CBA - Mbale - Uganda
In Uganda's Mbale District on Mount Elgon's slopes, a successful community-centered adaptation plan involves villager-led terracing and early warning systems to combat landslides and floods, reducing soil erosion by 40% since 2020.
This CBA initiative emerged from participatory workshops where Bagisu farmers mapped vulnerable slopes, blending traditional terracing (okuzurra) with modern bamboo channels and SMS alerts, funded minimally through district resilience grants and NFA collaborative forestry.
Reflection on Key Criteria
Represents community values: Deeply rooted—terracing honors ancestral land stewardship tied to cultural spirits, with women leading bamboo planting per Bagisu norms.
Addresses challenges: Targets core risks of heavy rains eroding farms/homes; raised platforms protect 200+ households during monsoons.
Adequately assesses vulnerability: Village committees conducted household surveys identifying 50ha high-risk farmland, prioritizing widows and youth via local vulnerability matrices.
Demonstrates conflict resolution: Mediated land disputes through elders' councils before terracing, allocating communal plots transparently to prevent elite capture.
Meets expectations and needs: Farmers report doubled bean/coffee yields; 80% satisfaction per post-project audits, directly restoring food security lost to erosion.
Contributes to adaptive capacity: Builds lasting skills—youth now train neighbors on hybrid systems, scaling to adjacent parishes while linking to national NDCs for sustainability.
This model proves CBA thrives when locally owned, offering replicable lessons for Uganda's flood-prone north.