Projects

Project description

Since 2011, CCAFS has been working in the West African region to develop Climate-Smart Village (CSV) models with various local partners. Development is being guided by participatory action research in a number of pilot sites.

Given the breadth and depth of CCAFS' engagement in the region, there is a need to ensure that all projects are implemented in an integrated manner, so that the simultaneous triple wins of productivity, adaptation and mitigation are maximized.

As such, this project revolves around in-depth and integrated action research, which includes specific activities addressing gender related issues. as well as the evaluation of the 'climate-smartness' of promising context-specific technologies and practices.

At the local level, research outputs will guide the prioritization of investments as well as local adaptation planning. At the national level, following a successful piloting in Ghana, regional socio-economic scenarios is  downscaling to come up with products to guide policy decision making as well as national level investment planning.

The project has three main activities:

Integration of CCAFS research within Climate-Smart Villages: This activity aims to coordinate integration of research related to both climate-smart agriculture and gender equity at CSV sites. This research includes projects for the development of climate-smart technologies and practices, the design and communication of climate information to guide climate risk management by farmers and the strengthening of national science-policy dialogue platforms to foster and enact informed policy decision making for the agriculture and food security sectors in West African countries. It is crucial that the grass root level evidence on successful CSA options covers the simultaneous triple wins of CSA (mitigation, adaptation and productivity) while being brought to scale at district and national levels. We are also simulating how the current CSVs models translate into upper levels (from village to district to national) in a bid to guide climate change adaptation planning.

Profiling of emerging CSA options: This activity aims to provide evidence of the climate smartness of promising technologies, including the farmer-managed natural tree regeneration (FMNR) practice in Niger. Such evaluations are  assessing co-benefits in term of productivity/food security enhancement and soil carbon sequestration potential.

Prioritization of investments for increased adoption of CSA in countries: This activity focuses on the application of the CSA prioritization tool/scenario process in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso.

The monitoring and documentation of the development of 5 participatory CSV models and the resulting learning agenda is used to inform the design of major regional and country programs and projects on climate-smart agriculture in West Africa.

Further information

For further information, please contact Project leaders, Mathieu Ouédraogo (CCAFS-ICRISAT) at m.ouedraogo@cgiar.org and Robert Zougmoré (CCAFS-ICRISAT) at r.zougmore@cgiar.org.