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Weighing crops in Oyam, Uganda

Projects

Evidence for Development are involved in a wide range of research, development and training projects: some of our current projects are listed below.

Please get in touch to discuss any of these in more detail.

 

ASPIRE – Adaptive Social Protection: Information for Enhanced Resilience

The ASPIRE project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), provided technical assistance to improve the availability, use and relevance of good quality weather and climate information, as well as strengthen regional and institutional coordination in the Sahel. ASPIRE facilitated shared discussion between adaptive social protection and climate stakeholders to assist in designing and delivering appropriate services (on a range of timescales) for social protection.
The project consortium included the Met Office, the Walker Institute at the University of Reading, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The project team aimed to provide technical assistance and climate information system (CIS) expertise to improve the availability, relevance and use of weather and climate information and help strengthen regional and institutional coordination across three west African Sahelian countries: Senegal, Burkina Faso and Niger

EfD, with our partners at the Walker Institute, led on interdisciplinary training for national and regional Met services and agencies involved in ‘social protection programmes’. These programmes aim to mitigate the impact of extreme weather on rural livelihoods and work best if information providers and information users understand each other’s needs, limitations and goals. The project will provide a basis for future inter- disciplinary training provided through regional institutions.

For more information on the project, see this paper:

  • Integrating seasonal climate forecasts into adaptive social protection in the Sahel, Climate and Development, Daron J., Allen M., Bailey M., Ciampi L., Cornforth R., Costella C., Fournier N., Graham R., Hall K., Kane C., Lele I., Petty C., Pinder N., Pirret J., Stacey J. & Ticehurst H. (2020) DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2020.1825920

The Walker Institute research project webpage on ASPIRE can be found here

 

HyCRISTAL – Integrating Hydro-Climate Science into Policy Decisions for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Livelihoods in East Africa

The HyCRISTAL project aimed to connect policymakers with rural communities to support long-term decision-making. It was one of five projects within the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) programme, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the UK.

HyCRISTAL developed pathways for new climate research to support the resilience of rural communities vulnerable to climate change, with an emphasis on the sectors of agriculture and fishing, and in the context of other drivers of change such as shifts in land-use and population growth.

EfD led on rural livelihood assessments, using household economy approaches (HEA and IHM).  This survey data is being used to provide insight into the potential livelihood impacts of a range of future climate scenarios in the Lake Victoria Basin, developed by other project partners.

The Walker Institute research project webpage on HyCRISTAL can be found here

The following papers provide more information on this project and its findings:

  • Petty, C., Ngoleka S., Cornforth R., Achiro, E.,  Acidri,  J., Ainslie A.,  Owuor, J., Walker, G  (2022) Adaptation Planning: An Integrated Approach to Understanding Vulnerability in the Lake Victoria Basin Front. Clim., 24 January 2022  https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.782534
  •  Cornforth R.J., Petty C., Walker G. (2021) Supporting Climate-Resilient Planning at National and District Levels: A Pathway to Multi-stakeholder Decision-Making in Uganda  In: Conway D., Vincent K. (eds) Climate Risk in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61160-6_8

 

IDAPS – Integrated Database for Policy Makers

The HEA methodology is now being applied by Evidence for Development and the Walker Institute in a joint project to model the impact of climate change on rural livelihoods: to understand who will be affected and in what ways, by a defined climate change scenario, in a specified ‘livelihood zone’.

The IDAPS project is supporting decision making for more effective livelihoods policies in the face of climate change. The platform is designed to help build the resilience of communities across Africa to climate-related risks. IDAPS is integrating data from Climate, Crops, Hydrology and Livelihoods via an innovative cloud-based data platform, which will enable changes in livelihoods, relative to climate shocks, to be tracked over time and across regions. IDAPS brings together data sets from across disciplines and presents this data in ways that are meaningful and understandable to non-specialist stakeholders, enabling them to interact with this data for the first time.

IDAPS is being created for stakeholders in Africa and elsewhere, along with researchers and practitioners around the world. In addition to the creation of a database, the IDAPS project aims to equip its users  with relevant information as they seek to improve the lives of those suffering the effects of climate change.

More details of the IDAPS project here: Cornforth, R. J., Clegg, D., Petty, E. C. (2018) Technical Briefing Note WITBN1218/01, Walker Institute, University of Reading, December 2018

 

NIMFRU – National-scale impact-based forecasting of flood risk in Uganda

EfD is a research and training partner on the NIMFRU project. This multi-partnership project is engaging with researchers, national policy makers, local councils and local farmers to improve the targeting, relevance and communication of flood warning and response in Uganda. By synthesising evidence and expertise from multiple disciplines   comprehensive flood impact assessments will be available, informing both local and national authorities responsible for disaster response, and Forecast – based Financing. The objective is to ensure that flood vulnerable people have timely information on which to make crucial decisions affecting their lives and livelihoods.

This project will contribute to our work supporting Uganda’s national disaster response system, and will demonstrate the way in which HEA data, combined with downscaled seasonal weather information, can provide more accurate data for both disaster prevention and social protection than is currently available.

This work is being funded via a DFID Catalyst grant.

The Walker Institute research project webpage on NIMFRU can be found here

 

DataKind project

DataKind is an international non profit organisation that helps social change organisations use data science. Recognising the importance of EfD’s work Datakind  ambassadors are helping  overcome one of the main obstacles to wider use of household economy methods: how to reduce some of the costs of data collection.

Livelihood Zones are time consuming to create as they currently require on-the-ground mapping which limits their utility. The project goal is to test whether we can use machine learning with geospatial datasets to create Livelihood Zone definitions.