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notes from the field
These field notes are personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre
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Amy QuandtIsiolo, Kenya Partners for Resilience (documenting success stories, conducting a survey on ecosystem friendly livelihood activities, promoting fuel-efficient stoves, supporting the establishment and operationalization of agriculture demonstration and innovation sites in Biliko) |
Executive SummaryClimate-Smart, Ecosystem-Friendly Livelihoods Assessment prepared by Amy Quandt |
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July 30, 2013
Hello everyone. I am sad to say that this will be my last blog post because in a few days I will be finishing up my internship! It feels like I just started but I have been in Isiolo for over two months now.
The last two weeks have been very busy finishing data analysis and writing up my findings. And yesterday as a final part of my internship I presented the results and recommendations from the climate-smart, ecosystem-friendly livelihoods assessment to the Partners for Resilience team. This team includes Netherlands Red Cross, Kenya Red Cross, Cordaid, Wetlands International, Merti Integrated Development Project, and the Waso River Users Empowerment Platform. The presentation and discussion about my results took up a full morning and it was an incredible experience to be part of on the ground development work and making recommendations that matter and will make a difference in the lives of vulnerable communities in Isiolo County. Read more ...
July 21, 2013
Hello everyone from dusty Isiolo. Time continues to fly very quickly and I cannot believe that my time here is drawing to an end within the next few weeks.
The climate-smart, ecosystem-friendly livelihoods assessment is in the final stages of data analysis and report writing. The results will be presented in a week and a half to the Partners for Resilience organizations here in Isiolo, Kenya (which include the Netherlands Red Cross, Wetlands International, Cordaid, Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate, Kenya Red Cross Society, and Merti Integrated Development Project). We finished field work a few weeks ago and ended the surveys in the two communities, Burat and Manyangalo, which are closest to Isiolo Town. Read more ...
July 2, 2013
Hello from Isiolo. The last month has flown by so quickly! The past several weeks have been very busy first preparing the climate-smart, ecosystem-friendly livelihoods survey and then visiting the communities and conducting both household interviews and focus group discussions. I have been in Isiolo for 4 weeks now but have spent 3 of those weeks out in the field visiting with the Partners for Resilience (PfR) communities. It has been great and I have seen a large part of Isiolo County.
We began our surveys in a remote, dusty village called Basa. Walking around the community was almost like being on another planet. The dust sweeps through and everywhere you look you can only see domed shaped grass huts and dirt. This pastoral community has been severely affected by climate change and community members are struggling to maintain their pastoral livelihoods and many people have lost all their livestock to drought. Read more ...
June 4, 2013
Hello everyone! I have now been in Kenya for two whole weeks now and so far it has been great. I spent the first week and a half in Nairobi. While in Nairobi I had a chance to meet most of the partners in the Partners for Resilience (PfR) project. The partners include the Netherlands Red Cross, Kenya Red Cross Society, Cordaid, and Wetlands International. It was great to hear about the progress the PfR project has made so far and learn more about the project. PfR is one of the first times that Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and Ecosystem Management and Restoration (EMR) approaches have been combined and PfR is using this integrated approach to help build resilience in Isiolo County, Kenya. It is a unique collaboration between humanitarian, development, and conservation organizations. Read more ...
May 18, 2013
Hello everyone! My name is Amy and I am very excited to be participating in the summer internship collaboration between the University of Colorado-Boulder and the Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre. I just finished my first year in the Environmental Studies PhD program here at CU-Boulder. This summer I will be based in Isiolo, Kenya working with the Partners for Resilience project. This project is a partnership between Netherlands-based organizations including CARE Netherlands, the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Climate Centre, The Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid, Netherlands Red Cross, and Wetlands International. The Partners for Resilience aims to increase the resilience of communities to disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation, to increase the capacity of civil society organizations, and to make the institutional environment from international to grass-root levels more conductive to integrating disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and ecosystem-based approaches. Read more ...
