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How can we effectively build capacity to adapt to climate change? Insights from Malawi
How can we effectively build capacity to adapt to climate change? Insights from Malawi
by Diana Chanika Mataya
Keep ReadingIndigenous Knowledge Systems and the Teaching of Climate Change in Zimbabwean Secondary Schools
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Teaching of Climate Change in Zimbabwean Secondary Schools
by Vincent Itai Tanyanyiwa
Keep ReadingHow can we effectively build capacity to adapt to climate change? Insights from Malawi
by Diana Chanika Mataya
Despite significant investments in capacity building across sub-Saharan Africa, to date no rigorous assessment has been undertaken to interrogate the extent these efforts have effectively translated into planning and implementing climate change responses. Through qualitative data obtained from interviews with 12 Malawian government and non-government training participants and their 12 supervisors, and 12 providers of various adaptation-related training and education programmes attended, this study investigates the design, content and methodologies effective in building capacity for climate change adaptation. Findings indicate that long-term education and short-term training have complementary roles in influencing design and implementation of successful adaptation practices. Short-term training workshops are most useful when customized to particular needs of participants, are participatory in design and implementation and tailored using context-specific examples. Action planning, on-the-job training and continued mentorship after training are also effective, but are rarely used. Challenges that impede effective capacity building relate not only to training design and structure, but also the inadequacy of training needs assessments and the organizational structure in which trainees attempt to put their skills and knowledge into practice. More rigorous coordination and monitoring of training efforts-and appropriate institutional support for action following training sessions are essential to enhance adaptation planning across sub-Saharan Africa. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Teaching of Climate Change in Zimbabwean Secondary Schools
by Vincent Itai Tanyanyiwa
Indigenous African education grew out of the immediate environment, real or imaginary, where people had knowledge of the environment. Indigenous education inculcated a religious attitude that imbued courtesy, generosity, and honesty. At colonization, Africans were thought of as primitive although they had their own systems, contents, and methods of education. Colonialism signified the decline in the importance of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). By shifting focus in the core curriculum from teaching/learning based on Western science to teaching/learning through IKS as a foundation for all education, it is anticipated that all forms of knowledge, ways of knowing, and world views be acknowledged as equally valid, adaptable, and complementary to one another in equally valuable ways. The uniqueness of indigenous people and their knowledge is inextricably connected to their lands, which are situated primarily at the social-ecological margins of human habitation such as tropical forests and desert margins. It is at these margins that the consequences of climate change manifest themselves in the following sectors: agriculture, pastoralism, fishing, hunting and gathering, and other subsistence activities, including access to water. Government policies in Zimbabwe often limit options and thus undermine indigenous peoples’ efforts to adapt. IKS is very important for community-based adaptation and mitigation actions in the agricultural sector for maintenance of resilience of social-ecological systems at a local level. This article, through interviews, document analysis, and personal observations, proposes that it is best for Zimbabwe to develop her own climate change curricula and modes of delivery that incorporates IKS. © The Author(s) 2019.
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