Learn as Much as You Teach

By Sowdamini Saraswati, Climate and Society ’13

Beginning in early June, my task for two months was to work with the American Red Cross in Uganda and the Uganda Red Cross Society to design, implement, and complete an impact evaluation of a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) project that was carried out from 2010-2011. The scope of the evaluation was ambitious, but by the second week I was in the field training volunteers to begin the process of conducting 600+ household surveys. To the casual observer, this project would sound dry–and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. However, over the course of this evaluation I had many surprising and humbling conversations with local leaders, curious bystanders, and high school kids which served as a counterpoint to data collection.

The most striking thing about these conversations: people believe in climate change. What’s more, they believe in climate change adaptation and are trying to take steps to protect their families and livelihoods with or without outside help. A victory of NGO led training and the reality of seeing rainfall and drought patterns varying, climate change is accepted as a fact of life. In villages near wetland areas, people spoke proudly of how they were withdrawing from the swamp and encouraging their neighbors not to plant in wetland areas because it would help them adapt to climate change. Everyone I spoke with also talked about tree planting and the importance of having seedlings so that deforestation could be reversed. Underlying it all, there was a sense of urgency that is difficult to find in the United States. For many people in this part of Uganda, climate change is not something to worry about in an abstract future 20, 30, or 50 years down the road. It is the reality of seeing crops falter this season because of prolonged drought.

The state of knowledge isn’t perfect and there is still a lot of confusion about the causes of climate change. Any type of environmental protection measure is assumed to be combating the causes of climate change, including the use of more sustainable fishing practices. But more importantly, people are trying to take action. They see the dangers of climate change, even if they don’t understand the causes, and make an effort to protect themselves. Contrast this to the United States where nearly half the country refuses to believe that climate change is possible, let alone believe they need to try and mitigate or adapt, and you can understand why I say my time here is humbling.

While the willingness for climate change adaptation (or CCA as it is referred to here) is high, capacity to adapt is still overwhelmingly low. The people who are taking steps to plant trees still need to be able to afford seedlings–which often means that a household can only plant 2 or 3 seedlings a year. With the majority of households using firewood or charcoal for energy, the net result is still deforestation. Coursework has drilled home the importance of fast maturing and drought resistant crops, but farmers want the crops that they perceive will give them the highest income. Understanding this incentive is the first step in achieving long term behavior change. While these are only a few examples, over the course of this evaluation I have seen the need for integrated adaptation planning and the importance of engaging beneficiaries so that the adaptation takes root and will last beyond a project period–without this, an organization will teach without learning and both sides will lose out.

Featured Image by Julie Arrighi