climate change resilience

Enhanced livelihoods and increased resilience of poor ethnic minority women and men rural areas to the effects of climate change and variability – Information for Adaptation in Vietnam (InfoAct)

The overall objective of the InfoAct Project is to enhance livelihoods and increase the resilience of poor ethnic minority women and men in rural areas to the effects of climate change and variability. This is to be accomplished through a specific objective (outcome) to ensure ethnic minority households in rural areas have improved access to and use of climate information, and resources to help increase their climate resilience. The InfoAct Project is focusing mainly on two target groups: (1) 5,000 ethnic minority households, especially women, in Dien Bien and Lai Chau provinces and (2) government authorities and service providers, namely Department of Hydro-Meteorology, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the provincial VWU and CCD. As InfoAct was going to phase out after three years’ implementation and close all its activities by November 2021, an independent final evaluation was conducted to understand the project’s impacts/outcomes and key lessons learned. Read More...

Clean and Environment Friendly Cooking Solutions for Urban Slum/Village Dweller Households in Gautam Buddha Nagar CEFICS Project Phase I

Slums/urban villages are an integral part of all metros, including Noida. Communities staying here primarily migrate from rural areas to find a way out of poverty, unemployment, and indebtedness. For daily cooking they mostly depend on kerosene, solid fuel (firewood, animal dung, charcoal, municipal/ industrial waste, and coal) and throw away batteries. This results in Household Air Pollution (HAP) emitting health-damaging particulate matter and climate warming pollutants in the environment and sometimes also cause fires, putting their lives at risk and wiping out everything they own.

In order to address these challenges, through support from HCL Foundation’s urban CSR program, HCL Uday, CARE India had initiated engagement with SVDHs to enable their transition to improved cook stoves (ICS) which are more environment and health friendly and would help provide women with respite and increased time and energy to participate in other productive ventures. The project has been implemented in four villages of Dadri Block in Gautam Buddh Nagar District. Read More...

Modelling Catalytic Impact at CARE

CARE has set an aspirational catalytic impact target of 200 million people. Catalytic impact is a new impact category that comes from Vision 2030’s focus on impact at scale. CARE defines catalytic impact as the “sustainable impact through the independent adoption or funding of solutions by governments, donors, the private sector, or open replication that originated with CARE and/or its partners”. CARE’s contribution to catalytic impact is indirect. That means it is the impact of our work after our direct programming efforts end or impact, as an indirect effect of our work. Read More...

CARE’s experience of Engaging Men and Boys in programming for Climate Justice: A learning review

While there is a substantive body of gender analysis documenting the gendered impacts of climate change for women and girls, understanding of the ways in which men and boys’ impact and are impacted by climate change remains limited. Environmental disasters caused by climate change also negatively affect boys and men in gendered ways that are, Executive summary in general, different from girls and women, and which can contribute to increased vulnerabilities and risks for women and girls. These differences reflect concepts of masculinity and the influence of associated social norms and processes of gender socialization on the attitudes, values and behaviours of men and boys.

Achieving progress towards Climate Justice is therefore closely and inherently linked to gender justice. Addressing the root causes of the climate emergency will require the engagement of men and boys as actors who are also vulnerable to climate change impacts as actors with agency to bring about transformative change by working alongside women activist allies.

CARE’s EMB model is based on the guiding principle that male engagement to challenge gender inequality involves working with men and boys to shift beliefs, behaviours and practices at household and community levels in support of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Engagement with men and boys contributes to processes of gender transformative change by reducing barriers women and girls face to building agency, addressing inequitable power relations and ensuring that changes in power dynamics and social structures are sustained. CARE’s work with men and boys is also broadly categorised in terms of three levels of male engagement whereby men and boys are engaged as participants, supporters and allies and champions of gender equality. Read More...

Disaster READY Project Phase Two – CARE Baseline Report (English)

The Disaster READY Project (DRP) is a five-year initiative (2022-2026), funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of the Australian Government, aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities, local civil society organizations, and government entities in Timor-Leste to effectively prepare for and respond to disasters while addressing climate change challenges. Implemented by five Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) INGOs, including CARE, the project targets 20,729 individuals, with CARE focusing on 7,575 community members in Viqueque Municipality across several administrative posts. The baseline survey conducted in late 2022 involved 141 community members, including individuals with disabilities, and aimed to assess knowledge of disaster preparedness plans, local civil society capacity, and government effectiveness in disaster response. Key findings highlighted the need for improved awareness of early warning systems, the establishment of active disaster management committees, and enhanced capacity among local civil society to manage disaster preparedness efforts. The report emphasizes the importance of inclusive planning processes, particularly regarding gender and disability considerations, and suggests integrating disaster risk reduction into broader community and climate adaptation strategies to foster resilience against natural disasters and climate change impacts.

Donor: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australian Government
Total Page Count: 39 Read More...

Farmer Field Business Schools and Village Savings and Loan Associations for promoting climate-smart agriculture practices: Evidence from rural Tanzania

How can stakeholders (e.g., governments and their extension services, private sector, policy makers and NGOs) effectively stimulate the adoption of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices among small-scale farmers in developing countries? Changes in temperatures and rainfall lead to new risks of drought as well as erratic and excess rainfall (Ericksen et al., 2011; WMO, 2020). Many farmers experience climate change as a threat since crop yields that farmers needed to sustain themselves are adversely affected (IPCC, 2014; WMO, 2020). At the same time, the agricultural sector also contributes to climate change since agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide) are among the significant drivers of global warming (CCAFS, 2021). Read More...

Learning From Failure 2022

In 2019 and 2020, CARE published Learning from Failures reports to better understand common problems that projects faced during implementation. Deliberately looking for themes in failure has helped CARE as an organization and provides insight on what is improving and what still needs troubleshooting. This report builds on the previous work to show what we most need to address in our programming now.
As always, it is important to note that while each evaluation in this analysis cited specific failures and areas for improvement in the project it reviewed, that does not mean that the projects themselves were failures. Of the 72 evaluations in this analysis, only 2 showed projects that failed to deliver on more than 15% of the project goals. The rest were able to succeed for at least 85% of their commitments. Rather, failures are issues that are within CARE’s control to improve that will improve impact for the people we serve.
To fully improve impact, we must continue to include failures in the conversation. We face a complex future full of barriers and uncertainties. Allowing an open space to discuss challenges or issues across the organization strengthens CARE’s efforts to fight for change. Qualitative analysis provides critical insights that quantitative data does not provide insight into the stories behind these challenges to better understand how we can develop solutions.
CARE reviewed a total of 72 evaluations from 65 projects, with 44 final reports published between February 2020 and September 2021 and 28 midterm reports published between March 2018 and October 2020. Seven projects had both midterm and final evaluations at the time of this analysis. For ease of analysis, as in previous years, failures were grouped into 11 categories (see Annex A, the Failures Codebook for details).

Results
The most common failures in this year’s report are:
• Understanding context—both in the design phase of a project and refining the understanding of context and changing circumstances throughout the whole life of a project, rather than a concentrated analysis phase that is separate from project implementation. For example, an agriculture project that built it’s activities assuming that all farmers would have regular internet access, only to find that fewer than 10% of project participants had smartphones and that the network in the area is unreliable, has to significantly redesign both activities and budgets.
• Sustainability—projects often faced challenges with sustainability, particularly in planning exit strategies. Importantly, one of the core issues with sustainability is involving the right partners at the right time. 47% of projects that struggled with sustainability also had failures in partnership. For example, a project that assumed governments would take over training for project participants once the project closed, but that failed to include handover activities with the government at the local level, found that activities and impacts are not set up to be sustainable.
• Partnerships—strengthening partnerships at all levels, from government stakeholders to community members and building appropriate feedback and consultation mechanisms, is the third most common weakness across projects. For example, a project that did not include local private sector actors in its gender equality trainings and assumes that the private sector would automatically serve women farmers, found that women were not getting services or impact at the right level.
Another core finding is that failures at the design phase can be very hard to correct. While projects improve significantly between midterm and endline, this is not always possible. There are particular kinds of failure that are difficult to overcome over time. Major budget shortfalls, a MEAL plan that does not provide quality baseline data, and insufficient investments in understanding context over the entire life of a project are less likely to improve over time than partnerships and overall MEAL processes.
Some areas also showed marked improvements after significant investments. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), Gender, Human Resources, and Budget Management are all categories that show improvements over the three rounds of learning from failures analysis. This reflects CARE’s core investments in those areas over the last 4 years, partly based on the findings and recommendations from previous Learning From Failure reports. Specifically, this round of data demonstrates that the organization is addressing gender-related issues. Not only are there fewer failures related to gender overall, the difference between midterm and final evaluations in gender displays how effective these methods are in decreasing the incidence of “failures” related to engaging women and girls and looking at structural factors that limit participation in activities.
Another key finding from this year’s analysis is that projects are improving over time. For the first time, this analysis reviewed mid-term reports in an effort to understand failures early enough in the process to adjust projects. Projects report much higher rates of failure at midterm than they do at final evaluation. In the projects where we compared midline to endline results within the same project, a significant number of failures that appeared in the mid-term evaluation were resolved by the end of the project. On average, mid-term evaluations reflect failures in 50% of possible categories, and final evaluations show failures in 38% of possible options. Partnerships (especially around engaging communities themselves), key inputs, scale planning and MEAL are all areas that show marked improvement over the life of the project.
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Enhancing adaptive capacity of women and ethnic smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate information in Mai and Samphanh district, Phongsaly Province, Laos

The Agro-Climate Information for the Adoption of Resilient Farming Practices by Women and Ethnic Minority Farmers (ACIS2) is implemented by CARE International in Lao PDR. The project financed by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development (MECDD) in Luxembourg, is designed to support poor and vulnerable households in remote, rural areas and to enable women and ethnic minority farmers in Mai and Samphanh districts (Phongsaly province) to better anticipate risks and opportunities related to climate variability thus improving their response through participatory and equitable agro-climatic planning. The project’s aim is to contribute to SDG 13 by increasing climate resilience of women and ethnic minority farmers in northern Laos.
The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the project’s success in implementing activities and in attaining the project’s goals and expected results. The ACIS2 has implemented a wide variety of activities to increase the resilience of ethnic communities to climate change and climate variability. The project has been successful in achieving its objectives and expected results. Project provide the weather forecast and agriculture advisory and support for cardamom production, intercropping galangal, pineapple, fruit trees, bee keeping, vegetable gardening, improved rice production and support to women’s savings and loans groups which has resulted in reducing the impact of climatic hazards and improving farmers’ incomes.
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Disaster READY Project Phase I- Endline Evaluation Report (English)

The Endline Evaluation Report for the Disaster READY Project assesses the project implemented by the Australian Humanitarian Partnership consortium in Timor-Leste from 2018 to 2022, led by CARE and involving partners such as Caritas Australia, Oxfam, Plan International, and World Vision. Aimed at enhancing local humanitarian capabilities, the project focused on community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) and inclusivity for women, people with disabilities (PWDs), youth, and effective coordination among stakeholders across nine municipalities. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the evaluation revealed significant increases in community knowledge of disaster risks, the establishment of effective coordination structures (DMCs), and improved representation of marginalized groups. The project successfully implemented early warning systems, with local leaders actively disseminating information. Concluding that the project fostered a paradigm shift in attitudes toward marginalized groups in disaster preparedness, the report recommends future efforts to enhance capacity building, integrate early warning systems, and advocate for including resilience and livelihood initiatives in disaster risk management.

Donor: Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP)
Total Page Count: 44 Read More...

My Forest, My Livelihood, My Family program (FUTURES) Baseline report

The FUTURES—My Forest, My Livelihood, My Family program (FUTURES) serves communities in the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve (YCFBR) located in Southwestern Ethiopia, in Oromia Regional State. The YCFBR encompasses the Hurumu, Yayo, Bilo Nopa, Alge-Sachi, and Doreni woredas of Illu-Abba Bora zone and Chora woreda of Buno Bedele zone and includes protected forest area as well as designated areas for economic activities like coffee and spice production, commercial forest plantations and eco-tourism, and areas where many traditional and modern agricultural practices take place.
Households in the area depend on a combination of small-scale agricultural and forest management systems dominated by traditional agronomic practices and characterized by a lack of crop diversity and low productivity. Deforestation, degradation, and increased loss of biodiversity are major concerns for sustainable agricultural and livelihood practice in the region. Social, gender, and cultural barriers have historically limited women’s and youth’s engagement in agricultural and economic sectors. High rates of early and forced marriage, and limited availability of reproductive health and family planning services, especially youth-friendly services, may further limit women and youth from participating meaningfully in agricultural practice and livelihood generation. Government services and local civil society organizations in the area operate at a limited capacity, and their offices are male-dominated and do not meaningfully incorporate a gendered approach to their work (Gebrehanna and Seyoum, 2020).
The three-year FUTURES project was launched in April 2021 to address many of the health, environment, and livelihood concerns of the YCFBR region. The project is implemented by CARE Ethiopia and its three local partners, Oromia Development Association (ODA), Environment and Coffee Forest Forum (ECFF), and Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organization (KYRHDO). The FUTURES project evaluation, funded by USAID, and led by Data for Impact (D4I), aims to understand the impact of the FUTURES project on key health, agricultural, and livelihood and conservation behavioral outcomes, and to contribute to knowledge about the implementation of cross-sectoral programs, including monitoring, evaluations, and learning (MEL) of such programs. Read More...

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