Voice and Accountability in Climate Change Adaptation

Locally Led Adaptation & Resilience

Gender

The poor are vulnerable to climate change hazards and have less adaptive capacity to deal with them. Additionally, traditional power structures within communities can hamper capacity enhancement and resilience building among the most vulnerable populations, especially women. Climate Change Adaptation helps in reducing vulnerability of populations, by building knowledge and skills among poor and marginalized populations to benefit from opportunities, such as growing new types of crops in new areas and in different time periods.

Bagicha and Pathalgaon blocks in the District of Jashpur, Chattisgarh were identified as having low adaptive capacity to climate change in comparison to other southern areas of the State. CARE India has been implementing the “Where the Rain Falls” (WtRF) project in Chhattisgarh. CARE India commenced phase-I of WtRF in 20 villages in the two blocks in January 2013. This was later expanded to 40 villages. The intervention focused on chronic risks like water and food insecurity (agriculture related livelihoods) arising out of climate change which were impacting tribal (Adivasi) women’s access, control, and management of natural resources. Based on the learning of the initial phase, the project enabled communities to jointly share knowledge and make decisions and implement them, ensuring community ownership of the climate change adaptation process. Through the intervention, CARE India reached 3,000 tribal (Adivasi) women and their households (15,000 beneficiaries) directly.

This document highlights the community processes facilitated by the Where the Rain Falls (WtRF) project. This document has three sections. Section I analyses the Community Action Plans (CAP) to understand the key issues and challenges faced by tribal women in the two blocks. The CAP processes brought about common understanding of the issues faced, planning for action and identifying the process through which change can be achieved. Section II describes the outputs of the Power Analysis exercises carried out in the project in 2016 and 2019. The Power Analysis exercises led to common understanding on the existing power structures in the community, and to identify the pathways for change. Section III describes the Community Based Climate Change Adaptation strategy, highlighting the key activities that enabled change.