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Characteristics and Determinants of the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers: Lessons from Application of the RIMA II Methodology in Eastern Africa

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Handbook of Climate Change Management

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Abstract

In the Horn of Africa (HoA), the livelihoods of smallholder farmers are threatened by climate variability and change. Events such as droughts and heavy rainfall events have been experienced more frequently during the last three decades. Climate resilience has hence come to be a focus of governments and development partners in the region. The increasing focus on resilience has necessitated better measurement of the characteristics and determinants of resilience. One methodology that takes consideration of these needs is the resilience capacity index (RCI), based on the resilience index measurement and analysis II (RIMA II), a robust methodology having been applied in numerous contexts in Africa and the Middle East. In RIMA, the unit of analysis is a household and the estimation of resilience capacity is derived from the operationalization of the three key capacities for resilience namely adaptive capacity, transformative capacity, and absorptive capacity. The four pillars used in RIMA framework are assets (AST), access to basic services (ABS), adaptive capacity (AC), and social safety nets (SSN). This paper presents the programming and policy implications of RIMA analysis conducted in selected communities in three Eastern African countries, making the case for use of RIMA as a primary methodology to guide agricultural climate change adaptation and resilience-building investments. The chapter demonstrates the methodology by using case studies based on data collected from 2824 households in selected sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. The case studies show how resilience capacity is driven by different factors including climate-related shocks affecting households and hence the need for resilience programming to not take a blanket approach but be rather tailored to the specific needs and capacities of households and communities.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter was written using examples from the baseline survey of the Agricultural Climate Resilience Enhancement Initiative (ACREI). ACREI is a partnership program between the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) funded by the Adaptation Fund. The program targets Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda and supports community adaption practice, climate proofing of extension systems, and climate-informed decision-making. The goal of this initiative is to develop and implement adaptation strategies and measures that will strengthen the resilience of vulnerable smallholder farmers, agropastoralists, and pastoralists in the Horn of Africa to climate variability and change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Nairobi, Kenya

    Oscar Ngesa, Deborah Duveskog & Immaculate Atieno

  2. World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Nairobi, Kenya

    Sebastian Grey

Authors
  1. Oscar Ngesa
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  2. Sebastian Grey
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  3. Deborah Duveskog
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  4. Immaculate Atieno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sebastian Grey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. School of Social Sciences, CHC Higher Education, Carindale, Australia

    Johannes Luetz

  3. Center for Food Security Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Desalegn Ayal

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Ngesa, O., Grey, S., Duveskog, D., Atieno, I. (2020). Characteristics and Determinants of the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers: Lessons from Application of the RIMA II Methodology in Eastern Africa. In: Leal Filho, W., Luetz, J., Ayal, D. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3_67-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3_67-1

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