When the farm is gone – but the loan remains: how can we build climate-resilient microfinance?

Rita AbiodunAgriculture, Climate Change, Innovation

When floods destroyed one Pakistani farmer’s crops and income, they also destroyed her ability to get and repay the credit on which she, like millions of smallholders, depends. Rita Abiodun looks at a programme that offers much more protection from climate shocks to microfinance users.

How can INGOs shift power in partnerships to build climate resilience?

Jessica ValeraniClimate Change, Innovation, Power Shifts

Convening, brokering and co-creating must be at the heart of how INGOs such as Oxfam work in future with urban communities to build resilience to climate shocks. Jessica Valerani introduces a new paper that draws lessons from a recent collaboration between communities, governments, the UN and Oxfam in south-eastern Africa.

Help! My toilet is sinking!

Lousie MedlandWater, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Louise Medland, Carol Brady and Jessica Fullwood-Thomas examine the long term effects of annual flooding and waterlogging on people’s lives in Bangladesh.  Heavy rainfall during July and August in 2011 caused severe flooding in southern districts of Bangladesh, particularly Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar. Close to 90% of the population were temporarily displaced from their homes and were forced …