Project Summary

This project, currently in the planning phase, aims to explore the relationship between local media and climate change with a focus on the information needs of rural communities in India.

This work will center on local rural communities and strive to disseminate awareness and sensitization messages about local climate issues through outreach campaigns to encourage citizen action. Small workshops will aim to help the local community better understand the impacts of climate change on the local environment. The planned activities will also help state and private development agencies and local community leaders expand their understanding and awareness of macro and micro ecological interventions in terms of economic stability, climate resilience, and maintaining local biodiversity.

The purpose of the planned outreach is to promote greater awareness, advocacy, and policy change through active, local citizen engagement. The project team hopes to better understand if the expanded role of communication and outreach increases the ability of local people of nearby communities to connect with one another and engage directly with advocacy and policy issues.

Background

Project objectives:

• Help climate experts and policy makers understand how local-level community outreach is situated within the larger realm of public and civic communications.
• Deepen the understanding of local communities about the relationship between communication and civic engagement in local governance.
• Leverage public trust to help communities explore the gaps in their climate change knowledge, develop a clearer perception of climate change, and gain greater local acceptance of climate change through small narratives.

Implementation

The Estimated Activity Timeline: June-July 2023 (Phase I - Planning)

Desired Capabilities of New Partners: Outreach and Communication; Monitoring; Capacity Development; Political Networks; Stakeholders Engagement; Data and Information Sharing

Project Participants:

• Village heads and panchayat members of nearby village panchayats.
• Journalists of local newspapers who cover day-to-day climate change stories of these village communities.
• Teachers of government primary/secondary schools of the selected village communities.
• Health workers working at Primary health centers of these villages.
• The operators of Lok-mitra khedras (the information kiosks available at local level).
• The operators of local public distribution systems (the government ration depots).

Outcomes and Conclusions

Since community outreach at the local level can disseminate information to other nearby communities quickly in a cost-effective manner, this project may help facilitate informed decision-making surrounding water and climate change issues and local governance.

Outcomes will also help the project team and the larger CAKE community better understand what strategies result in effective engagement and communication with individuals and rural communities.

Overall, we hope this project strengthens connections between citizens and local agencies to foster a healthy and active democracy.