Sharing Perceptions of Adaptation, Resilience and Climate Knowledge (SPARCK)

Description:

Outline key project components

Awareness raising / background work; this will involve seeking support from key ministries, establishing contacts, hiring a local project assistant, arranging venues, logistics and contacting participants.
Conducting focus groups; this involves bringing together 30-40 participants from targeted sectors to gather perceptual data with the assistance of a local facilitator.
Mobile Survey; an innovative mobile survey, the first of its kind in Vanuatu and the Pacific, will be implemented to survey participants. The mobile questionnaire is informed by the results of the focus groups and relies on awareness raising (all of which will be singularly about the survey and not climate change) through local radio, word of mouth, and posters to allow geographically remote participants to take part.
Dissemination of findings and results; once the data is analyzed and collected it will be distributed to all stakeholders to inform capacity building activities.

How will it be implemented?

Following intensive awareness raising and planning in conjunction with a local project assistant, the researchers (UNESCO + Apidae) will travel to Vanuatu to conduct focus groups in three sectors (education, media and conservation area communities), these will be two hour interactive discussions about climate change involving 30-40 people. The fieldwork will last one week including the promotion of the mobile phone based survey.

Will the project fund local positions? Where?

The project will require hiring a local Project Assistant for approx. 10 working days to prepare and conduct background work in preparation for the focus groups and mobile survey. A Terms of Reference for applicants will be circulated though local contacts and UNESCO’s National Commission.

How does the project link to GoV priorities (PAA)?

The project links to the key sector of Environment and Disaster Management within the Primary Sector Development and Environment chapter of the GoV PAA 2006-2015. Specifically this project will contribute to; ‘conduct community awareness of the need to protect the environment including through reduction of risks from natural hazards’, since our study will enable targeted and accurate awareness strategies to be designed based on knowledge gaps. It will also enable the development of risk reduction programs in communities, highlight the importance of conservation areas in the fight against climate change and increase climate change literacy in education.

What related projects are being undertaken in the area?

There are a multitude of climate change projects being undertaken which aim to provide similar adaptation outcomes. These include CCCPIR from SPC-GIZ, USP’s GCCA project and SPREP’s PACC among many more including several initiatives from UNESCO such as climate change education from CCESD. This project aims to complement the already existing work in the area as well as fit in with regional frameworks such as the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change 2006-2015 (PIFACC), the Regional Framework for Action on Disaster Risk Management (2005-2015) (RFADRM) and Pacific Framework for Education for Sustainable Development.

Potential overlaps/duplication to be resolved

Due to our specific focus on the key sectors (teachers, media and conservation area communities), our perceptual data will contribute to, and complement, existing projects. Duplication of existing studies and projects into risk and impact awareness of climate change is not a concern, firstly due to the lack of existing studies with a climate perceptions focus, secondly due to our specific sector focus and finally due to the complementary nature of updating and improving the resolution of perceptual data on the rapidly evolving subject of climate change.

Risk Management Strategies

A component of our project management has been the maintenance of a risk management matrix. The project is inherently low risk due to its targeted focus and the fact that funding has been secured already. Additionally, Vanuatu represents the third and final country for the project so we will have learned lessons from our work in Samoa and Fiji, and refined our strategy and process from previous work.

Outline key project components

Awareness raising / background work; this will involve seeking support from key ministries, establishing contacts, hiring a local project assistant, arranging venues, logistics and contacting participants.
Conducting focus groups; this involves bringing together 30-40 participants from targeted sectors to gather perceptual data with the assistance of a local facilitator.
Mobile Survey; an innovative mobile survey, the first of its kind in Vanuatu and the Pacific, will be implemented to survey participants. The mobile questionnaire is informed by the results of the focus groups and relies on awareness raising (all of which will be singularly about the survey and not climate change) through local radio, word of mouth, and posters to allow geographically remote participants to take part.
Dissemination of findings and results; once the data is analyzed and collected it will be distributed to all stakeholders to inform capacity building activities.