Issotina Nala is 32 years old and full of energy and enthusiasm about the new solar-powered pump and irrigation system that is set to guarantee a decent income for him, his two wives and their three children in Wekete village, Ouake, north-western Benin. With more schooling than his fellow farmers, he’s pushed forward as the group spokesman and chief demonstrator of the new system that the community hopes will encourage their young men to stay in the village and resist the temptation to follow others over nearby borders to Nigeria or Togo in search of work.

Climate change is making the life of farmers increasingly precarious in Benin and across much of West Africa, encouraging many young men to leave their communities for a new life in the city, another country or even make a perilous journey to Europe. So, in Wekete, the community chose to make young men the primary beneficiaries of their new climate-resilient market gardening project in the hope they will build a future closer to home.

“Before, there was no water. If the water runs out, then we are not able to farm. Without water, the work finished [on the farm] from October to March - there was nothing to do. Now with this new system, there is always water. There is no time when we are idle at the house with nothing to do,” said Mr Nala. "The money [I earn] will help us a lot!” he added. “I have two wives now and children. With the money from this project I will be able to send my children to school and my family will be secure.”

The Wekete villagers’ decision is at odds with choices made by other communities in the region. Indeed, the neighbouring village of Komdè , so close that the market gardens from the two villages stand side-by-side, chose to prioritise the needs of female headed households. The choices made by the two communities underscores the importance of locally led decision-making for durable and relevant adaptation that meets the needs of the people who live there. The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, which channelled the grants to both Wekete and Komdè for funding of the new market garden project, uses community consultations to ensure that local needs are identified and delivered upon, with investments tailored to locally identified pressures and situations that might vary from village to village.

“Because there is a shortage of water, due to climate change, we find that young people in the ‘dead’ season are not occupied. From November until March, April, they are practically idle. During this period, the young people are obliged to go elsewhere in search of work,” said Cossoba Nanako, Head of Programmes UNCDF Benin, which implements LoCAL in partnership with the government. “Now [with the new irrigation system] the young people can stay in the village and are able to produce crops to eat. They now have food security and nutritional security at the local level – access to sufficient vegetables for instance - which are expensive to buy in the dry season,” he added.

Across the world, millions of people leave their homes each year, migrating internally or internationally in search of work and a better life. In developing and least developed countries or African nations, many of those who leave never return to live in the village or country of their birth – others risk everything for the promise of a brighter future in another country or on another continent. In recent years, climate change and climate shocks are pushing ever more people away from their usual residences. According to the World Bank, some 143 million people are expected to migrate as a result of climate change within the next 30 years. But this figure could be addressed by increasing the adaptive capacities of communities in migration zones, according to the latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Performance Based Climate Resilience Grants ensure that funds reach local government authorities through existing fiscal transfer systems. Following the community consultations, the local governments select investments that meet community needs from a menu of eligible investments, drafted with LoCAL support and taking into account climate forecasting and vulnerabilities. Implementation and application of funds is then tracked. Local governments that meet or surpassing a pre-agreed set of minimum conditions are ‘rewarded’ with larger grants for the next round of investments resulting in a virtuous learning cycle.

In Ouaké Commune, local government officers listened to the needs of their community and realised that a shared water irrigation project could serve the needs of the two villages if they had the freedom to select the project beneficiaries.

“This site enables us to resolve a certain number of problems: it gives people the means and it addresses the needs of the young,” said Comi Coubeou, Head of the Technical Services Division and agricultural focal point for the mairie of Ouaké Commune, where both Wekete and Komdè are located. “If you see the young group of people,” said Mr Coubeou, gesturing towards Mr Nala and the other young men, “it’s just such young people that stray, that leave to go to towns, other countries, to find fertile grounds – [it would be good if this project] enables us to retain these youths here, unlike the others that have already left.”

Find out more about LoCAL here

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