Climate information and social difference The impact of information on adaptive capacity among socially marginalized smallholder agriculturalists

Alexa Jay

Climate information and social difference

The impact of information on adaptive capacity among socially marginalized smallholder agriculturalists

Alexa Jay

Research and Communications Specialist

CCAFS Climate Risk Management Theme

International Research Institute for Climate

and Society

Earth Institute | Columbia University

Presented on behalf of

Dr. Sandra Russo and Dr. Sarah McKune

University of Florida

Dr. Arame Tall

CCAFS Climate Risk Management Theme

International Food Policy Research Institute

Power, privilege, and social exclusion

• Bringing climate information services (CIS) into agricultural extension and advisory services is seen as crucial for achieving climate smart agricultural (CSA) development in a variable and changing climate.

• Vulnerable groups, including women, are less likely to be targeted or involved in CIS and CSA

• Access to standalone agricultural extension services is significantly lower for women as compared with men (Swanson et al. 1990; World Bank and IFPRI 2010; Ragasa 2012)

Why aren’t we there yet?

• CCAFS/CGIAR research shows that smallholder agriculturalists with differing levels of access to power and privilege have different information needs (e.g. different crops grown, different daily tasks)

• This makes it necessary to tailor information for them, with corresponding implications for which groups are able to access and potentially benefit from agro-climate information services (Tall, Hansen, Jay et al. 2014)

Why evaluate the impact of climate services?

• Attempts to mainstream gender in climate information services have not succeeded in part because they have narrowly focused on identifying, securing and scaling up best communication technologies and practices to expand service delivery to women and other marginalized groups.

• We contest this prevailing assumption that a climate information services program can be replicated or taken to scale based on the technologies it uses.

Power, privilege, and resource access

Recommendations for a process for developing, improving, and scaling up context-appropriate and equitable climate information services

• Use multiple communication channels (i.e. radio, extension, SMS, community groups, health clinics, schools etc)

• Adapt messages and replicate dissemination for various target audiences, in content and delivery mechanism, to allow for maximum uptake

• Need cooperation between different ministries (i.e. agriculture, health and environment) to achieve this

• “Who” delivers the messages is less important than getting out the messages frequently and in a timely manner

Where do we go from here?

Thank you

ccafs.cgiar.org/themes/climate-risk-management

ccafs.cgiar.org/gender

Contact point: ajay@iri.columbia.edu