We are excited to announce the winners of the catalytic grants promoted at the 15th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA15) in June. The winning teams will be rewarded with a $5000 USD grant to take forward their ideas that were sparked at CBA15.
“CBA is a very rich platform offering an interactive space for learning, teaching and sharing among climate practitioners. It offers powerful tools like the community boards where we could network, interact and e-meet,” says Pauline Kariuki, a winner of a catalytic grant.
The award is a joint effort from Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF), Global Resilience Partnership (GRP), and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), with the aim to provide initial seed funding to incentivize partnerships and collaborations on locally-led adaptation.
Meet the three winning teams.
Climate justice from a French speaking perspective
Country where the project will be implemented: Rwanda
Group members: Ineza Umuhoza Grace, Mukayiranga Eva Peace, and Isingizwe Sandra
Loss and Damage is a crucial topic for achieving climate justice, while also being a complex topic for youth. The lack of information, definition, education and measurement are some of the challenges. This idea emerged at CBA15, where the team coordinated a session as part of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYC) and based on the feedback at the session the team came up with a plan to strengthen the voice of LDYC and train more young people. The plan is based on past achievements of sending open letters to decision makers and conducting over 100 Loss and Damage trainings and storytelling workshops in English. The award will enable the team to reinforce these activities, reaching the French speaking youth community through organizing trainings and workshops in French.
“The only limit is your mind and how you zoom in on the challenges. Applying for the CBA 15 Catalytic grant wasn’t easy because the extent of the competition was clear; we had to overcome the fear and applied to do our part in achieving climate justice. And now we are ready to implement.” – Eva Peace
“It is possible! Women can make it! It is inspiring how our team 100% female applied regardless of the fear, social limitations and personal challenges especially during COVID-19! and now we are in the phase of being able to do what we love but this time supported to make it happen.” – Sandra Isingizwe
Innovation for adaptation in a refugee settlement: climate smart food production and cooking
Country where the project will be implemented: Uganda
Group members: Susan Nandudu and Stephen Bright Sakwa
Kiryandongo refugee settlement is home to over 70,000 refugees in Uganda. While the majority of this population comes from neighboring countries affected by conflicts, the settlement also hosts people displaced from a landslide hotspot (Bududa district) in Eastern Uganda. Due to COVID-19, aid was reduced, which has impacted critical food supplies for refugees.It is imperative to empower refugee households to start producing food sustainably as well as adapt and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change and shocks like Covid-19. The award will enable the team to offer training in climate smart agriculture and clean cooking for 50 influential refugees in the settlements, that can demonstrate better food production on the small pieces of land provided by the government, and clean cooking options.
“Applying for this grant took a suggestion from Stephen and a yes from me. What followed was drafting our application, regular brainstorming and a commitment to submit the application. We trashed some ideas; so we are grateful that what we presented was accepted by the judges. With this support, we shall draw on each other’s strength beyond the conference.” – Susan Nandudu
“My clear understanding of challenges in the refugee context coupled with Susan’s experience and excellent writing made the application process smooth. The grant encourages diversity, inclusivity and sustainable partnerships which are key for community-based adaptation.” -Stephen Bright Sakwa
Grassroots Women-led Resilient Livelihood Practices and Climate information learning Centers
Countries where the project will be implemented: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
Group members: Pauline Kariuki, Rosemary Atieno, Doreen Magotsi
This award will support the team to establish Grassroots Women Resilience and Livelihoods Centers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The centers will be a one stop farm set up by grassroots women where they will disseminate climate- and nature-based solutions on community adaptation and resilience practices such as soil and water conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management and pest control. The centers will be a platform for food security where women will use the same technologies to grow and sell vegetable, fruits, establish tree nurseries and fodder. The grassroots women will produce chemical-free, liquid fertilizers to use and sell to the community. The centers will include youth as decision makers. The award will help realize the establishment of the learning centers and catalyze new partnerships and collaborations, serving as a foundation for future partnerships.
“In the spirit of local solutions inspiring global action, our team applied for the catalytic fund to establish Grassroots Women-led Resilient Livelihood Practices and Climate Information Learning Centers to facilitate grassroots women farmers and communities’ access to climate information for informed agricultural decision making. Our team members has been attending CBA for some time and finally were able to connect through CBA 15 for this partnership.” -Pauline Kariuki
What happens next?
The teams will implement their ideas over the coming 9-12 months and convene at the Gobeshona Global Conference in 2022 and then report back at CBA16. We will host virtual networking opportunities with these winners and the winners of the previous round from the Gobeshona Global Conference in 2021. We will host a virtual event at the Resilience Hub at COP26. The event will foucs on how seed funding can help local initiatives and promote locally-led adaptation. The teams also have access to the best resilience knowledge, tools and approaches through the Resilience Knowledge Coalition.