A baseline survey will be conducted to provide an assessment of climate related concerns for the population living in Dar’s coastal unplanned and underserviced neighbourhoods who are dependent on natural resources. More specifically, the survey will focus on:

• what natural resources those people have access to;
• how they use the natural resources at their disposal;
• what changes in climate they have observed;
• what strategies they have adopted to cope with those changes;
• gender differences in the degree of dependence on natural resources.

In the target area, a survey will be conducted on Dar City Council’s (DCC) and municipalities’ current activities to prevent, cope with or recover from climate effects.

Staff of services already involved in climate issues (e.g. Environment, Urban Planning, Waste Management and Sanitation) will be interviewed, according to their institutional position and willingness to participate, in order to assess existing initiatives at DCC and municipal levels. A list of current ways of addressing CC issues will be compiled, and focus groups will be set up to discuss strengths, weaknesses, gaps and possibilities for development of existing methods.

Local options for autonomous adaptation to future CC effects will be explored through direct involvement in scenario exercises for groups of residents from the target area. Their results will be shared through public events to raise awareness in the broader local community.

The activity will take advantage of already established procedures for facilitating inhabitants’ participation in the planning process (O&O - Opportunities and Obstacles to Development Planning Methodology) and the use of other participatory approaches will be considered (Forum theatre’s techniques following Augusto Boal’s teaching have been proven to be effective in similar situations).

The aim is to stimulate people’s imaginations about their behaviors under the future effects of CC.

The new participatory methodologies identified will be evaluated for effectiveness and reproducibility.

Special attention will be paid to women’s participation as adaptation strategies led by women are considered to be a fundamental aspect of knowledge for informing the design of municipal initiatives.

The first annual International Workshop will focus on “Addressing CC adaptation in coastal areas of fast growing African cities” and will be organized in Dar es Salaam to present and discuss the employed methodology and achieved results.

The Workshop aims are the following:

• to evaluate the results of the audit exercises;
• to provide an opportunity for information sharing and exchange of ideas among researchers, and to stimulate initiatives for international networking.

The development of methodologies to monitor changes in Dar’s peri-urban settlements aims to identify and fill the gaps in existing methodologies for improving scientific knowledge on peri-urban dynamics.

This is crucial to the exploration of the future impacts of CC on the livelihoods of those living there, and to the formulation of effective strategies for enhancing their capacity to adapt. Rapid population growth and continuous change in land use pose a challenge for urban planners and decision makers. In addition, the lack of financial means hampers efforts of public technical services to update the residents register, land cadastre and topographic maps. Such gaps are common to the majority of African cities; in this respect, a monitoring methodology tailored to Dar’s local conditions could be transferred to other cities.

The methodology will be developed according to the following criteria:

• it must be tailored to equipment available in Dar’s municipalities, or that could be upgraded at little cost;
• it must require skills that the municipal staff already has or can acquire by participating in training and capacity building under WP3;
• it must produce and update the knowledge needed to tackle CC issues of major concern for those people whose livelihoods are dependent on natural resources;
• it must address gaps in municipal registry services.

Methodology development will require the use of techniques such as remote sensing, photogrammetric analysis, geographical information systems, spatial analysis and modeling.

Methodology development will capitalize on existing tools, technologies and established expertise in Dar municipalities, focusing on the CC issues of major concern for the target population. In addition, given the current gaps in climate information and the consequent uncertainties associated with CC impacts at the local level, the project will apply the principle that adapting to short-term climate variability and extreme events can serve as the basis for reducing vulnerability to longer-term climate change.

A thematic team will investigate and model specific environmental phenomena (e.g. coastal erosion, sea water intrusion, flooding, etc.) that are already contributing – and will increasingly contribute as CC progresses – to the degradation of those natural resources on which a large part of peri-urban livelihoods depend.

According to UNFCCC mechanism for adaptation, local governments in LDCs are expected to take part in the NAPA implementation process by drawing Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs). It has been pointed out that LAPAs are likely to be ineffective unless they address the “gap between planning and implementation” which affects most of Urban Development and Environment Management initiatives in African cities.

Rather than preparing “new” plans, the action integrates CC issues into the existing ones.

Over the past three decades, the dramatic rise in population has led the Dar City Council (DCC) to engage in a process of strategic urban development planning in order to meet the needs of its residents. In 2000, city council operations were decentralized into three municipalities: Kinondoni, Ilala, and Temeke, giving them full policy and legislative implementation authority. Still, there is lack of basic services, poor transportation infrastructure, inadequate water and sanitation facilities, and congestion.

The methodology will be developed according to the following criteria:

• it will support adaptation efforts currently undertaken by both the population and the municipalities;
• it will foresee specific techniques to facilitate inhabitants participation, especially for exploring alternative adaptation pathways;
• it will identify among current Urban Development and Environment Management plans and strategies those related to issues of major concern with respect to CC.

The second International Workshop will focus on “Assessing CC impacts on natural-human interplay in the peri-urban fringe”. It will be organized in Rome, with the purpose of presenting and discussing the achieved results.

The aim is twofold:

• to evaluate the enhanced methodologies in light of similar experiences carried out in EAC/SADC countries;
• to provide an opportunity for information sharing and exchange of ideas among researchers, and to stimulate initiatives for international networking.

WP3 will start with a preparation phase consisting of the following steps:

• assessment of the training needs of municipal staff from the three Dar municipalities: Kinondoni, Ilala, and Temeke;
• identification of constraints and opportunities at the institutional and personal level through participative discussions;
• design of a strategy to effectively meet those needs, including training activities and first implementation of skills learned;
• suggestion of measures to be taken to avoid any kind of discrimination and to facilitate female municipal staff’s participation in training activities;
• identification, among ARU faculty, of the training director and principal instructors.

The training strategy will be discussed in depth with the municipal chief officers, using a consensus model for decision-making, in order to avoid any discontent/misunderstanding which might affect the proper implementation of capacity building activities.

The training Director, assisted by principal instructors and on the basis of the guidance notes and the action plan established in activity 3.1, will plan the training activities, develop the learning curriculum and identify procedures for formative evaluation of the training effectiveness.

The training objectives are as follows:

• to enhance trainees’ knowledge and understanding of CC issues specific to coastal areas;
• to get trainees acquainted with new methods and tools for assessing CC impacts on the livelihood of those urban dwellers who are partially or totally dependent on natural resources;
• to enable trainees to reflect upon the impact of their work on residents’ adaptive capacity;
• to stimulate creativity for innovation in their workplace.

The training programme will include a set of short courses, while the majority of activities will consist of on-the-job learning. By the end of the training year, trainees are expected to have identified a range of options for mainstreaming CC adaptation into their services.

A two-day International Conference focused on “Action planning for NAPA implementation” will be held in Dar during the third semester of the project.

The aim of the conference is twofold:

• to draw Dar’s public attention to the design exercise aimed at formulating adaptation initiatives (activity 3.4) and to stimulate local stakeholders to participate;
• to foster creative thinking and collaboration among academics, development practitioners, urban decision makers and community based organizations and their networks, on how to fill the gap between planning and implementation that undermines efforts to meet environmental challenges in fast growing African cities.

Chairs and speaker groups will include representatives from Tanzania and other EAC/SADC countries, along with people from Italy and other EU countries.

During the third year of the project, the trained municipal staff will attend a design exercise aimed at formulating initiatives for mainstreaming CC adaptation into the local planning which will be undertaken by Dar’s local authorities to support residents in their efforts to adapt to CC.

The design exercise will draw on the results of all previous activities under the three project work packages.

In particular, it will take into account:

• options for change identified by the trainees;
• recommendations from the mid-term International Conference;
• studies conducted under WP2 (set of scenarios on CC effects and the methodology to be used for the design exercise);
• results of the audit conducted under WP1 (insights into adaptation options that the target population currently practices or values for the future); and
• already tested participatory techniques to be used in involving groups of inhabitants.

Municipal staff will be guided through the steps of the design methodology. Groups of residents will be also involved in order to ensure that local community needs and concerns are given the importance they deserve.

Attention will be paid to facilitating the involvement of marginalized and vulnerable groups, along with community based and women’s organizations committed to tackling CC effects.

The third International Workshop will be organized on “Designing community-based adaptation initiatives”.

The main objectives to be pursued during the Workshop will be:

• to evaluate the design methodology in light of the results attained by participants in designing adaptation initiatives;
• to provide an opportunity for information sharing and exchange of ideas among researchers, and to stimulate initiatives for international networking.