Wati Yelema Labenw: Strengthening community initiatives for resilience to climate extremes

This new set of activities builds on the rich experience and relevant results of the RIC4REC project (Strengthening Community Initiatives for Climate Resilience Resilience), aimed at strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable people in Mali against risks of various climatic disasters, helping them to build adaptation through interventions on social cohesion, livelihoods, natural resource management and governance in the regions of Koulikoro, Segou and Mopti.

With a direct impact on 2,400 vulnerable people, and an influence on 14,400 additional people, Waati Yelema Labenw has 3 primary strategies:

• Make community-managed resilience to climate change a priority with a strong community basis for implementation
• Empower communities to use climate information to make management decisions about their livelihood activities that reduce risk – including the use of climate smart agriculture and natural resource management
• Increase resources and access to resources through creation of micro-enterprises owned by vulnerable persons

Coordination with national policies and programmes will be provided through strong relationships with the Directorate General of Territorial Communities (DGTC) Malian Agency of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Next steps

Project interventions will be developed around a community planning process that includes risk management, and strengthening the adaptive capacity of communities livelihoods; the extension of practices and climate smart agriculture technologies (CSA), including the effective use of agro-climatic information services by rural users; the collective management of productive assets and savings; support for creation of micro-enterprises by women; strengthening integration of local climate change adaptation priorities by the local government; sustainable community management of natural resources; and promotion of energy-efficient household technologies.

The lessons learned will be shared systematically across national platforms on climate change such as the National Committee of Climate Change, and through programmes targeting advice on the incorporation of climate change adaptation.