Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) is funding a 3-year pilot project to study the impacts of climate change on pastoralists in Isiolo County, northern Kenya. The study will be run by The Ministry for Development of Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands along with the Arid Lands Resurce Management Project and is tasked with studying the current impacts and proposing changes that will help manage these impacts going forward. <source: Ali Abdi, The Standard, Jan 26, 2011 >

hmmmm, sounds like Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) could be in order. IIRR's next CMDRR courses are going to be held May 9-20 (Philippines), June 6-17 (Ethiopia), and October 24-November 4 (Uganda)

AWARD Fellowships announces the 2011 Call For Applications (March 25th deadline)

The AWARD fellowship is a two-year program open to women agricultural scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. There is no age restriction but you must have completed a bachelor's degree at minimum in one of the approved agricultural majors (see AWARD's website for details).

AWARD is a professional development program that strengthens the research and leadership skills of African women in agricultural science, empowering them to contribute more effectively to poverty alleviation and food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

AWARD is unique because it:

• selects women scientists already working closely with the rural poor on tackling poverty and hunger;
• focuses on career development, adding value to existing academic training programs;
• nourishes the talent pipeline for agricultural R&D through carefully tailored fellowship packages for women with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees; and
• engages with African leaders of agricultural R&D, both men and women, to raise awareness and build networks.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization along with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the International Labour Organisation collaborated on a report titled "Gender Dimensions of Agricultural and Rural Employment: Differentiated Pathways Out of Poverty" released today. The report concludes that with 70% of the world's extremely poor living in rural areas, raising rural women's economic participation is crucial to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For the full report, click here.    

The report highlights the barriers to economic participation that women face particularly in rural areas. Women are disproportionately employed in low-quality jobs, have fewer hours of paid work but larger work burdens, and are paid less. As financial and food crises have hit worldwide, the progress being made in women's equality and employment opportunity has slowed. The report calls on governments to ensure equal access to education, business training, credit, and markets noting that 90% of the wage gap between men and women can be attributed to gender discrimination. The report has a very interesting comment about the "feminization of agriculture" (pages 29-30) as well as the potential impacts of climate change on women farmers (page 30).

IIRR works to make education, technical assistance, value chain access, and employment opportunities attainable for rural women. For more information on our programs in Africa and Asia, please visit our website - www.iirr.org

(Manila, 2011) There is a continued, urgent need for Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines! In just the last month, approximately 56 people have been killed in intense flooding and landslides in the Philippines and another 19 are missing. The increase in weather-related incidents is attributed to an unusually large amount of rainfall and storm frequency for the season. The country's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reports that 1.6 million citizens have been affected and nearly 500,000 people required relief assistance in the last month. The council is bracing for additional battering because the typhoon season of 2011 is expected to be aggravated by La Nina effects.  <news article source: The State, January 18, 2011>

IIRR is doing its part to prepare communities for natural disasters and organize their own disaster relief and management plans through our Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction work (both in the Philippines and in Africa). In 2010, we held 16 separate community managed disaster risk reduction trainings and awareness events in the Philippines alone. Our next training courses for development organizations and community leaders will be held May 9-20 in the Philippines and June 6-17 in Ethiopia.

For more information on IIRR's Disaster Risk Reduction work, follow the links below:

Health as a Foundation of Safety in Disaster Risk Reduction

Roundtable Discussion on Disaster Risk Reduction (IIRR)

IIRR to sit on Technical Working Group for Climate Change Adaptation

IIRR Discusses Community Climate Resilience at 2010 Climate Investment Funds Partnership Forum

Building Capacity of Cordaid's India Partners

Study Program on Sustainable Resources Management Springboards Partnership with NABARD

Local Group Organizes Training on CMDRR 

Local Group becomes first ever Philippine Certifed Emergency Response Team

IIRR joins training of trainers on Sphere Disaster Response 

CMDRR Training of Trainers in Cagayan de Oro

UPDATED POST - January 5, 2011

Evans Wadongo, one of our favorite partners, has received the CNN Heroes Award for his work producing solar lights for the rural poor in Kenya. IIRR is grateful to Evans because of his tireless and passionate work constructing the low-cost solar lights that IIRR purchases for schoolchildren as part of its Pastoralist Education Program in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda.

You can see the inspirational story about Evans Wadongo on CNN here - "Saving Lives with Solar Lights" February 12, 2010

UPDATE -

you can click here to see the most recent video about IIRR's Pastoralist Education Program which also highlights the use of the solar lamps from Evans Wadongo.  (new video produced by Two Parrot Productions)

we have also received additional footage from the CNN shoot that shows IIRR staff discussing the needs of schoolchildren in the Pastoralist areas.  you can see the video here but will most likely need to download the VLC Player to be able to view it.