Implementing a Capacity Development Initiative to Build Resilience to Better Adapt to Climate Change: A Case Study in Ethiopia, Africa

The compounding impact of climate change on agriculture and food production could visibly be felt in many places across Africa. The inevitable impact includes but not limited to the extreme climate events translating into massive rainfalls, devastating floods, cold snaps, heat waves, widespread wildfires, and extended droughts. Although, the occasional off-season outburst of weather anomalies is not a new phenomenon, but the recent trend of extreme weather goes far beyond the range of variances that have been commonly experienced over the course of the last several decades. Given the immense magnitude of these extreme events, there is currently no technology or applicable measures that could exclusively prevent or control these massive occurrences except for coexisting, mitigating, and building resilience to adapt.

Turral et al., (2011) have elaborated on the significance of climate variability as pointed out in the report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001a and 2001b). The IPCC regularly reports the findings of its three working groups (Fig 1). The working groups investigate the physical science underlying climate change; adaptation to the impacts of climate change; and the possibilities for mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming. According to Fig. 1, as a result of a shift in the probability of occurrence of new climate behavior (vertical axes), there is now a wider range of colder weather (blue color area on the left side of the graph) as well as a broader domain of hot weather occurrence (red color area on the right side of the curve) in many areas across the globe. The imminent significance of this variation for the world economy is less agricultural production and lower food security in the future. Cline (2007) has predicted a drop in agricultural productivity up to-5% in some places in Africa and up to-15% in Ethiopia before the year 2080 as a result of global climate change if no action is taken (Fig 2). FIGURE 2. Projection of change FIGURE 1: Increase in climate variance in the agricultural productivity as an effect of climate change in Africa in 2080 Awareness and resilience on the issue of linkage between climate change and community development are well-presented and discussed by Partey et al., (2018) and Tubiello (2012). Tubiello maintains that among other factors, dealing with climate change profoundly relies on the capacity of the community of subsistence and smallholder farmers with a view to collect indigenous knowledge and enhance resilience through activities such as those aimed at improving rural livelihoods through income diversification. Turral, et al., (2011), believe that there is a need for several high impact pilot projects to improve institutional capacity for climate change adaptation. These would have to be well-resourced and long-term rather than being an imposed and short-term agenda. Accordingly, a great deal of attention should be driven to the capacity development of institutions and individuals who understand the significance of circumstance and implement the adaptation policies well in advance. Given the lack of adequate financial resources inmost African countries; more innovative funding mechanisms should be developed to train and to sustain the community involvement.

The Government of Ethiopia in east Africa has given prime attention to smallholder irrigation development in the country’sdevelopment agenda as a means of modernizing Ethiopia’sagricultural economy and achieving food security. They have indicated that irrigation development and expansion are a major element of their Growth and Transformation Program (GTP). In October 2011, the Government of Ethiopia released the Small-Scale Irrigation Situation Analysis and Capacity Needs Assessment, which was followed shortly thereafter by the Small-Scale Irrigation Capacity Building Strategy. The intuitive action of the government of Ethiopia for generating a conducive ambience to achieve food security, on the other hand, has hastily mobilized water sector to construct numerous irrigation schemes overlooking the need for capacity development of the sector. It is believed that overstressing on physical development has propelled the regional states to pay less attention to the development of adequate technical and managerial skills to be able to develop a resilient agriculture to sustainably cope with the threats imposed by the climate change. Due to lack of adequate skills the mitigating, adapting, and recovering from climate change events has remained under-developed (Anon., 2012).

As one of the fast-growing economies in Eastern Africa, Ethiopia could be regarded as a credible recipient of capacity development programs and a role model for building a resilient agriculture to better adapt to climate change. Several policies, laws, and strategies relevant to climate change in Ethiopia include the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (2011), National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), Ethiopian Program of Adaptation to Climate Change (EPACC) of 2011, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) of 2010, Rural Development Policy and Strategies (2003), Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), CAADP Compact and the National Environmental Policy of Ethiopia (1997). Ethiopia is also a signatory to several multilateral agreements that have a bearing on the sustainable development efforts of the country. Ethiopia has signed and/or ratified many of the international conventions and protocols related to climate change and land degradation including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1994), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) (Jirata et al., 2016). Apart from international treaties, there are also several ongoing capacity development initiatives in Ethiopia (AGP, IFAD, GIZ/SLM, FAO, HELVETAS, World Vision Ethiopia, etc.); and one of these well-administered capacity development programs is Small-scale and Micro Irrigation Support (SMIS) Project that has been funded and launched by close collaboration between two foreign donors and the Government of Ethiopia (Anon., 2015a). The SMIS Project is a capacity building initiative for the purpose of the expanding capacity of local government experts, NGOs, agricultural colleges, and farmers who will use the newly-provided technologies to increase yields and quality of their agricultural products as well as to strengthen their resilience to better adapt to climate change. Building resilience for adaptation to climate change, as demonstrated in Fig 3, is profoundly linked to developing and implementing the right policies, financial input, and finally developing the capacity of institutions and individuals that is the main goal of the SMIS Project. NCeaepS dasct Aietsys pBeus is 1lmdi enngt InsotS fittuh tteieo Rnp easl iuz6altt si o n 6 C S a t p e a p c s i t o y f Coonn sS Ceant pse aucspi tBy u2 Gilad pinsg MRa SenMsao tugnle etimstop Berina nts5 g ea dn d De S C v aImpt S e apP r ctlr lieo a etmyo g p reB tan p um t e i 4il nd m gig n g y e nt C apFS aoAcrtmic ettyuio plBanut siin3 ldgi ng FIGURE 3: Building resilience to adapt to climate change The SMIS Project is funded by both the governments of the Netherlands and Canada, aiming to support the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. With a five-year term (2014-2019), the SMIS Project includes three key components: (i) small-scale irrigation capacity development; (ii) capacity development of agricultural colleges; and, (iii) promotion of household micro-irrigation. Implementation of the project was awarded to a Canadian consulting firm (Agriteam Canada Consulting Ltd., currently known as Alinea International) through an international bid to be executed at national level as well as at four states including Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s, and Tigray (Anon. 2015a). This paper will discuss and present the project outline and its partial achievements until the project midterm.