Building Capacity & Empowering Communities in Bangladesh, towards Sustainable Agriculture, Aquaculture Development and Climate Change Adaptation Interventions
Description
The project adopted a holistic approach to poverty reduction while promoting a paradigm shift in food production and disaster management, from a conventional relief and response practice to a regenerative risk reduction culture. Capacity building includes Design for Sustainable Settlements Bangladesh (DSSB), Permaculture Design Education (PDC), Training of Trainers for Climate Change Awareness (CCA).Curricula and learning outcomes were developed to effectively respond to the environment prone to adverse climate change in association with national and regional experts, permaculture practitioners and local growers. 405 community members and key stakeholders from Gaia Education, CIFAL Scotland, Stamford University Bangladesh Environmental Science Dept, and local government officers fed into the PDC and DSSB curricula design process. For this purpose, 24 community feedback sessions were conducted in Khulna and Bagerhat with community members.The project followed a strict equal opportunities policy and gender balance criteria. Marginalised members of the community such as sex workers, and women from Dalit communities had the opportunity to participate and lead community projects, becoming proficient with organic vegetable gardening in their limited land and home compounds.
So far 141 community members from 42 communities have taken part in a series of capacity building activities, acquiring practical skills needed for establishing combined food and water production systems including horticulture, vermiculture, organic gardens and canal fisheries in an environment prone to adverse climate change. 114 women including those most marginalised among the communities and 27 men acquired practical skills in composting, vermi-composting and vermiculture, mulching, herbal pesticides, raised bed cultivation, with significant improvement in the productivity of the salinated soil. Furthermore, the project strengthened the community participation in natural resource management with a total of 27 community-led small income generation projects. 9 organic gardens, 6 vermiculture and 6 horticulture sites and 6 Canal fisheries have demonstrated the practical application of the lessons learnt in the heart of their communities.Over 3 years 75 climate change adapted houses have been built across the 42 communities. The houses benefit from a reinforced infrastructure that makes them more resilient to flooding, high winds and surges. The houses are raised of the ground by 5 feet and the roof is tied down with strong pillars. Inside the house clay pitchers are installed to preserve rain water and also to act as storage containers to protect valuables and food from water damage. 25 more houses are expected to be adapted by the end of the project.The ripple effect of the project is clearly demonstrated as the 141 change agents return to their communities and share lessons learnt with fellow community members. Inspired by the trained change agents, 1133 directly and 970 indirectly women and men of different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds engaged in similar food growing, small income generation projects and climate change adapted houses achieving a remarkable success in terms of increased food production and household income.
Gaia Education, BASD and CIFAL Scotland make up the consortium of organisations leading the implementation of the project. An in-depth understanding of local context and identification of constraints and opportunities provided by BASD have informed the design of the project. CIFAL is responsible for the overall project management in UK and for the liaison with the Scottish Government. Gaia Education provides the technical support and leads on the capacity building activities based on its long experience of working with communities on sustainable development projects in 43 countries. CIFAL Scotland and Gaia Education have put together a collaborative UK based team working closely with Bangladeshi BASD team. Gaia Education provides mentor support for the BASD team so that education and training programmes have a lasting impact on communities. Gaia Education Chief trainer in West Bengali works closely with BASD team of trainers. BASD is responsible for the implementations processes that support learning of community leaders, in particular women, in both technical and contextual skills. BASD makes sure that at least 50% of project participants are women. BASD disseminates lessons learned in Bangladesh networks. The M&E of this project, with both quantitative and qualitative indicators, is the responsibility of both the UK and Bangladeshi teams.
SDGS & Targets
Goal 15
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
15.1
By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements
15.1.1
15.1.2
15.2
By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
15.2.1
15.3
By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world
15.3.1
15.4
By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development
15.4.1
15.4.2
15.5
Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species
15.5.1
15.6
Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, as internationally agreed
15.6.1
15.7
Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products
15.7.1
15.8
By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems and control or eradicate the priority species
15.8.1
15.9
By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts
15.9.1
(a) Number of countries that have established national targets in accordance with or similar to Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 in their national biodiversity strategy and action plans and the progress reported towards these targets; and (b) integration of biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems, defined as implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
15.a
Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems
15.a.1
(a) Official development assistance on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; and (b) revenue generated and finance mobilized from biodiversity-relevant economic instruments
15.b
Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management and provide adequate incentives to developing countries to advance such management, including for conservation and reforestation
15.b.1
(a) Official development assistance on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; and (b) revenue generated and finance mobilized from biodiversity-relevant economic instruments
15.c
Enhance global support for efforts to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species, including by increasing the capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities
15.c.1
Goal 2
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
2.1
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
2.1.1
Prevalence of undernourishment
2.1.2
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
2.2
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
2.2.1
Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
2.2.2
Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
2.2.3
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)
2.3
2.3.1
Volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size
2.3.2
Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status
2.4
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
2.4.1
Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
2.5
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed
2.5.1
Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities
2.5.2
Proportion of local breeds classified as being at risk of extinction
2.a
2.a.1
The agriculture orientation index for government expenditures
2.a.2
Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector
2.b
Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round
2.b.1
Agricultural export subsidies
2.c
Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility
2.c.1
Indicator of food price anomalies
Goal 13
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
13.1
Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
13.1.1
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
13.1.2
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
13.1.3
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
13.2
Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
13.2.1
Number of countries with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
13.2.2
Total greenhouse gas emissions per year
13.3
Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
13.3.1
Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment
13.a
Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
13.a.1
Amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through to 2025
13.b
Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities
13.b.1
Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
SDG 14 targets covered
| Name | Description |
|---|
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
| Title | Progress Status | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| Partnership Progress 2019-05-08 | Completed |
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May East, Chief Executive