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Author

Katy Oswald

Other affiliations: University of Sussex
Bio: Katy Oswald is an academic researcher from Philippine Institute for Development Studies. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social protection & Climate change. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 15 publications receiving 221 citations. Previous affiliations of Katy Oswald include University of Sussex.

Papers
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01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that people exposed to the most severe climate-related hazards are often those least able to cope with the associated impacts, due to their limited adaptive capacity.
Abstract: Poorer developing countries are especially vulnerable to climate change because of their geographic exposure, low incomes and greater reliance on climate sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture. People exposed to the most severe climate-related hazards are often those least able to cope with the associated impacts, due to their limited adaptive capacity. This in turn poses multiple threats to economic growth, wider poverty reduction, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (ADB et al., 2003; Stern et al., 2006). Within this context, there is growing recognition of the potential role of social protection as a response to the multiple risks and short and long-term shocks and stresses associated with climate change. Stern (2008) argues that social protection could become one of the priority sectors for adaptation in developing countries. To date however, little is known about the linkages and value of social protection for adaptation in practice.

70 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue for a reframing of capacity development for emancipatory social change, with an emphasis on reflective and experiential approaches, and argue against a deficit approach based on linear causal logic and replicable best practice.
Abstract: ‘Capacity development’ implies a promise of growing self‐reliance, national ownership and sustainability, yet practice seems consistently to fall short of this emancipatory promise. This introduction argues for a reframing of capacity development for emancipatory social change. Articles in this IDS Bulletin show how understanding and practice must engage with complexity, appreciate the importance of specific culture and context, and continually address the role of power in shaping relationships, understandings and practices. Values and leadership are fundamental drivers of capacity development processes. This IDS Bulletin argues against a deficit approach based on linear causal logic and replicable ‘best practice’. Instead, practitioners are encouraged to develop a detailed understanding of the culture and dynamics of specific contexts, to detect energies for positive change and work to connect and facilitate them. Learning is at the centre of the approach. Capacity development is understood as a collective process of learning in action for social change. Support for capacity development processes demands a critical development practice that implies mutual learning, with an emphasis on reflective and experiential approaches. However, this reframing implies enormous challenges for development practice, and therefore considerable personal and organisational commitment.

41 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2010
TL;DR: The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 124 agricultural programs implemented in five countries in south Asia and found that full integration of social protection, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation is relatively limited.
Abstract: An aim of government and the international community is to respond to global processes and crises through a range of policy and practical approaches that help limit damage from shocks and stresses. Three approaches to vulnerability reduction that have become particularly prominent in recent years are social protection (SP), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). Although these approaches have much in common, they have developed separately over the last two decades. However, given the increasingly complex and interlinked array of risks that poor and vulnerable people face, it is likely that they will not be sufficient in the long run if they continue to be applied in isolation from one another. In recognition of this challenge, the concept of Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) has been developed. ASP refers to a series of measures which aims to build resilience of the poorest and most vulnerable people to climate change by combining elements of SP, DRR and CCA in programmes and projects. The aim of this paper is to provide an initial assessment of the ways in which these elements are being brought together in development policy and practice. It does this by conducting a meta-analysis of 124 agricultural programmes implemented in five countries in south Asia. These are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The findings show that full integration of SP, DRR and CCA is relatively limited in south Asia, although there has been significant progress in combining SP and DRR in the last ten years. Projects that combine elements of SP, DRR and CCA tend to emphasise broad poverty and vulnerability reduction goals relative to those that do not. Such approaches can provide valuable lessons and insights for the promotion of climate resilient livelihoods amongst policymakers and practitioners.

36 citations

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TL;DR: The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) as mentioned in this paper have identified four pillars that support engaged research: high-quality research, co-construction of knowledge, mobilising impact-oriented evidence, and building enduring partnerships.
Abstract: Approaches to engaged research, which do not just produce academic knowledge, but link with people and groups in society, have long intellectual roots. In recent years, however, for epistemological, practical and ethical reasons, interest in such approaches has gained ground. At the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) we seek to adopt an ‘engaged excellence’ approach to research. We have identified four pillars that support engaged excellence: high-quality research; co-construction of knowledge, mobilising impact-orientated evidence; and building enduring partnerships. This introduction interrogates this approach, deepening our understanding of what it means, whilst also acknowledging the challenges which it poses. It raises questions about who defines what good quality research is; how, why and who we co-construct knowledge with; what counts as impact; and how we build enduring partnerships. It also touches on some of the implications for both researchers themselves and the institutions through which we work.

18 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the opportunities and challenges of using participatory action research (PAR) with community radio broadcasters in southern Ghana to investigate the impacts of climate change through a detailed outline of the methodological approach employed in this initiative as well as the findings that it produced, considering how action research might serve to reveal the power relations, systemic drivers of vulnerability, and opportunities for sustainable action for social change related to climate impacts.
Abstract: This article reflects upon the opportunities and challenges of using Participatory Action Research (PAR) with community radio broadcasters in southern Ghana to investigate the impacts of climate change. Through a detailed outline of the methodological approach employed in this initiative as well as the findings that it produced, we consider how action research might serve to reveal the power relations, systemic drivers of vulnerability, and opportunities for sustainable action for social change related to climate impacts. As co-facilitators of this process based in a Northern research institution, we reflect upon the challenges, limitations and benefits of the approach used in order to identify potential areas for improvement and to understand how the dynamics of this partnership shaped collaboration. We also discuss how employing a systemic approach to action research helped to provide insights into the interactions between the physical and environmental impacts of climate change and related systems such as land tenure and agricultural production. A systemic approach to PAR, we argue, lends itself especially well to analysis of climate change adaptation and resilience, both of which are embedded within complex systems of institutions, assets, individuals and structures, and therefore not appropriate for narrow or one-dimensional analyses. Finally, we consider the specific contributions and challenges that engaging community radio as a research partner may offer to investigations on climate change.

12 citations


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TL;DR: The 2011 Human Development Report argues that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together and identifies policies on the national and global level that could spur mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The 2011 Human Development Report argues that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together – and identifies policies on the national and global level that could spur mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals. Bold action is needed on both fronts, the Report contends, if the recent human development progress for most of the world’s poor majority is to be sustained, for the benefit of future generations as well as for those living today. Past Reports have shown that living standards in most countries have been rising – and converging – for several decades now. Yet the 2011 Report projects a disturbing reversal of those trends if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify, with the least developed countries diverging downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050.The Report shows further how the world’s most disadvantaged people suffer the most from environmental degradation, including in their immediate personal environment, and disproportionately lack political power, making it all the harder for the world community to reach agreement on needed global policy changes. The Report also outlines great potential for positive synergies in the quest for greater equality and sustainability, especially at the national level. The Report further emphasizes the human right to a healthy environment, the importance of integrating social equity into environmental policies, and the critical importance of public participation and official accountability. The 2011 Report concludes with a call for bold new approaches to global development financing and environmental controls, arguing that these measures are both essential and feasible.

831 citations

29 Jun 2015
TL;DR: The State of Social Safety Nets (SSN) as discussed by the authors is a periodic series of data collected from the World Bank's ASPIRE database and other sources to examine trends in coverage, spending, and safety nets program performance.
Abstract: Over the last decade, a policy revolution has been underway in the developing and emerging world. Country after country is systematically providing non-contributory transfers to poor and vulnerable people, in order to protect them against economic shocks and to enable them to invest in themselves and their children. Social safety nets or social transfers, as these are called, have spread rapidly from their early prominence in the middle-income countries of Latin America and Europe increasingly to nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East - and today, over 130 developing countries have made investments in social safety nets an important pillar of economic development policies. The statistics and analysis in The State of Social Safety Nets 2015 capture this revolution, and reveal it in many dimensions at the country, regional, and international levels. This latest edition of a periodic series brings together a large body of data that was not previously available, drawing on the World Bank's ASPIRE database and other sources. Why have so many countries made a firm commitment to incorporate social safety nets as part of their social and economic policy architecture? Because social safety nets work. This report also reports on the rigorous evidence that demonstrates their impact, and also points the way to making them even more efficient and effective at meeting their development goals. This latest edition of a periodic series brings together a large body of data that was not previously available, drawing on the World Bank's ASPIRE database and other sources to examine trends in coverage, spending, and safety nets program performance.

288 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Hulme as mentioned in this paper, Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), xxxix + 392 pp.
Abstract: Mike Hulme, Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), xxxix + 392 pp. $80.00 (cloth), $29.99 (paper). S...

265 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the literature on barriers to climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa focusing on vulnerable, natural resource-dependent communities and livelihoods is presented, highlighting gaps in understanding and suggesting future research directions focusing on issues of social justice.
Abstract: To enhance understanding of the process of climate change adaptation and to facilitate the planning and implementation of socially-just adaptation strategies, deeper consideration of the factors that impede adaptation is required. In response, scholars have increasingly identified barriers to adaptation in the literature. But, despite this progress, knowledge of barriers that hamper adaptation in developing countries remains limited, especially in relation to underlying causes of vulnerability and low adaptive capacity. To further improve understanding of barriers to adaptation and identify gaps in the state-of-the-art knowledge, we undertook a synthesis of empirical literature from sub-Saharan Africa focusing on vulnerable, natural resource-dependent communities and livelihoods. Our review illustrates that: (1) local-level studies that reveal barriers to adaptation are diverse, although there is a propensity for studies on small-holder farmers; (2) many of the studies identify several barriers to adaptation, but appreciation of their interactions and compounded impacts remains scarce; and (3) most of the barriers uncovered relate broadly to biophysical, knowledge, and financial constraints on agricultural production and rural development. More hidden and under-acknowledged political, social, and psychological barriers are rarely mentioned, unless captured in studies that specifically set out to investigate these. We finish our review by highlighting gaps in understanding and by suggesting future research directions, focusing on issues of social justice. We argue that research on barriers needs to start asking why these barriers emerge, how they work together to shape adaptation processes, who they affect most, and what is needed to overcome them.

179 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess evidence published in the last ten years that a set of production technologies and institutional options for managing risk can stabilize production and incomes, protect assets in the face of shocks, enhance uptake of improved technologies and practices, improve farmer welfare, and contribute to poverty reduction in risk-prone smallholder agricultural systems.

164 citations