The role of local institutions in climate change adaptation in Paicho-Subcounty, Gulu district
Abstract
The goal of the study was to generate information on the roles of local institutions in supporting local community climate change adaptation. The study employed a cross-sectional research designs, using a random stage cluster sampling strategy where a total of 61 households were randomly selected for the study. Data was collected using the questionnaire method. The finding showed that women were more engaged in implementing adaptation actions than men. The study identified some physical adaptation practices implemented by the communities. The majority of the respondents were implementing mixed farming and adjusting planting and harvesting dates for crops as their major adaptation actions towards climate change. The study identified some of the institutions involved in facilitating adaptation measures in the communities; Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Aid Africa, BRAC, African Women Rising, World Vision, Acaki Peyot Farmer’s group, NFA and government programs; NUSAF, NAADS. Institutional adaptation measures identified include: training of the local community on the climate change, adaptation and mitigation, funding of the climate change related projects and livelihood programs such as provision of seeds and tree seedlings, provision of water harvesting and conservation techniques, early warning system through dissemination of weather forecast information.
The study concluded that the local institutions play critical roles in enhancing local community climate change adaptation. However, NGOs are more practically involved in supporting local community adaptation than government. The most outreach strategy employed by these institutions was organizing meeting with the communities through their potentials leaders.
In order to reduce the risk associated with vulnerability to the increasing impacts of climate change on farmers and rural livelihoods. The study recommended the need to strengthen the capacity of the local institutions through funding to enable institutions provide sustainable livelihood projects such as distribution of cattle, goats, drought resistant crops; provide extensive entrepreneurship training; to increase extension workers; promote climate smart agriculture, and building their capacities in climate change, mitigation and adaptation for them to provide relatively effective institutional adaptation measures that will better increase adaptive capacity of the local communities. The study further recommended need to encourage water harvesting and conservation scheme, improve dissemination of weather and climate information systems to better adapt to climate change impacts.