Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
A villager from the group of traditional weather forecasters explained,
'The TMA forecasts are at zonal level. They don't take the local situation into
consideration; so forecasts differ from place to place within the same zone, and
traditional forecasts work well locally but not in zonal dimension.'
SAIPRO had worked with farmers in Same District for over a decade to
combat food insecurity. It would like to see its long-term involvement and
efforts in supporting the rural communities to achieve food security translated
into success through climate-change adaptation. Suppliers of agricultural inputs
are business-oriented actors who feel that project success would serve as an
important planning tool in helping to minimize losses arising from stocking
wrong agricultural inputs and at the wrong time. Late supply of inputs can mean
that working capital is tied up in huge amounts of unsold farming inputs.
By matching narratives to the interests of these various actors, we can identify
a convergence point where success can be achieved. Multiple interests do come
with underlying power dynamics being played out among actors in the quest
for getting their interests recognized and included in the research and policy
process. Power relations are manifested in various forms, maintained through
formal and informal rules of participation in policy spaces. The deliberative
democracy approach legitimatizes democratic spaces formed by non-state actors.
Power relations between actors are not universal, in that there is no single
most-powerful actor among the five categories of actors considered in this
chapter: government agencies, development partners, civil society, private
sector and local communities. Power relations - informal ones in particular
- are mobile, depending on the point of engagement between the different
actors and the issue at stake. For instance, a deliberation convened by the
PAR researchers in collaboration with SAIPRO at the outset of the project
automatically gave more power to the experts and the NGO as key actors, with
the government and civil society on the opposite ends. Policy spaces facilitated
by the academic groups tend to place more emphasis on the role of research for
policy-making, giving less power to government agencies. Similarly, at Policy
Forum breakfast debates, civil society actors commonly assume more powers
and freedoms, with government agencies usually on the defensive side. Local
communities, such as those involved in the farm field school at Bangalala as
traditional weather forecasters, felt more empowered and capable of engaging
with other actors through spaces organized within their locations and using
less technical language. When asked about their opinion on their participation
in the weather forecasting exercise they said that the project had given them a
platform from which to show what they can do to help the community, and
had enhanced their credibility and therefore respect among the community.
By contrast, the strict rules in the development partners' group meetings and
the government's agricultural sector consultative groups automatically restrict
effective participation by other actors, especially local people and civil society,
due to their design and special language, location and the fact that one must be
invited.
 
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