Evaluating the impact of climate change adaptation project on local resiliency in Sofala Province, Mozambique

University of Notre Dame researchers with one DRR committee

Project description

This project (ongoing), supported by International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), is among the first attempts to evaluate the impact of climate change adaptation. The climate change adaptation project is implemented by the National Institute of Disaster Management of Mozambique (INGC) and supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). It develops local disaster risk reduction (DRR) committees in Sofala province, a densely populated low-lying coastal and river area in Mozambique, highly susceptible to multiple climate risks of cyclone, storms and floods. The creation of local DRR committees aims to build up adaptive capacity at the community level. ND-GAIN is leading a research consortium to evaluate the impacts of DRR committees and the decentralized early-warning systems to show what and how interventions lead to increased climate resilience, and explore the degree of relevance and effectiveness of interventions across multiple sectors of the human and natural environment. A down-scaled Global Adaptation Index is to be used to measure climate vulnerability at the community level.

Barriers faced

The challenge of this impact evaluation project is how to measure vulnerability to climate risks in the local context. The type and the degree of vulnerability may vary among local sub-areas, and will largely deviate from the vulnerability assessment at the country level. We are going to use the ND-GAIN framework to measure vulnerability at the national level but select indicators that could reflect the local sensitivity to climate risks and local capacities to deal with such risks. 

Expected result

First-hand information will be gathered from sampled households in communities at Sofala Province. Models will be chosen with caution to ensure a rigorous impact evaluation. The project attempts to find out:

(1) Whether or not certain policy intervention have contributed to the improvement of local adaptive capacity to climate change (by reducing vulnerability and/or increasing resilience to climate disasters).

(2) What factors would make certain policy interventions successful.

The research consortium

Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN), University of Notre Dame, USA

Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD), University of Notre Dame, USA

Universidade Católica de Moçambique (UCM), Beira, Mozambique

Time period

2014-2015

Contact

Chen Chen

Research Fellow
ND-GAIN, Environmental Change Initiative
University of Notre Dame
ph: +1 (574) 344-4056 fx: +1 (574) 631-1819