Improving adaptive capacity of vulnerable and food-insecure populations in Lesotho (IACOV)

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Improving adaptive capacity of vulnerable and food-insecure populations in Lesotho (IACOV)

Introduction

To address the increase of incidences of climate-related shocks such as drought and flooding, the Government of Lesotho (GoL), in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), seeks to strengthen the resilience of poor and vulnerable rural, food insecure communities and
households in the low-lying areas of Lesotho. The targeted area for concrete interventions lies within
the three southern districts of Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek and Quthing, which have poor socioeconomic status and high risk of climate impacts. The vulnerable and drought-prone southern districts of the country would benefit from enhanced predictability of drought and dry spells, and from an early warning and response system that triggers a timely and effective response. The targeted population in the three southern districts is identified as chronically vulnerable and most at risk to the adverse impacts of climate change. This includes the poor and very poor socio-economic groups comprising of smallholder subsistence farmers, the elderly, the disabled as well as female and child-headed households, the unemployed youth and people living with HIV and AIDS.

Project Objectives

The main goal of the project is to enhance the adaptive capacity and build the resilience of vulnerable and food insecure households and communities to the impacts of climate change on food security.
The project will achieve this by pursuing the following three objectives:

Strengthening government capacities to generate climate information and promote its use
to forecast risks of climate shocks, mobilise early action, and co-develop tailored and locally
relevant climate services for communities;
Raising awareness of communities, women, youth, people living with HIV, and other
vulnerable groups on the impacts of climate change, the importance of adaptation, and the
use of climate information for seasonal planning and climate risk management; and
Designing and implementing, through a community-based planning process, local resilience
and adaptation plans focusing on robust asset creation schemes, income diversification and
market linkages, for increased adaptive capacity and household resilience.

Component

Outcomes

Expected Outputs.

Institutional capacity and systems building to support national and

Community adaptation and management of

climate change impacts.

1. Increased knowledge and technical capacity at national and district levels to forecast,

plan, and anticipate responses to climate change impacts.

1.1 Strengthened sub-seasonal to

seasonal precipitation and temperature

forecasting to feed into National Early Warning

System to trigger early action through

government and other safety net programmes.

1.1.2 Capacities strengthened

through development of standard operating

procedures in response to climate change related drought shocks

1.2 Strengthened

access to tailored climate

information by vulnerable

communities to improve

decision making for food

security and livelihoods

1.2.1 Enhanced understanding of local

knowledge and beliefs on climate change and

acceptability of climate services.

1.2.2: Strengthened access to tailored seasonal forecasts that meet the needs of vulnerable communities.

Awareness raising of vulnerable communities on climate change impacts and adaptation.

2.1: Strengthened awareness of climate change impact on food

security amongst vulnerable

communities and youth and

knowledge of adaptation

actions

2.1.1: Coherent and institutionalised multi-level programme on awareness raising on climate change designed and operationalized.

2.1.2: Enhanced capacity of media

houses and reporters to effectively write and

publish climate change stories

2.1.3: Communities understand and use climate information and are aware of climate change threats and impacts on food security.

2.1.4: Raised awareness of scholars through integration of climate change into school curricula and training of teachers on climate change impacts.

Strengthening resilience at community level through community-based concrete adaptation and resilience measures for improved food systems.

3.1: Increased adaptive capacity of communities and households to respond to droughts and water-related hazards.

3.1.1: Community resilience and adaptation plans developed through

community-based participatory approaches.

3.1.2: Community nutrition-sensitive productive assets and other livelihood resources developed to support climate risk reduction and adaptation measures.

3.1.3: Established market linkages for

sustained income generation activities

For more information about IACOV please see project document.