Strengthening adaptive capacity of rural farming communities in Southeast Asia: Experiences, best practices and lessons for scaling-up

Abstract

This article highlights the experiences, contributions, and lessons generated from the ten selected APN capacity development programmes implemented from 2011-2019 and focused on enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of rural farming communities in Southeast Asia. These capacity development projects employed varying strategies and approaches. Some projects centred on training and building the technical capabilities of service providers, while others have directly trained and built the capacities of the farming communities. Some projects emphasised the promotion of nature-based and sustainable farming techniques such as agroforestry, conservation farming, rainwater harvesting, and indigenous agricultural practices that helped farming communities cope and adapt to climate change impacts. At the core of these capacity development programmes are collaboration and partnerships that were built and institutionalised among different sectors, such as academia, local government units, and the farming communities. These multisectoral collaborations hastened the project implementation and generation of project outputs and gave way to the sustainability of the project initiatives. These projects have generated numerous outputs that paved the way for enhanced social and human capital development of various stakeholders, science-based decision-making by policymakers; adoption of sustainable farming techniques and technologies; and knowledge generation and advancement of science. More importantly, these projects have developed a model for enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience of rural farming communities in Southeast Asia.