Community conversations to foster social inclusion in climate adaptation

Abstract

Community conversations to support socially inclusive locally led climate adaptation in pastoral communities.

Pastoral communities in Baringo County have experienced consecutive years of drought that have affected livestock populations and threaten livelihoods. Gender based inequalities limit women’s access to knowledge, capital, and agency in pursuing alternative income generation activities that could bolster household adaptation capacities. Gender transformative approaches that work with households in two villages will be piloted to 1., build technical capacities and. 2., address genderbased constraints to adaptation. Community conversations are a socially transformative, change-oriented community engagement approach that promotes behavior change through facilitated discussions and social learning processes. Three rounds of conversations will be conducted and the topics to be discussed will be chosen by community members’ collective identification of key issues. The approach will be piloted and potential impacts in the areas of technical expertise and changes in gender relations, such as women’s increased agency in decision-making and income, will be measured using robust mixed methods approaches.