Power of 'tech plus people' in early warning, early action and climate risk management

Webinar

This online event shared lessons from the implementation of the CRISP-M tool and how it has contributed to a variety of development goals.

Online
Last updated 3 November 2022
Smiling women and men standing in a field looking at a mobile phone

CRISP-M is a new digital tool combining climate risk information with local knowledge that helps communities in India manage climate risks more effectively (Photo: copyright H&K Communications)

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a social protection programme in India that provides a safety net by offering 100 days of wage employment to every rural household, with 50 additional days in the case of severe drought.

Integrating climate risk management approaches into MGNREGS can help realise its climate resilience potential. As part of the FCDO supported 'Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth (ICRG)' programme, IIED co-developed the CRISP-M tool that helps communities make climate-smart decisions and enables them to absorb the effects of climate risks, adapt to climate impacts and deal with growing climate impacts.

The CRISP-M tool is currently being implemented in two districts and is planned to be scaled up across India. Early results show the value of the people-centred, community-driven processes used in the implementation of the tool.

This event shared lessons from the implementation of the tool – how it has contributed to inclusion of women, marginalised and Indigenous groups in decision-making; early warning and early action; climate risk informed integrated landscape-based planning; transparency and accountability; and leveraging resources from other development programmes.

These emerging lessons and trends are expected to inform similar initiatives and planning processes in India and globally.

The event included a panel discussion exploring the value of ‘tech plus people’ approach in early warning, early action and climate risk management.

Agenda

Welcome and introduction

  • Daljeet Kaur, climate and environment advisor, FCDO

Keynote addresses

  • Shri. Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, government of the United Kingdom
  • Hon’ble Minister Shri Giriraj Singh, Ministry of Rural Development, government of India

How CRISP-M’s web-based technology and community-driven approach supports inclusive climate resilience in India – sharing lessons and impact from the field level case studies

  • Ritu Bharadwaj, principal researcher, IIED

Panel discussion: Why the ‘tech plus people’ approach is important for supporting community-centred and location specific response to early warning, early action and climate risk management

Moderator

  • Ben Webster, head of secretariat for the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership, hosted at the ‎International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Opening comments

  • Nagendra Nath Sinha, secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, government of India

Panellists

  • Dr Tom Mitchell, executive director, IIED
  • Kamal Kishore, member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
  • Amit Prothi, director general, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)
  • Rajeshwari B, commissioner, MGNREGS, Jharkhand
  • Adessou Kossivi, regional lead Africa and climate change risk driver lead at GNDR (TBC)

Closing comments

  • Shantanu Mitra, head, infrastructure and urban development, FCDO, India

Event coverage

Watch a full recording of the event below or on IIED's YouTube channel, where individual links to the start of each speaker are also provided.

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Contact

Anne Schulthess (anne.schulthess@iied.org), marketing manager, IIED's Communications Group

Contact

Ritu Bharadwaj (ritu.bharadwaj@iied.org) is principal researcher (climate governance and finance team) in IIED's Climate Change research group