africa (HoA), are extremely vulnerable to climate variability and change (Liebmann et al., 2014; Ogallo 2010; Segelle et al., 2009). These areas are largely inhabited by pastoralist and smallholder agro-pastoralist communities, who are often technologically and financially ill-prepared to adapt to weather and climate variability. The goal of climate services according to the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), is to ensure that climate information being developed by scientists and service providers addresses the practical needs of stakeholders from the national, sub-national and community level.
Several challenges have been identified that limit the uptake of climate information by individuals and organizations in local communities. The lack of location specific climate information; the lack of understanding of the terminologies used by scientists; and the lack of communication between the climate producers and users of climate information, among others. ICPAC through the Agricultural Climate Resilience Enhancement Initiative (ACREI) is strengthening climate services delivered by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) to local communities in East and West Hararge, Ethiopia; Taita Taveta County, Kenya; and Isingiro and Sembabule, Uganda.
Two co-production approaches are used in the project to ensure that smallholder farmers received climate information and related advisories to make decisions for the season. The first is through collective localised interpretation of the seasonal forecast through a process called the Participatory Scenario Process (PSP), and the second is through strengthening communication channels used to share the resulting forecast and advisories termed the Seasonal Media Action Plan (S-MAP) approach.
Involvement of Local Stakeholders in Producing Climate Advisories
The PSP co-production process entails production and integration of knowledge to solve rural smallholder farmers’ challenges in the face of climate change and variability. The process acknowledges that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to smallholder farmers’ challenges, due to the fact that climate change is a serious problem with dynamic, generative and social complexities. As such, knowledge integration, continuous adaptive learning and management is very key. The approach reinforces the co-production process at the sub-national level, by involving all relevant stakeholders, including the producers of national weather and climate information, intermediary institutions, local leaders, local experts in Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK), community based organisations, media and the local community.
This approach bridges the gap between climate forecasters and sector-specific expertise, whilst equipping local communities with climate information and advisory that enable them to make improved decisions. Local stakeholders are able to give information on the status of their livelihood based on the past season, and give their input on critical steps to be taken in the next season. It further allows for communication and feedback between climate producers and users, and the forging of consensus and ownership in the generation of advisories. The forums allow climate producers to interact with the users of their information, and receive feedback on the existing climate information gaps, by various sectors and by the local community. End-users also get the opportunity to interrogate and understand the forecast including the limitations on what the scientists are able to offer.
In Eastern Africa, most local communities rely on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) over scientific forecasts — as it has been the primary source of weather information for many generations, and is therefore ingrained in the local culture. Scientific forecast for many local communities in Eastern Africa is not location specific, reliable and timely. Furthermore, even where the information has been made available many communities tend to prefer the use of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to plan for the season (Radeny et. al; 2019). The PSP process includes IK experts and synthesises indigenous knowledge and scientific forecasts to generate consensus in the seasonal forecasts. This helps build the communities confidence in the scientific forecast. The generated advisories are then translated into local language and disseminated through various channels, including radio, email, extension workers, non-governmental organizations, community based organizations, farmer to farmer interactions among other methods.
Media Mainstreaming of Climate Information
Changing the mindset of journalists and their media houses is an essential part of the process of building consensus on long term climate change reporting in Eastern Africa. Climate information requires efficient and effective communication. The objective of the Seasonal Media Action Plan (S-MAP) is to accomplish this task. Most media houses relegate weather information to a few minutes after the news. This near afterthought mindset ought to be changed. The ICPAC created methodology, aims through a participatory process involving journalists, to begin mainstreaming weather and climate information into all their programs. Local journalists interact with the climate producers and learn climate and weather terminologies. The role of the meteorological authorities in the S-MAP approach, is to sensitize the media and other invited groups on the forecast and key elements; such as advisories, and technical forecast terminologies that impact on journalists reporting. The product at the end of the process is a seasonal plan developed by the local media on how they intend to mainstream climate information, in what ICPAC terms, the Season Media Action Plan (S-MAP). The result has been an increase in the dissemination of climate information using the local language in Taita Taveta, Kenya.
The current focus is to roll it out the S-MAP approach in Isingiro and Sembabule districts of Uganda and soon in Ethiopia. This approach is cognizant of the fact that if a broader range of actors are deeply involved, and people with different knowledge and experiences come together, the co-design and co-production processes achieve a better result. There is greater flexibility with the focus and the questions asked not being predefined, but emerging from bringing together people with different knowledge and experiences.
Recognition of Local Media Station for Mainstreaming Climate Information: Lessons Learned
The co-production process is very context specific, even where the general methodology has been similar; what has worked well in one location did not work well in another location given the differences in cultural and social practices. Diversity in stakeholders is key in developing advisories that have local ownership, and having a diverse team in the planning phase helps achieve this outcome. Involvement of women in the process required a conscious and intentional effort in all the sites. In instances where this was not taken into account, resulted in some cases having representation by women at less than five percent in various forums. Moreover, where the buy-in of the local stakeholders was achieved, climate information became demand driven. Creating forums that allows clear flow of information between all stakeholders is important, particularly in cases where, for one reason or another, the partners are not able to physically meet (e.g. under current COVID-19 pandemic) for key activities such as the seasonal monthly press conference.
References
Liebmann, B., Hoerling, M. P., Funk, C., Bladé, I., Dole, R. M., Allured, D., … & Eischeid, J. K. (2014). Understanding recent eastern Horn of Africa rainfall variability and change. Journal of Climate, 27(23), 8630–8645.
Ogallo, L. (2010). The mainstreaming of climate change and variability information into planning and policy development for Africa. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 1, 405–410.
Segele, Z. T., Leslie, L. M., & Lamb, P. J. (2009). Evaluation and adaptation of a regional climate model for the Horn of Africa: rainfall climatology and interannual variability. International Journal of Climatology: A Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 29(1), 47–65.
Practical Guide to Participatory Scenario Planning
What Do We Mean by Climate Services?
Strengthening Climate Services for the Food Security Sector
Projects: Agricultural Climate Resilience Enhancement Initiative (ACREI)
