Urban and rural poor communities are confronted with recurrent challenges of the impacts of climate change, that undermine their potential to enjoy safe and dignified life. Local communities have a deep understanding of their environment, including how it is changing and the impacts of these changes on their livelihoods. By involving local communities and leveraging their knowledge and experience in ensuring that the adaptation process are context relevant and implementable, making them more effective and sustainable. Engaging local communities in climate change adaptation efforts empowers them to take ownership of the process and its outcomes. This can lead to greater resilience and self-reliance, as well as increased motivation and commitment to implementing adaptation measures and contribute to mitigating some of the human-induced climate risks mentioned above. Local communities are best placed to identify their specific adaptation needs and priorities. Notably, a locally-led approach allows for the development of context-specific adaptation strategies that are tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by different communities within Sierra Leone. This reality necessitates the need and desire for FEDURP to galvanise itself to maximise their potential and opportunities to optimise sustainable livelihoods and resilient neigborhoods. Hence, the Strategic Objective of Pillar 1 is “To develop community-based adaptation plans that encompass the needs of communities and reflecting diversified, equitable and sustainable livelihoods of 250,000 vulnerable population living in marginalized settlements by 2028”. This is underpinned by the federation’s dream of progressive change “from risk to resilience” and will be pursued through the following Strategic and Priority Actions:
Strategic Action 2 – Circular Economy:
Work with coastal settlements where there indications of high potential, to invest in simple climate-smart oyster farming techniques that would maximise yield, support value-added processing and marketing for co-beneficiation for mangrove conservation and other sustainable natural capital management outcomes.
Work with coastal and inland settlements to invest in simple climate-smart coastal and inland fish farming techniques that would maximise yield, support value-added processing and marketing for co-beneficiation and sustainable natural capital management outcomes.
Work with relevant settlements and innovators to invest in the establishment and operation of simple climate-smart fabrication of cookstoves and biofuel production and marketing centres for co-beneficiation with communities and/or innovator, shifting from the use of charcoal and firewood to guarantee safe and clean cooking practices for a cleaner and healthy environment.
Work with relevant settlements to invest in tree crop plantation particularly coconuts and cashew nuts, and support their prcessing, packaging and marketing for co-beneficiation and serve as alternative livelihoods to mangrove cutting and selling, which contribute mangrove restoration and conservation.
Strategic Action 3 – LLA Plans
The overarching guiding principle of LLA is putting frontline communities in climate change adaptation actions. CODOHSAPA/FEDURP will work with communities to develop community-based adaptation plans and area action plans (AAPs) that fits into the municipal plans, poised on influencing municipal councils to include particularly informal settlements in their local climate mitigation and adaptation plans and agenda, to engender safe, healthy and dignified livelhooods and neighbourhoods.
Work with communities to organise, train and provide regular capacity building and strengthing support to youth-led female dominated community-based climate actors. These cohorts will lead on and coordinate, with technical support from professional partners their local adaptations, which can be applied to engage with the municipal council and development partners for resources, to implement actions that can lead to safe, healthy and dignified livelhooods and neighbourhoods.
Work with and support communities to establish green safe spaces that are reflected in their area action plans (AAPs) that would contribute the maintenance of safe, healthy and dignified neighbourhoods.
Work with and support communities to establish cooling corridors that are reflected in their area action plans (AAPs) that would contribute the maintenance of safe, healthy and dignified neighbourhoods
Strategic Action 4 – Disasater Risk Reduction (DRR)
Strengthen capacity of existing CDMCs, and mobilise and build new ones in greenfield settlements. This involves providing refresher and fresh capacity trainings for existing and new CDMCs respectively; provide working tools and protective gears; and linking to relevant state and non-state agencies for effective and inclusive community participation and actions.
Conduct relevant vulnerability and capacity assessment and update community risk registers, to inform the design and management of community DRR plans.
Support CDMCs to drive the co-designing and co-management of inclusive community-based disaster mitigation and response plans.
Mobilise funding to support for prioritised community-based disaster mitigation and response plans, as a way of building back better to guarantee safety and security of neighbourhoods and settlements.
Work with relevant settlements to invest in WASH services for co-beneficiation with communities and/or innovators and to maintain sustainable social services provision for clean, safe, healthy and dignified neighbourhoods.