Two associated Water Research Commission briefs namely - "Collaborative Knowledge Creation and Mediation Strategies for the Dissemination of Water and Soil Conservation Practices and CSA in Smallholder Farming Systems" (2017-2020) and “Dissemination and scaling of a decision support framework for CCA for smallholder farmers in South Africa" (2022-2025), underpin the development of a coherent, inclusive community based climate change adaptation and resource management model for rural communities in South Africa.
This participatory research process has been undertaken in a number of villages across the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Limpopo with the aim to create a participatory process for smallholder farmers to make informed decisions about implementation of climate resilient agricultural practices and water and natural resources management in their localities. The initial project worked on a decision support process for climate resilient practices related to soil and water conservation, gardening, field cropping livestock management and natural resource management towards a locally relevant decision support system, a choice of appropriate, tested practices for homesteads appropriate across a range of bioclimatic regions, options for use at a community-based level for awareness raising and implementation, recommendations for knowledge mediation and a model for community-based monitoring of CSA indicators. The follow-up process builds on this framework to develop further processes and practices and also to disseminate this approach as a working model for CbCCA across a range of stakeholders.