Linking food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation: the case of sustainable land management in Malawi

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims at enhancing the capacity of farming systems to sustainably support food security in the context of climatic changes (CC). Questions arise about the profitability of alternative farming options and their cost-effectiveness in mitigating CC. A large dataset has been built through household surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions conducted in different agro ecological zones of Malawi. Farmers adopt a wide combination of sustainable land management (SLM) practices, earning often higher yields, profits and returns to labor than under conventional farming. Differences are more significant in dry areas indicating potential for CC adaptation. However, this may come at excessive costs in terms of capital and labor. Negative marginal abatement costs for most SLM options show synergies between increased farm incomes and CC mitigation. Cost- effectiveness of agriculture management practices is proposed as policy decision criterion to prioritize CSA interventions on the basis of economic efficiency in greenhouse gases abatement

Behavioural science interventions within the development and environmental fields in developing countries: An evidence gap map

This evidence gap map (EGM) presents a landscape of studies on the effectiveness of behavioural science interventions in non-Annex I settings, a group of mainly developing countries within the context of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The EGM summarizes causal evidence from development and environmental interventions. Understanding what is effective in changing behaviour in these countries is important for both adaptation and mitigation purposes. Although the evidence base is thin, the EGM reveals that the most commonly evaluated interventions are reminders, feedback, micro-incentives, salience of communication, commitment devices, salience of experience design (how individuals interact with their physical or digital environment), goal setting, rules of thumb, social norms and social benchmarking. The impact evaluations are relatively skewed towards sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia and the Pacific. A limited number of impact evaluations have been conducted in Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. A majority of the studies included in the EGM emanate from the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, the financial sector, the energy and extractives sector and the agricultural secto

Evidence Review on Behavioural Science Interventions in Development and Environmental Fields in Developing Countries:Protocol

This evidence gap map (EGM) presents a landscape of studies on the effectiveness of behavioural science interventions in non-Annex I settings, a group of mainly developing countries within the context of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The EGM summarizes causal evidence from development and environmental interventions. Understanding what is effective in changing behaviour in these countries is important for both adaptation and mitigation purposes. Although the evidence base is thin, the EGM reveals that the most commonly evaluated interventions are reminders, feedback, micro-incentives, salience of communication, commitment devices, salience of experience design (how individuals interact with their physical or digital environment), goal setting, rules of thumb, social norms and social benchmarking. The impact evaluations are relatively skewed towards sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia and the Pacific. A limited number of impact evaluations have been conducted in Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. A majority of the studies included in the EGM emanate from the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, the financial sector, the energy and extractives sector and the agricultural secto

Interventions for Women's Empowerment in Developing Countries:An evidence gap map

This evidence gap map (EGM) plots studies on the effectiveness of interventions for women’s empowerment in developing countries (defined here as the list of countries defined by the Kyoto Protocol as non-Annex I countries). The EGM contains 423 studies, of which 288 are impact evaluations, 105 are process evaluations and 38 are systematic reviews. Most evidence is from studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. There is a relatively large amount of evidence on economic interventions and capacity-building interventions, and both these categories in the map have a high number of impact evaluations and systematic reviews. There is a dearth of evidence on policy and institutional interventions. In terms of outcomes, political empowerment outcome categories are far less populated than other outcome categories. Women’s representation in political bodies, digital access and access to justice shows very little evidence

Effectiveness of life skills training interventions for the empowerment of women in developing countries: a systematic review

This systematic review evaluates the effectiveness of life skills training intervention programmes in empowering women in developing countries. Life skills training has emerged as a popular approach to empowerment, often as a part of a multicomponent intervention. Overall, the systematic review finds that life skills positively affect a range of self, social and economic empowerment outcomes. Small but significant positive changes were detected for a range of outcome areas including leadership, attitudes to gender issues, sexual and reproductive health and rights, employment and life skills themselves. There is some indication that multi-component approaches may be more effective. Life skills training can be called a promising approach with potential for supporting women's empowerment in climate and agricultural projects. Including life skills interventions within components of Green Climate Fund and International Fund for Agricultural Development project interventions can contribute to transforming women’s lives, livelihoods and societal roles