Resources

This handbook is aimed at practitioners who seek examples of how the V2R framework can be used in practice, based on examples from Nepal. It offers a step process, workbooks and tools.  It includes guidance on how to include long-term trends in programming with a focus on climate change. 

It is essential that organisations working on poverty reduction take into account the impact of climate change on the communities and sectors where they are working. In so doing, they will be better able to support community members and government officials to adapt to the adverse effects and take advantage of any opportunities presented. This requires a detailed analysis of the impacts of climate change at the local level in order to build adaptive capacity to withstand both sudden shocks and incremental changes in the climate. Participatory tools have been updated for use of uncovering community perceptions of changes, alongside identifying historical climate data.

Indigenous people and local communities (ILSs) are struggling to defend their rights over land and other resources they have traditionally used and over traditional knowledge they have developed over generations.  They experience outsiders such as mining organisations being given rights without any reference to them, and receive few benefits from the commercial use of their crops or knowledge.  Two righs-based tools – community protocols (CPs) and free, prior informed consent (FPIC) are being used to help claim indigenous rights and negotiate agreements in various biodiversity contexts.  This issue of PLA draws on a range of experiences of using these tools, the lessons learnt and ways to maximise the benefits of their use. Some 17 articles are divided into five parts: setting the scene – research partnerships and ABS from the perspective of communities; institutional innovations for FPIC and benefit-sharing; community protocols for genetic resources and ABS; community protocols and FPIC – mining, protected areas and forest partnerships, and tips for trainers.

The importance of community-based and participatory approaches to rural development in developing countries has long been emphasized.  This book demonstrates how rural people can best participate in development projects when they are collectively organized.  With the input of collaborators in the field, this book identifies the local social mechanisms that motivate and control people’s self-organizing activities.

People living in mountain ecosystems in the developing world are particularly vulnerable to climate change as a result of their high dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods, comparatively higher exposure to extreme events, and widespread poverty and marginalisation. However, little is known about the impacts of climate change on these communities, people’s perceptions of change, or their capacity to adapt. In order to identify the key determinants for future adaptation, we need to have a much better understanding of these issues. This publication provides an analytical framework and methodology for assessing environmental and socioeconomic changes affecting the livelihoods of rural, natural resource dependent communities living in mountainous environments. It also gives guidance on how to gain a better understanding of the forces which shape mountain communities’ vulnerabilities, and the capacities inherent to these communities for coping and adapting. The framework is intended primarily for development practitioners and institutions working on climate change vulnerability and adaptation in mountainous environments.

Promoting the welfare of working animals is important not only for the sake of the animals themselves, but for the livelihoods of their owners. Sharing the Load aims to stimulate collective action among animal-owning communities to improve the health and husbandry of their draught and pack animals, by applying the methods of community facilitation and collective action to the pursuit of animal welfare. Since 2005, the Brooke has been pioneering the integration of animal welfare science with best practice from the international development sector to build communities’ responsibility for sustained improvement in the welfare of their working animals. Sharing the Load documents the outcome of four years’ development of this process and includes field-based participatory methods and tools designed specifically for this purpose, using lively illustrations and text boxes in accessible language on the theory of development practice and animal welfare science.