1. with communities in a changing climate
Addressing risks
with communities in a changing climate
Note: Climate Centre was established in 2002 and became and independent foundation in We are a reference centre for the whole Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.
This module is part of the Climate Centre’s Climate Training Kit, and is focused on how to make our community risk assessment work climate smart.
The aim of this presentation is to provide inspiration and the space for practitioners to consider climate change in their work with communities. This presentation assumes that the practitioner understands and utilizes the International Federation’s Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) toolbox ( or the Community Based Health and First Aid tool ( ).

2. Session summary
1. Why incorporate climate change into community assessments
2. What steps can be taken to make risk assessments climate-smart?
before
during
after.
3. Some points to consider
Photo: Danish Red Cross
This session provides an overview of why we might need to consider climate change in the community-based tools we use in Red Cross Red Crescent. It also outlines aspects that can be considered before, during and after a community-based process, as well as points to keep in mind.

3. Keep in mind…
This guidance is based on an understanding of the IFRC’s toolboxes for Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA) and Community-Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA).
The aim is to build climate variability and change into the existing tool boxes – not create new ones.
We assume you’ve already looked at CTK:
1a Science and impacts
2b Using forecast information
These are the main community assessment tools in the Movement – in CBHFA it is “module 3” in the manual.

4. Local experts
In many parts of the world, communities are already noticing changes to climate and weather patterns or “funny” weather
Communities in many parts of the world are already noticing changes to climate and weather patterns or “funny weather” relating to temperature and rainfall – particularly people who depend on climate-sensitive sources of income, such as agriculture. In many cases, climate change is challenging traditional knowledge.
Talking to communities about these changes gives them a chance to come up with strategies to deal with them, and incorporate ideas into plans for risk reduction developed with communities through the VCA/CBHFA process.

5. Local experts “More and more floods.”
“Rains no longer normal – difficult to know when to plant.”
“Our paddy fields get eaten away by sand dunes and the sea.”
Often community elders have noticed changes over many years. There stories can often provide more information on local changes than any Meteorological Office can give for any specific location.

6. Photo: Danish Red Cross
Remember
Communities face many challenges, and climate change needs to be considered alongside .
It is not possible to determine if any one weather-related disaster is caused by climate change – all risks need to be considered.
There are many risks that any given community may face and these risks may be different from one community to a next. They could be related to health related, land tenure, agriculture or livelihoods. In some cases, the concerns may be related to climate but not always; this is important to keep in mind.
This session aims to provide you with some further ideas for using the tools that you already do to consider how climate change may interact with a community. And where it is an issue that needs acting upon.

7. Plan the VCA/CBHFA
Seeking background information in advance can help determine:
Where to do the VCA/CBHFA
Who to do the VCA/CBHFA with (draw more on elderly people’s experience)
What questions to ask to include climate concerns in analysis and planning
Please refer to the exercise in this module: Brainstorming climate information sources.
First you need to check what is already known about possible changes:
• Check if your National Society has worked on a climate change background document as part of the Climate Centre’s Preparedness for Climate Change’ programme. This may contain useful information.
• Otherwise, find out if someone in your National Society is in contact with the national meteorological office and/or environment department. If not, you could establish contact with them. These offices will be able to provide the best available information on possible changing weather trends in different parts of your country. This might take the form of national communications’ on climate change, or studies on the likely affects of climate change over the coming decades.
Information collected at this stage may provide good guidance on what questions to ask communities. If, for example, changes in rainfall patterns are evident, then having a discussion with communities on how this might impact their lives now and into the future could assist in developing longer-term strategies to deal with it.
Knowing what is changing and likely to get worse may even be a way of prioritizing where to undertake a VCA/CBHFA. You may even be able to get someone with knowledge of climate change to give you and other facilitators a briefing. You will find a general Red Cross Red Crescent climate change presentation at:
At this point in the presentation you can undertake the exercise Brainstorming climate information sources – it’s important that facilitators know how they can tap into expertise that can help them.

8. Considering climate change in VCA/CBHFA tools
Seasonal calendar
Observation
Community mapping:
Spatial map
Hazard/risk/vulnerability map
Capacity and resource map
Transect map
Historical calendar
Institutional and social network analysis
Livelihood analysis
Interviews – key informants
Photo: Danish Red Cross
You can usually address locally experienced changes in weather without necessarily introducing the concept of climate change, which can cause some confusion.
This is a list of common tools and methods used in the VCA/CBHFA process. Note:
You could get participants to list this for you rather than presenting it.
Or you could get them to reflect on this list and indicate which ones are used more frequently or whether there are some missing.
Now you can do the exercise VCA/CBHFA tools and climate change.
Please refer to the exercise in this module: Considering climate change in VCA tools

9. Solomon Islands (Pileni Island)
Month
Weather
Health
Food
Jan
Changes in wind patterns, more storm surges
No breadfruit season compared to past
Feb
Mar
April
Expect rainy, but now windy
May
Jun
Usually get cold and flu in wet season, now in dry season
Jul
Sun very hot now
Aug
Sept
Should be low tide from April–September, but now high tide more often
Main harvest time, but now harvest is small
Oct
Nov
High tide (November-January)
Dec
This is an example form Pileni Island: the Solomon Islands Red Cross considers climate change in a seasonal calendar.

10. Pacific National Societies
Another example from
Pacific National Societies
This is another example of how the seasonal calendar can be used in different ways to reveal changes that might be occurring in communities. (Remember changes may be positive or negative.)

11. What can a facilitator decide to do?
Option A (easier): Don’t mention climate change in your contact with communities. Provide climate information only as a background for the facilitators conducting the VCA/CBHFA.
Option B (medium difficulty): Faciliate discussion with the community about changes in climate by asking questions about weather patterns.
Option C (more difficult): Introducing climate change. Help communities understand and prepare for the future by bringing in information about climate change (see Module 3b on How!).
There are a number of levels of options for considering climate change in a VCA/CBHFA. Some of them are listed here:
• Option A (easy): Only provide climate information as a background for VCA/CBHFA facilitators (so that they are aware of it and can be sensitive to it in their work), but do not start with explaining the concept in the community as it may be too complicated to explain all aspects of climate change.
• Option B (medium difficulty): Facilitating discussion about changes, by asking the right questions (information gathered during the community-based process can find issues relating to climate change).
• Option C (harder): Helping communities prepare for the future by bringing in information about climate change. There may not need to bring in abstract concepts of climate change such as greenhouse gases – it can be related to community experience – see the module on communications for ideas. This might be especially important in urban environments where people are not as connected to changes that might be occurring. Likewise it can be useful in schools.
(See the Climate Guide for further details on these three options.)

12. Discuss changes with the community
In the facilitation, use information provided from elders and others to reflect the community’s experience:
How did they deal with past events?
What if the events became more intense and frequent?
What can the community do to prepare?
To communicate climate change with communities, practitioners can facilitate the VCA/CBHFA process and incorporate concerns for increased weather variability in the programmes – without actually using the term climate change. But as they gain more confidence, they may introduce the concept of climate change. Be creative: they could brainstorm ideas for this at this stage, by getting youth volunteers to put on a drama, for example. Through careful training, facilitators must feel confident in explaining the concept of climate change and relating it to the community’s context. It’s important not to over-emphasise climate change; remember that there are many risks that a community faces. It is better to incorporate climate change messages alongside others that are being taken to communities. In areas where water availability is an issue, for example, information on the drying trends can illustrate why improving water conservation is important. Practitioners can consider contacting environmental NGOs or departments who may have experience on discussing climate change with communities.
Talking about climate change with communities can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to involve explaining complicated concepts. The best approach is to begin discussions about climate change based on participants’ experience – how local weather impacts upon their day to day lives and affects their livelihoods. These can be drawn out during the VCA/CBHFA process. If you find that people notice changes are taking place and would like to know why, then you could present more information about the causes of climate change.
The answers can help in adjusting the community risk-reduction plan to become more climate-smart.

13. Climate information flow
Community information
e.g. group discussion, seasonal calendar, historical profile
Outside information
e.g. Meteorological Office,
climate change focal point
Decision making
Community risk reduction plan
Community information about climate-related trends can be useful for programmatic decision-making as well as community-based projects. Information on community anecdotes and concerns about changes (such as increased frequency of droughts) can be fed into local and national policy dialogue with government so that national plans for climate change adaptation are locally appropriate. There have been examples of National Societies sharing information from their VCA/CBHFA in the creation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action.
Both information from the community and scientific data are valuable to put together a picture of changes that have occurred, and think about how risks might change in the future. It is important to remember that we may not experience climate change as a linear path towards the long term climate projections – greater climate variability and extremes are more immediately felt in most cases.
Explanations for any large discrepancies between community experience and scientific data should be sought to enhance understanding.
Sharing information further – advocacy
e.g. local government, early warning policy-makers

14. Analyse information from the community
Cross-check the data from the community with other sources whether community observations and scientific observations match up [such as: does community reports of changing flood events match with the statistics from meteorological department?]
If not: seek an explanation. Maybe the data isn’t good in the area. Maybe environmental degradation or changing land use are playing a role in the changes observed?
This can inform the planning and how the community can seek to address rising risks.
If yes: is it a priority for the community to address rising risks that have been observed? And can it realistically be considered in the overall ‘community risk reduction plan’?
By this stage in the process, practitioners will have used the VCA and/or CBHFA tools and now you are gathering all of the data and looking at the big picture of what is happening to the community.
Gather information from interviews, historical profiles, mapping, seasonal calendars and make an overall judgement: is the climate changing in this community? Is it affecting them? In what ways are they going to be vulnerable to climate change? Think about these changes when making a summary of risks that the community faces.
Practitioners could take a look at the secondary information gathered on climate change before the VCA/CBHFA. Does this information match up with what the community-based information is telling you? If they do match up, they could show communities what is happening to other parts of the country so that they are aware that what is happening to them is also happening to others. If they don’t match up, perhaps the changes are occurring because of factors other than climate change, this is worth investigating and acting upon also. The community might also not yet be aware of subtle changes taking place.
Finally, could the risk be addressed in the subsequent community risk reduction plan.
(A guidance note for this process is available in Recommended reading for this module and on the Climate Centre website:

15. A matrix to help the analysis
Changes observed by the community
Are the changes good or bad? Why?
Possible reasons for changes
Evidence based on scientific information
Other factors that may explain changes observed by communities
Example 1.
Sea eroding the coastline
Bad: affects infrastructure close to sea, inundates food gardens
Sea level rising 8mm per year in Solomon Islands
Some sand mining along coastline
Example 2.
Getting hotter in the summer
Bad: old people can’t cope when its very hot
Good: can grow more crops in summer
Temperature rising
Example 3. Flooding more often
Bad: River rises more quickly and more often these days
Meteorological office reports that no change in extreme rainfall events
Logging present upstream, probably affecting flow
An example from the Solomon Islands. 15

16. Developing community action plans
Photo: Danish Red Cross
Developing community action plans
How might information collected before and during the VCA/ CBHFA be best considered in community risk-reduction plans?
What could the community itself address, and what would required external support and collaboration?
Do we invite government and civil society involvement if appropriate?
Once you have the big picture, it could also be used when the community start to develop solutions to the problems faced. How do they currently cope with the problems? If these problems worsen over time, how is this likely to affect the community? What could be done to stop the problem getting worse? The aim is for communities to understand that the risks are changing and that they can take action to reduce the risks they face.
The community risk-reduction plan (or equivalent) are the most important outcomes of the community-based process, and proper facilitation should ensure that the plans build not only upon past experiences and historical evidence of disasters, but also consider emerging or changing risks.

17. What next? Follow up with community
Just like with any VCA/ CBHFA, follow-up in the community is essential.
It is important to monitor progress so that lessons can be learned from approaches you tried.
Just like with any VCA/CBHFA, follow-up in the community is essential. It is important to monitor progress so that lessons can be learned from approaches you tried.

18. What next? Sharing information for advocacy
Information about changes a community is observing, and the action plans they have come up with to deal with changing risks can be used outside the Red Cross Red Crescent:
In recommendations for local governments to support practical climate change adaptation projects, on a local and a national scale
Advocate for support and collaboration to tackle concerns too large for local communities and the Red Cross Red Crescent to address
For fund-raising from adaptation funding lines, national and international
Photo: Danish Red Cross
Information gathered in the VCA/CBHFA on changes that communities are noticing and strategies they come up with in community risk reduction plans can be very useful tools for making recommendations in advocacy to government agencies.
As the climate changes, the Red Cross Red Crescent will need to exchange methods for dealing with it at the community level both within and outside the Movement.
See module 3a
Policy dialogue

19. What about other natural variations in climate
such as La Niña and El Niño?
Some parts of the world are heavily affected by year to year variability in rainfall due to factors such as El Niño and La Niña. You might gather information about this before the VCA.
Communities may receive some early warning on these, or perhaps they don’t.
A VCA/CBHFA may provide an opportunity to discuss preparedness for these events.
Source: NASA
Some parts of the world are regularly impacted by year to year variability in rainfall due to factors such as El Niño and La Niña (for example South east Asia, Africa, Americas & Pacific).
If you are interested in linking seasonal forecasts to the community level we suggest you get in touch with the Climate Centre so we can work with you and the IFRC to assist you in this. The process is likely to need to involve working with the Meteorological Office and whoever is responsible for early warning creation and dissemination in your country.
Regular La Niña and El Niño updates are available at the Climate Centre website and is also disseminated directly to disaster managers by from the IFRC secretariat in Geneva.
You can contact the Climate Centre if you would like assistance in trialling this.
And see Module 2b Using forecast information (early warning)

20. Final points Start where you feel comfortable!
Photo: Danish Red Cross
Final points
Start where you feel comfortable!
Capacity building of field staff is a critical element.
Take a look at the Practitioners Guidance.
Please pick and choose which parts from this presentation are relevant to you and adapt them to use in your local context, including the use of locally appropriate terms and calendars.
Taking on board all of the ideas and suggestions provided might be too much to start with so encourage participants to start where they feel comfortable. First, they might want to improve their own understanding of climate change as a facilitator, they might want to ask questions of communities to gather information that can be used to make decisions about dealing with changes that are taking place, and as they grow more confident they might start to bring knowledge of climate change to communities.
Remember: trying to incorporate climate change concerns into the community-based work is new to everyone, not just the Red Cross Red Crescent. Practitioners are at the forefront of this new field of work, which makes it extra important that they are encouraged to document the work and share what works and what doesn’t as widely as possible. They may even find forums for practitioners in their country that are sharing their approaches to this. There are also a growing number of international forums for sharing these experiences. The practitioner’s guidance note is available at: