Linking climate information to livelihood strategies through ICTs: The role of integrated sustainable livelihoods framework

摘要

In this paper, we propose that an Integrated Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (I-SLF), that mainstreams ICT-driven climate information, provides the ideal means by which such information may be leveraged to ensure sustainable enhanced livelihoods. We focus on rural areas of Kitui County, Kenya. Guided by a range of theories such as Gender and Development (GAD), Bourdieu's ideas of social capital, and the Information Needs Assessment Model (INAM), we draw on the emerging variables to demonstrate that, while the SLF may have been formulated in a somewhat different context, its versatility is such that it remains the most appropriate tool for such studies in rural Kenya. Our view is that the continued access to, and use of, ICT tools like the mobile phone and radios offer diverse opportunities for rural communities to use timely and relevant climate information to enhance their livelihoods under the wider rubric of SLF. We hypothesize that rural communities' use ICT tools such as the mobile phones and the community radios to access localized climate information (weather, seasonal forecasts and agro-advisories) and that livelihood assets and livelihood strategies positively change with the increasing availability and use of the ICT-based climate information. The study is motivated by the increasing challenges of climate variability and climate change that affect Sub-Sahara Africa, creating problems such as food insecurity.