IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v111y2018icp13-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is resilience to climate change socially inclusive? Investigating theories of change processes in Myanmar

Author

Listed:
  • Forsyth, Tim

Abstract

Approaches to resilience to climate change can be socially exclusionary if they do not acknowledge diverse experiences of risks or socio-economic barriers to resilience. This paper contributes to analyses of resilience by studying how theories of change (ToC) processes used by development organizations might lead to social exclusions, and seeking ways to make these more inclusive. Adopting insights from participatory monitoring and evaluation, the paper first presents fieldwork from four villages in Myanmar to compare local experiences of risk and resilience with the ToCs underlying pathways to resilience based on building anticipatory, absorptive, and adaptive capacities. The paper then uses interviews with the development organizations using these pathways to identify how ToC processes might exclude local experiences and causes of risk, and to seek ways to make processes more inclusive. The research finds that development organizations can contribute to shared ToCs for resilience, but adopt tacitly different models of risk that reduce attention to more transformative socio-economic pathways to resilience. Consequently, there is a need to consider how resilience and ToCs can become insufficiently scrutinized boundary objects when they are shared by actors with different models of risk and intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Forsyth, Tim, 2018. "Is resilience to climate change socially inclusive? Investigating theories of change processes in Myanmar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 13-26.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:111:y:2018:i:c:p:13-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X18302158
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frankenberger, Timothy R. & Constas, Mark A. & Nelson, Suzanne & Starr, Laurie, 2014. "How NGOs approach resilience programming:," IFPRI book chapters, in: Fan, Shenggen & Pandya-Lorch, Rajul & Yosef, Sivan (ed.), 2013 Global Food Policy Report, chapter 19, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Ben D. MacArthur & Richard O. C. Oreffo, 2005. "Bridging the gap," Nature, Nature, vol. 433(7021), pages 19-19, January.
    3. Roe, Emery M., 1991. "Development narratives, or making the best of blueprint development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 287-300, April.
    4. Ian Burton & Livia Bizikova & Thea Dickinson & Yvonne Howard, 2007. "Integrating adaptation into policy: upscaling evidence from local to global," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 371-376, July.
    5. Forsyth, Tim & Evans, Natalie, 2013. "What is autonomous adaption? Resource scarcity and smallholder agency in Thailand," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45412, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. B. Smit & I. Burton & R.J.T. Klein & R. Street, 1999. "The Science of Adaptation: A Framework for Assessment," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 199-213, September.
    7. Patnaik, Unmesh & Das, Prasun Kumar, 2017. "Do Development Interventions Confer Adaptive Capacity? Insights from Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 298-312.
    8. Mark Pelling & Karen O’Brien & David Matyas, 2015. "Adaptation and transformation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 113-127, November.
    9. Ayesha Dinshaw & Susannah Fisher & Heather McGray & Neha Rai & Johan Schaar, 2014. "Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation: Methodological Approaches," OECD Environment Working Papers 74, OECD Publishing.
    10. Béné, Christophe & Chowdhury, Fahim S. & Rashid, Mamun & Dhali, Sabbir A. & Jahan, Ferdous, 2017. "Squaring the Circle: Reconciling the Need for Rigor with the Reality on the Ground in Resilience Impact Assessment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 212-231.
    11. Quandt, Amy, 2018. "Measuring livelihood resilience: The Household Livelihood Resilience Approach (HLRA)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 253-263.
    12. Darryn McEvoy & Hartmut F�nfgeld & Karyn Bosomworth, 2013. "Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation: The Importance of Framing," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 280-293, June.
    13. David Dodman & Diana Mitlin, 2013. "Challenges For Community‐Based Adaptation: Discovering The Potential For Transformation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 640-659, July.
    14. Forsyth, Tim & Evans, Natalie, 2013. "What is Autonomous Adaption? Resource Scarcity and Smallholder Agency in Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 56-66.
    15. Jessica Ayers & Nanki Kaur & Simon Anderson, 2011. "Negotiating Climate Resilience in Nepal," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(3), pages 70-79, May.
    16. Christophe Béné & Andrew Newsham & Mark Davies & Martina Ulrichs & Rachel Godfrey‐Wood, 2014. "Review Article: Resilience, Poverty And Development," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 598-623, July.
    17. Arora-Jonsson, Seema, 2016. "Does resilience have a culture? Ecocultures and the politics of knowledge production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 98-107.
    18. Emily Boyd & Henny Osbahr & Polly J Ericksen & Emma L Tompkins & Maria Carmen Lemos & Fiona Miller, 2008. "Resilience and ‘Climatizing’ Development: Examples and policy implications," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 51(3), pages 390-396, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lam, Steven & Dodd, Warren & Wyngaarden, Sara & Skinner, Kelly & Papadopoulos, Andrew & Harper, Sherilee L., 2021. "How and why are Theory of Change and Realist Evaluation used in food security contexts? A scoping review," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Kayleigh Swanson, 2021. "Equity in Urban Climate Change Adaptation Planning: A Review of Research," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 287-297.
    3. Eriksen, Siri & Schipper, E. Lisa F. & Scoville-Simonds, Morgan & Vincent, Katharine & Adam, Hans Nicolai & Brooks, Nick & Harding, Brian & Khatri, Dil & Lenaerts, Lutgart & Liverman, Diana & Mills-No, 2021. "Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Knippenberg, Erwin & Jensen, Nathaniel & Constas, Mark, 2019. "Quantifying household resilience with high frequency data: Temporal dynamics and methodological options," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-15.
    5. Carr, Edward R., 2019. "Properties and projects: Reconciling resilience and transformation for adaptation and development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 70-84.
    6. Shulei Cheng & Yu Yu & Wei Fan & Chunxia Zhu, 2022. "Spatio-Temporal Variation and Decomposition Analysis of Livelihood Resilience of Rural Residents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-25, August.
    7. Anastasia Zabaniotou & Christine Syrgiannis & Daniela Gasperin & Arnoldo José de Hoyos Guevera & Ivani Fazenda & Donald Huisingh, 2020. "From Multidisciplinarity to Transdisciplinarity and from Local to Global Foci: Integrative Approaches to Systemic Resilience Based upon the Value of Life in the Context of Environmental and Gender Vul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-32, October.
    8. Asad Asadzadeh & Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir & Ayyoob Sharifi & Pourya Salehi & Theo Kötter, 2022. "Transformative Resilience: An Overview of Its Structure, Evolution, and Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Forsyth, Tim & McDermott, Constance L. & Dhakal, Rabindra, 2022. "What is equitable about equitable resilience? Dynamic risks and subjectivities in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    10. Amadu, Festus O. & McNamara, Paul E. & Miller, Daniel C., 2020. "Understanding the adoption of climate-smart agriculture: A farm-level typology with empirical evidence from southern Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    11. Seol A. Kwon, 2022. "Where Does an Individual’s Willingness to Act on Alleviating the Climate Crisis in Korea Arise from?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Mohammad Rondhi & Ahmad Fatikhul Khasan & Yasuhiro Mori & Takumi Kondo, 2019. "Assessing the Role of the Perceived Impact of Climate Change on National Adaptation Policy: The Case of Rice Farming in Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-21, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Forsyth, Tim, 2021. "Time to change? Technologies of futuring and transformative change in Nepal’s climate change policy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107544, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Ensor, Jonathan & Tuhkanen, Heidi & Boyland, Michael & Salamanca, Albert & Johnson, Karlee & Thomalla, Frank & Lim Mangada, Ladylyn, 2021. "Redistributing resilience? Deliberate transformation and political capabilities in post-Haiyan Tacloban," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Christophe Béné, 2020. "Resilience of local food systems and links to food security – A review of some important concepts in the context of COVID-19 and other shocks," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(4), pages 805-822, August.
    4. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    5. Christophe Béné & Timothy Frankenberger & Tiffany Griffin & Mark Langworthy & Monica Mueller & Stephanie Martin, 2019. "‘Perception matters’: New insights into the subjective dimension of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crises," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 19(3), pages 186-210, July.
    6. Hare Krisna Kundo & Martin Brueckner & Rochelle Spencer & John Davis, 2021. "Mainstreaming climate adaptation into social protection: The issues yet to be addressed," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 953-974, August.
    7. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nguyen, Loc Duc & Lippe, Rattiya Suddeephong & Grote, Ulrike, 2017. "Determinants of Farmers’ Land Use Decision-Making: Comparative Evidence From Thailand and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 199-213.
    8. Susanne Moser & Sara Meerow & James Arnott & Emily Jack-Scott, 2019. "The turbulent world of resilience: interpretations and themes for transdisciplinary dialogue," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 21-40, March.
    9. Christophe Béné & Derek Headey & Lawrence Haddad & Klaus Grebmer, 2016. "Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(1), pages 123-138, February.
    10. Mersha, Azeb Assefa & van Laerhoven, Frank, 2018. "The interplay between planned and autonomous adaptation in response to climate change: Insights from rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 87-97.
    11. James D. Ford & Tristan Pearce & Graham McDowell & Lea Berrang-Ford & Jesse S. Sayles & Ella Belfer, 2018. "Vulnerability and its discontents: the past, present, and future of climate change vulnerability research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 189-203, November.
    12. Lisa C. Kelley & Agung Prabowo, 2019. "Flooding and Land Use Change in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Isaac Gershon Kodwo Ansah & Cornelis Gardebroek & Rico Ihle, 2019. "Resilience and household food security: a review of concepts, methodological approaches and empirical evidence," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(6), pages 1187-1203, December.
    14. David J. Yu & Michael L. Schoon & Jason K. Hawes & Seungyoon Lee & Jeryang Park & P. Suresh C. Rao & Laura K. Siebeneck & Satish V. Ukkusuri, 2020. "Toward General Principles for Resilience Engineering," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(8), pages 1509-1537, August.
    15. Benjapon Prommawin & Nattanun Svavasu & Spol Tanpraphan & Voravee Saengavut & Theepakorn Jithitikulchai & Witsanu Attavanich & Bruce A. McCarl, 2022. "Impacts of Climate Change and Agricultural Diversification on Agricultural Production Value of Thai Farm Households," PIER Discussion Papers 184, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    16. Md Roushon Jamal & Paul Kristiansen & Md Jahangir Kabir & Lisa Lobry de Bruyn, 2023. "Challenges and Adaptations for Resilient Rice Production under Changing Environments in Bangladesh," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-21, June.
    17. Luc Doyen & Christophe Béné, 2018. "A generic metric of resilience from resistance to transformation," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2018-03, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    18. Walter Leal Filho & Franziska Wolf & Stefano Moncada & Amanda Lange Salvia & Abdul-Lateef Babatunde Balogun & Constantina Skanavis & Aristea Kounani & Patrick D. Nunn, 2022. "Transformative adaptation as a sustainable response to climate change: insights from large-scale case studies," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 1-26, March.
    19. Indrajit Pal & Ganesh Dhungana & Ayush Baskota & Parmeshwar Udmale & Mayuri Ashokrao Gadhawe & Puvadol Doydee & Tanh T. N. Nguyen & Seak Sophat, 2023. "Multi-Hazard Livelihood Security and Resilience of Lower Mekong Basin Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, May.
    20. Rahwa Kidane & Thomas Wanner & Melissa Nursey-Bray & Md. Masud-All-Kamal & Gerald Atampugre, 2022. "The Role of Climatic and Non-Climatic Factors in Smallholder Farmers’ Adaptation Responses: Insights from Rural Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:111:y:2018:i:c:p:13-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.