BRACED Knowledge Manager Learning Series

Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) aims to improve the lives of vulnerable people facing climate extremes and disasters through the efforts of 15 consortia operating across the Sahel, East Africa, and Asia. An independent Knowledge Manager generates evidence and promotes learning across the United Kingdom (UK)-government-funded programme in an effort to understand what works and what doesn't in terms of strengthening resilience. As part of the mission to offer facilitated spaces for learning and dialogue between partners within and beyond the programme, the BRACED Knowledge Manager has created this learning series of 2-page documents to describe some of the tactics BRACED has used.

The resources include:

1. Exploring Transformative Actions through Forum Theatre [PDF], by Angelo Miramonti - "Forum Theatre is a participatory drama technique used to facilitate community dialogue on social issues, involving communities in pursuing transformative actions....Forum Theatre is not based on a preconceived idea of change. It is not 'sensitisation' of the audience on what they should do to change their situation. It is rather a tool for individual and community 'empowerment', a space for the re-appropriation of physical and symbolic powers for those who are suffering because of unfair power structures within and outside the community. This re-appropriation of powers taps into the intellectual, motivational and material resources individuals and communities can mobilise within and around themselves..."
2. File Writeshops to Surface Synergies [PDF], by Angelo Miramonti - "A 'writeshop' is an intensive, participatory workshop that aims to produce some kind of written output....In the context of BRACED, the Knowledge Manager has invited researchers from the Implementing Partner teams to jointly produce research pieces of publishable quality. Writeshops are held every year, and provide an important opportunity to collectively generate documents on project activities and learn from other participating experts..."
3. Unscrambling Climate and Weather Information [PDF], by Roop Singh - offers 8 tips for integrating climate and weather information into development projects (e.g., format and language are important).
4. Learning Marketplaces to Share Innovations [PDF], by Margot Steenbergen - a platform for the exchange of knowledge and tools, for example during a project or towards the end. It draws on the experience of participants and gives them a voice. It can inspire visitors to use new tools and techniques: "I had never heard of community radio and was intrigued by the stories of this stand holder. I will see if I can use this in the communities where we work as well..."
5. Reflecting in Teams with a Focus on Solutions [PDF], by Margot Steenbergen - a tool introduced by Solutions Focus, whose 6-phrase Reflecting Team approach involves a discussion designed to bring out the collective wisdom of a group to address a specific challenge. Its goal is to create an atmosphere of mutual respect to support positive problem-solving.
6. Knowledge Exchange Visits for Exploring Common Questions [PDF], by Bettina Koelle - "...Knowledge exchange visits allow participants to broaden their horizons and can enable them to explore creative alternative solutions in a hands-on, experiential manner. Within BRACED, this process can support the use of creative practices to support learning and find local solutions to complex problems and to allow participants to reflect on approaches supporting community resilience..."
7. Facilitating Webinars to Share Knowledge [PDF], by Margot Steenbergen - describes how BRACED uses this interactive approach to showcase experiences and learn from peers.
8. Understanding Seasonal Forecasts through Games [PDF], by Margot Steenbergen - a tool created by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. The participatory "paying for predictions" game aims to support experiential learning and dialogue on climate-smart disaster risk reduction. In the table game, players become disaster managers who face changing climate-related risks. Players make individual and collective decisions, with consequences. The hope is that rich discussions emerge at the end.
9. Reflections and Learning in Small Teams [PDF], by Bettina Koelle - a tool to facilitate short but effective reflection processes to support iterative cycles of learning. BRACED has found that learning from successes and failures is especially important when operating in a complex and somewhat unpredictable environment.