The Role of Literacy in Pro Poor Climate Change Adaptation

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The role of literacy in pro-poor climate change adaptation practices

The role of literacy in

pro-poor climate changeadaptation practicesAn analytical framework

STUDENT REGISTRATION NUMBER 4970314

A dissertation submitted to the School of International Development of the

University of East Anglia in Part-fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree

of Master of Arts in Education and Development

September 2011


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WORD COUNT 11.979


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Contents

List of Figures and Tables ................................................................................................................... i

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ ii

Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. iii

Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Research question................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Value of the research .............................................................................................................. 2

1.3 Methodology and outline of the research............................................................................. 2

Chapter 2: Literacy and Literacies, an overview of definitions and theoretical frameworks 4

2.1 Literacy, great divide and benefits ........................................................................................ 4

2.2 The New Literacy Study.......................................................................................................... 5

2.3 Situated perspectives on literacy........................................................................................... 6

2.3.a Material dimension of literacy ......................................................................................... 7

2.3.b Textually mediated access to choices and literacy sponsors and mediators.......... 7

2.3.c Agency and participation in the political space ............................................................ 8

2.3.d Re-contextualization, local and global dimensions ..................................................... 9

2.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 10

Chapter 3: Adaptation, Vulnerability and Development .............................................................. 11

3.1 The adaptation framework.................................................................................................... 11

3.1.a Climate variability and change (Box1)......................................................................... 12

3.1.b Vulnerability to climate change (Box 2) ....................................................................... 12

3. 1.c Adaptation practices (Box 3)........................................................................................ 13

3.1.d The role of institutions (Box 4) ...................................................................................... 15

3.1.e Socio-economic resources/assets (Box 5) ................................................................. 15

3.1.f External resources (Box 6)............................................................................................. 16

3.2 Vulnerability, Development and Resilience ....................................................................... 16

3.2.a The Vulnerability Development Continuum ................................................................ 16

3.2.b Resilience ........................................................................................................................ 17

3.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 17


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Chapter 4: The literacy-adaptation analytical framework .......................................................... 18

4 .1 Which options are available to chronic poor? .................................................................. 18

4.1. a Definition of chronic poverty ........................................................................................ 18

4.1. b Adaptation Practices and poverty categories............................................................ 19

4.2 What role for literacy in these adaptive options?.............................................................. 22

4.2.a Livelihoods and market exchange .............................................................................. 22

4.2.b Power relations and decision making over uses of assets ...................................... 23

4.2.c Networks and public policy driven adaptation ............................................................ 24

4.2 d Material intervention oriented adaptation practices................................................... 24

4.2. e Institutional modification oriented adaptation practices........................................... 25

4.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 26

Chapter 5 Urban poverty, literacy and climate change in Bangladesh, a case study .............. 27

5.1 Chronic poor adaptation to climate change in urban centers ......................................... 27

5.3 Chronic Poor adaptation in Bangladesh urban areas ...................................................... 27

5.3.a Urban chronic poor and exposure to climate variability in Bangladesh ................ 27

5.3.b Urban Chronic poor and literacy in Bangladesh urban centers, what is to bemeasured?................................................................................................................................. 28

5.4.a Literacy, years of schooling and adaptation practices in urban environments ..... 30

5.5 Testing of the literacy-adaptation tool and conclusions ................................................. 32

Chapter 6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 34

List of References .............................................................................................................................. 36


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i

List of Figures and Tables

FIGURE 1 ADAPTATION PRACTICES FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................. 11

FIGURE 2 MAPPING ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH SOCIAL CAPITAL ........................................................... .... 15

FIGURE 3 THE CHRONIC POOR, TRANSIENT POOR A NON POOR - A CATEGORIZATION ..................................... 18

FIGURE 4 WORSENING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS IN URBAN LOCATIONS ....................................... 29

TABLE 1 ADAPTATION PRACTICES PER POVERTY CATEGORY .............................................................................. 20

TABLE 2 LITERACY-ADAPTATION ANALYTICAL TOOL .......................................................... ................................. 21

TABLE 3 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS AGE 6+ BY LITERACY AND EDUCATION ....... 30

TABLE 4 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION YEARS OF SCHOOLING .............................................................. ............... 32


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Abstract

Climate change is already forcing communities in developing countries to adapt to new,

unexpected circumstances, driving those who dont have sufficient coping capacity towards

a status of ineluctable vulnerability.

The objective of this dissertation is to explore how literacy can influence chronic poors

adaptation practices. Firstly, I looked at how literacy and climate change adaptation are

theoretically understood, laying the basis to develop a literacy-adaptation analytical tool

that comprehends the main nexuses between the two topics. Then I have tested the

relevance of the tool applying its findings to a case study utilizing secondary data relative to

Bangladesh slum dwellers.

The results have shown that literacy has tangible influences over people ability to perform

adaptation practices, which can have a relevant impact on chronic poor. In particular literacy

exercises influence over a wide range of identified adaptation categories: livelihoods

diversification, access to market exchange, benefits from social protection measures,

governance modification and transformation of gender inequalities. These findings also

inform an important policy recommendation: literacy has to be promoted within a framework

of lifelong learning education rather than only through a narrow focus on primary education.

The evidence of the wideness of the adaptation categories that can be positively influenced

by various literacy practices and the marked pro-poor vocation of these solutions, confirm

the initial hypothesis: the promotion of literacy can be an effective no regrets tool for the

reduction of chronic poor vulnerability to climate change.


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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Bryan Maddox, for his support,

guidance, time and patience; without the very inspiring conversations with him this work

would not have been possible.

I also would like to thank both Sheila Aikman and Bryan Maddox for making my learning

experience during the Master always challenging and never banal.


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There is so much inequality inscribed in the

production of this book. The main inequality is in the

result: voice. I can produce a globalized voice, they

cant; I can produce a prestige genre, they cant;

I can speak from within a recognizable position and

identity, they cant.

Grassroots Literacy

Jan Blommaert


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Chapter 1: Introduction

At first sight it is quite easy to see what literacy and the effects of climate change have in

common. They are both characterized by inequalities in their distribution and they are both

areas of concern when we talk about chronic poverty.

The impacts of climate change and climate variability are already felt on the ground. There

are evidences (Smit et al., 2001) that these impacts are distributed unevenly among the

world population and it is generally believed that the poorest are the most affected by these

changes. The widespread concern is that climate change effects, if not managed properly

and promptly, will hinder pathways out of poverty (DFID, 2005). Moreover, climate changeis believed to worsen the already existing social inequalities, driving those with scarce

adaptive capacity into deeper vulnerability (Polack, 2008).

On the other hand also literacy is still an unsolved issue. In 2004 the 17% of the world adult

population, around 770 million people, was considered to be illiterate, and women living in

developing countries representi two thirds of this number (UNESCO, 2011:65).

Within this scenario, the mainstream literature on climate change and disaster risk reduction

widely recognizes that a lack of education is a determinant of vulnerability to climate

hazards (IPCC, 2001; UNISDR, 2004). However, despite the fact that low literacy levels

are very often used as proxy of education and an indicator of vulnerability, very rarely the

promotion of literacy is utilized as a tool to improve peoples ability to cope with change.

Nonetheless, chronic poor are already adapting to climate variations and, presumably, will

have to cope with these changes even more in the future. Are their adaptation strategies

influenced by their command over certain literacy practices?

1.1 Research questionWhat role does literacy play in shaping peoples adaptation practices in contexts of chronic

poverty?

- Which theoretical notions can help us exploring the nexuses between literacy,

adaptation practices and chronic poverty?

- Are there any theoretical evidences that the promotion of literacy could be an

effective no-regrets adaptation strategy?


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1.2 Value of the research

This dissertation is grounded on the suggestion made by Tanner and Mitchell (2008) that

climate change can be considered as an opportunity for the poorest to develop ways out of

poverty, advocating for the promotion of pro-poor adaptation measures (ibid.). As they

demonstrate, the climate change discourse provides valid ideological standpoints for the

development of a poverty-centered adaptation approach. On one side, there is the

instrumental effectiveness driver approach utilized by many donors and the World Bank.

Utilizing economic analysis it demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of adaptation in order to

protect investments on development. On the other side, there is the equity and justice

approach (Paavola and Adger, 2006) that considers the investment in adaptation policies as

a moral necessity of richer, highly polluting countries towards the poorer countries, less

responsible and most affected by climate change. Hence they recommend that, if we want

to develop appropriate pro-poor policies, making adaptation effective for the chronically

poor, we will have to go beyond analysis at the broad community level and investigate

how the multidimensional aspects of deprivation are influencing the chronically poor

adaptation practices (Tanner and Mitchell, 2008:12). Can we consider literacy as one of the

multiple deprivations affecting the chronic poor? And, if yes, how this deprivation affects

their adaptation capacity?

The no-regrets approach theorizes that, as the scenario of the change is mainly uncertain

at the moment, it is important to promote adaptation measures that are beneficial, no matterhow or if the predicted climate change impacts materialize (Heltbert et al., 2009). The

objective of this dissertation is to provide the theoretical foundations to the argument that

the promotion of literacy, in a context of lifelong learning education (Torres, 2003),

represents an effective no-regret strategy to improve chronic poor adaptation practices.

1.3 Methodology and outline of the research

The objective of this dissertation is to analyze, from a theoretical point of view, the possible

interactions between literacy and climate change adaptation in contexts of chronic poverty. I

therefore merged significant elements of the two theoretical frameworks, proposing a tool of

analysis that can encourage researchers and policy makers to consider the implications of

the nexuses pinpointed. The analysis is supplemented by the recognition that chronic

poverty, intended as a multidimensional deprivation status, has to be considered and

analyzed in its specificity.

In order to do so, in Chapter 2 I reviewed the relevant literature on literacy; and then, in

Chapter 3, I have explored which factors are believed to shape adaptation practices


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according to the climate change relevant literature. The merging of the two frameworks and

the subsequent development of a literacy-adaptation tool of analysis has been explained in

the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter I supported my analysis with a case study located in

urban Bangladesh. This study tests the relevance of the nexuses outlined in the literacy-

adaptation tool of analysis, but also raises questions about the appropriateness of literacymeasurements.


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Chapter 2: Literacy and Literacies, an overview ofdefinitions and theoretical frameworks

Definitions of literacy are not innocent (Barlett, 2008)

In this section I will review the main academic literature about literacy, trying to expose

different notions and understanding of literacy, in the context of development. Besides using

an historical perspective, I will linger over the concepts that will be used in the following

chapter to explore the interactions between literacy and adaptation practices. This chapter

is therefore not intended to be an exhaustive literature review, but rather to lay the

theoretical foundations for the following analysis.

2.1 Literacy, great divide and benefits

In the 1960s many authors focus their research on the theme of oral cultures versus literate

cultures. Themost famous are Goody with his Literacy in traditional societies (1968) and

The Guthemberg Galaxy (1962) by McLuhan. This current has been called Great Divide

because it promoted the idea of profound differences between oral and literate societies,

mainly attributing higher cognitiveskills to literate societies. This dichotomy reflected other

dichotomies that were at centre of some cultural movements of that time (primitive versus

civilized or myth versus science) (Brand and Clinton, 2002). These theorists tended to

conceptualize literacy as skill learned through a gradual and linear process of personal,

cognitive and economic growth and development. Within this frame, any personal gain

would have reflected positively on the overall society. This conception of literacy has been

later on labeled as autonomous model of literacy, as it would consider literacy as an

independent variable capable to trigger positive benefits (Street, 1984: 2).

During the same years the idea of human capital started imposing itself in the development

scene. Authors like Shultz (1961) argued that for individual educational gains are stocked in

the human capital, this capital enables people to gain income, as it was an interest on the

stocked goods. The same mechanism is believed to have beneficial effects on the society

where the individuals live. Different types of rate of returns are produced by different types

of investments in education in different kind of contexts. For instance, Psacharopoulos and

Patrinos (2004) suggests that classical patterns of human capital studies are: there is a

negative relation between returns to investment and the level of development of the countrywhere the investment is made; secondary education guarantees more personal returns than


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social returns; investment in basic education for women in developing countries is the one

guaranteeing higher returns (Shultz, 2002). Also in this case education is considered as an

independent variable. This kind of instrumentalist approaches (Unterhalter, 2007) have

created strong narratives about the benefits associated to education and literacy and about

the linear, positivistic development discourse behind this relation.

Both the autonomous model of literacy and the human capital theory have been widely

criticized (Street, 1984, Little, 2003; Robeyns, 2006); however they are considered to be still

highly influential in informing the mainstream development discourse. To quote some of

the most significant and recent critics, the 2006 edition of the UNESCO Global Monitoring

Report Literacy for Life (2005) has received harsh criticism just because of its economistic

paradigm of development (Robison-Pant, 2008). Anna Robison-Pant (ibid.) reports that

while working at the background papers of the Unesco Global Monitoring Report (2005), her

major challenge was to problematize the whole concept of benefits within a policy context

which was framed by the notion of literacy (and education) as a common undisputed good.

Lesley Barlett (2008) also underlines how, even though in one chapter the complexity of the

notion of literacy is recognized, the whole document speaks in fulsome prose about the

political, economic, social, and cultural benefits of literacy.

2.2 The New Literacy Study

The New Literacy Study (NLS) is a school of thought that includes those thinkers that, in

reaction to the Great Divide, developed the theory of literacy as a social practice. This

reaction can be seen as a part of the poststructuralist (Deridda, Focault) reaction to the

structuralism of the Great Divide. The most eminent representative of the NLS school is

Brian Street, who in 1984 denounced the ethnocentrism of the autonomous model of

literacy, proposing a more culturally sensitive ideological model. According to Street literacy

cannot be extrapolated from the social contest where it operates. It is not literacy as an

isolated power that shapes societies, on the opposite literacy practices are shaped by the

power relations and ideologies already present within the societies. Because this approach

generates from an ethnographic perspective on literacy, then the first aspect that is

underlined is the multiple and contextual nature of literacies (Collins, 1995). The

ethnographer rather than looking at literacy as a deficitor a needof a society, will try to

discover which literacy practices people are already engaged in (Street, 2001: 1), many

people labeled illiterate by the users of an autonomous model of literacy might be

discovered to use different and significant literacy skills (Doronilla, 1996). The division

between oral expression and literacy therefore disappears in front of the eyes of theethnographer. One key concept generated by the NLS, in accordance with poststructuralist


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views on the society organization, is that literacy often functions as a hegemonic power over

societies, and its used to exercise and maintain control (Collins, 1995). That why Street

talks about the ideological model of literacy as opposite to the autonomous one, as a

neutral literacy cannot exist since ideology, power relations and contestation are

organically embedded within the literacy practices.

Two of the key concepts of the NLS that are more pertinent to our analysis are the notions

of literacy eventsand of literacy practices. Shirley Brice Heath describes a literacy event

as any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of the participants

interactions and their interpretative processes (Heath, 1983:50). Brian Street instead

describes literacy practices (Street, 1984:1) as a way of focusing on the social practices

and conceptions of reading and writing.

This approach has tremendously enriched the literacy debate, providing many new insights

to literacy practices. One inestimable result is that it has informed and empowered the

authority of ethnographic research in the field of literacy. As we will see in Chapter 4, the

ethnographic investigations on literacy are particularly important within this dissertation as

they provide evidences of how literacy practices shape daily life performances in terms of

livelihoods, social networks and participation in the public sphere.

2.3 Situated perspectives on literacy

Even if the contextual nature of literacy that is promoted by the NLS will be at the core of

this research, however in order to analyze the role of literacy practices in climate change

adaptation I will need analytical tools to expand beyond the context. Some authors have

demonstrated that is possible to explore the consequences and utility of literacy as a

technology, and its role in progressive forms of social change (Maddox, 2007) without

slipping into an autonomous model conception of literacy. This perspective is crucial within

my analysis as, as shown in Chapter 3, individuals and households adaptation practices

are influenced by many factors: external global dynamics; national, regional and local

institutions and issues of governance and agency.

As Brandt and Clinton (2002: 338) suggest, the NLS has created its own, tacit great

divideone that assumes separation between the local and the global, agency and social

structure, and literacy and its technology. Therefore within this new dichotomy some

aspects of literacy, like its technology, its materiality or thing status (ibid.) and the relation

between local and global or wider contexts (Collins and Blot, 2003), became taboo. Thisrigid and partial vision on literacy has been criticized by scholars that, still building on an


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ethnographic approach to the literacy research, claim as crucial the recognition of adding a

very important dimension to the localism described by NLS, which is the agency of people

in shaping and make use of literacy (Barton and Hamilton, 1998). Within this approach a

particular attention is given to the modalities in which literacy is used to mediate interactions

between people, suggesting that literacy is inherently useful in processes of socialorganization and life management (Maddox, 2007).

2.3.a Material dimension of literacy

small everyday texts like lists, reports and online chats help construct the infrastructure thatshapes our lives (Kell, 2011:613)

Where do we start our analysis of the role of literacy in adaptation practices? Brandt and

Clinton (2002) suggest, drawing on Latour, that text has a materiality, a thingness, thattranscends the local and that has to be the focus of literacy studies. Literacy in these terms

has trans-contextualized and trans-contextualizing potentials, in other we shall look at the

ability of texts to travel, integrate and endure and to create meaning across contexts. The

reality of texts as mediators of daily practices will be therefore one of the pillars of my

analysis (see the analytical tool in Chapter 4).

2.3.b Textually mediated access to choices and literacy sponsors and mediators

Is important to understand that often when literacy, or a specific literacy practice, is not

available at individual level other resources are mobilized in order to make things happen

(Kell, 2008). Fingeret (1983) argues that literacy practices are performed within social

networks, taking the shape of an exchange of resources: literacy mediators will offer their

service to have something in exchange. However these exchanges involve power relations

and can be empowering or disempowering. Brand and Clinton (2002) use the term literacy

sponsors to refer to those institutions and people that make the learning and the use of

literacy practices possible, for example the government, religious institutions, office workersand so on. These people or institutions detain the power to let other people access to

information and often represent interests that differ from the ones of the client they serve.

Literacy mediation is a crucial concept within this dissertation as it is a characteristic of the

textually mediated relationships between institutions and individuals or households; having

full control over these processes might make the difference between a successful

adaptation practice and a unsuccessful one. In addition to that, one characteristic of the

chronic poor is indeed their limited citizenship (CPRC, 2008) it is however possible to


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assume that they might be particularly exposed to abuses in their relationships with the

institutions, therefore the dynamics that regulate these encounters are very crucial.

One example of literacy mediation present in the ethnographic research of Kathrin Jones

(2000) sums up the relationship between the focus on the material dimension of text andthe role of mediation needed to perform specific literacy practices that are informed by a

global agenda. She looks at rural Welsh families and their literacy encounters with the

farming bureaucracy. At the centre of the analysis there is the text (the form to be filled by

the farmer), as a material piece of evidence of a global bureaucratic agenda (the European

Union policies), imposed on the local context with the consequence of producing

disembedded local relations. If these texts are obviously disempowering, on the other hand

people are capable of re-contextualizing these external influences, through their agency,

bureaucracy mediators (government officers) play a crucial role in shaping these

processes. As Liezl Malan (1996) puts it literacy mediators intervene between local and

dominant discourses and their agency is invested with varying degrees of social power.

In these, and other similar studies (Kell, 1996; Malan, 1996; Collins & Blot, 2003) we see

how three very important elements interact: the text itself, the access to opportunities that

are mediated by texts, the role of mediators within this process. Katherine Kell (2008),

through a meticulous research of the uses of text within development interventions, invites

to re-conceptualize mediation across larger social units. She shows how agency is

inexorably linked with the transferability of texts and the availability of proper mediation.

However, not always mediators play a positive role. Within the discourse of literacy and

inequalities, some studies explore the role of texts, mediators and the exercise of state

power. Barlett et al (2011) show how material texts (legal documents) are interpreted

differently by the state officers according to the gender, the perceived ethnicity and the

social capital of the holders; her analysis shows how literacy practices are not liberation per

se, on the contrary agents of the state use them as a mean of exploitation.

2.3.c Agency and participation in the political space

As will be illustrated in Chapter 3, a wide participation of the people into public decision

making is regarded as crucial for the reduction of the vulnerability to climate change and

variability. Furthermore, household or community level inequalities are considered to be

underlying causes of vulnerability (Mc Gray et al, 2007). I argue, utilizing the ethnographic

observations in this field, that the relation between peoples literacy practices, their agency

and their interaction within the public sphere has to be explored. Even if this relation is not

linear (as we have just seen in Barlett et al. account), certain literacy practices within certain


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contexts reveal to be transformative. One of the examples might be the women use of

literacy and numeracy to manage home accounting, as described by Maddox (2001, 2005)

that can represent a concrete threat to patriarchy, even though it might not be sufficient per

seto radically transform power relations.

Paulo Freire (1970) has been the main advocate of the idea of literacy as a tool for social

transformation. His work has inspired generations of educators that utilize critical pedagogy

to engage students to learn literacy through the acquisition of consciousness about their

status and the power relations that regulate their lives. These notions have been utilized in

different interventions involving grassroots organization that in certain cases have produced

very powerful literacy practices for the participation in the public space Doronila and Cueva

Sipin (2005); but have been also criticized for having questionable political results, mainly

due to the inadequate preparation of the teachers (Barlett, 2008).

2.3.d Re-contextualization, local and global dimensions

As we have seen above the ethnographic research help understanding that part of the

global influences take the shape of texts when they land into local contexts. Brandt and

Clinton (2002) talk about globalizing connect, they describe it as a local literacy practice

that has far reaching implications and uses outside the local context (Reder and Davila,

2005). The issue of globalization is relevant to the analysis of the role of literacy in

adaptation practices for two main reasons. The first one is that climate change is per sea

global phenomenon, not only because it happens globally but, especially, because it

involves global actors and agendas. Therefore what is happening, and will happen more in

the future is that policy driven adaptation practices will probably be internationally

determined and then will land locally shaped into texts (policies, laws, but also forms to be

filled or notes that announce relocations). The second one is that chronic poor are more and

more exposed to a double exposure (OBrien and Leichenko, 2000), the vulnerability to

climate change is often accompanied by the negative impacts of economic globalization.Global contexts are becoming so important into peoples lives that we have to ask: which

are the implication for literacy?

Bloomaert (2004, 2008) demonstrates how texts which might be functional within a context,

lose meaning and function when moved across context, specifically looking form a north-

south perspective. According to him, this dynamic reflects the unequal power relations

across contexts. In other words, a text written in what is, in a hegemonic way, considered to

be a periphery, when transferred in the so-called centre it will be regarded as inferior, rather

than different. This because of the hegemonic evaluative rules utilized in the centre. In this


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framework peripheral voices, unless they conform with the global literacies rules, are

disqualified from being heard. Bloomaert analysis gives us the tools to analyze the global

literacy inequalities. Kell (2005, 2008, 2011), instead, looks at recontextualization but at a

micro level. Her ethnographic research reveals that the shift across context of material texts

does not always produce a loss of meaning; however her work confirms the importance oflooking at the trajectories of the material texts in order to understand how meaning,

identities, power relations and literacy interact.

2.4 Conclusions

In this chapter I have tried to illustrate the richness of the understandings of literacy in the

academic literature, but also I have tried to outline which of these concepts will guide my

analysis. The core concept that will inform this dissertation is that literacy is far more than a

skill or a technology; it is instead a social practice that can powerfully shape the outcome of

other social practices. Trying to avoid to present literacy as an autonomousentity, I will

nevertheless attempt to pinpoint its potential value in shaping adaptation processes. In

order to do that, my investigation will be strongly informed by the concept of literacy

practices, by the centrality of the materiality of texts, by the concept of literacy mediation

and by the nexuses between literacy and global inequalities.

.


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Chapter 3: Adaptation, Vulnerability and Development

Very often literacy rates or investments in education (Brooks et al, 2005) are utilized, in the

framework of the climate change discourse (Chapter 1), as proxy for social or contextual

vulnerability within a community. Which concepts of the climate change adaptation might

help us framing our understanding of the role of literacy in adaptation practices?

3.1 The adaptation framework

The starting point of my analysis is that is crucial to understand what people are already

doing to adapt to climate change and variability in order to plan appropriate interventions

and promote enabling environments (Agrawal 2010, Roy et al, 2011). This particular

perspective pays appropriate attention to peoples agency within this process, recognizing

their preferences and innovative role in proposing adaptation practices (Roy et al, 2011).

Furthermore, it does concentrate on peoples capacity rather than their vulnerability (Twigg

2010.

My analysis will be based on the flowing adaptation framework (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Adaptation practices framework

Source: adaptation from Argawal (2010) and Roy et al. (2011)

Box 6

ExternalResources

Box 4

Institutions

Box 3

Adaptation practices

Box 2

Physical andsocialvulnerability

to climatechange andvariability

Box 1

Climate changeand variability

Box 5

Socio economicresources/assets


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As my analysis will show in Chapter 4, literacy, as a individuals, households or

communities resource (box 5, Figure 1), does not have only an influence in shaping

peoples adaptation practices, but it also shapes peoples relations with the institutions (box

4, Figure 1) and their relations with the external resources (box 6, figure 1). We will

therefore acknowledge the significance of the processes related to climate variability andchange and the vulnerabilities associated to it (box 1 and 2, Figure 1), but we will

concentrate our analysis on the adaptation practices and the institutions, looking at how this

choices are taken and performed according to the socio-economic assets (boxes 3, 4, 5,

Figure 1).

3.1.a Climate variability and change (Box1)

The international scientific community agrees on the fact that climate is changing, the

warming of the globe is considered to be a fact (IPCC, 2007). However climate predictions

are also characterized by a significant degree of uncertainty (Ensor and Berger, 2009),

while climate models can predict with a certain confidence the raising of the global

temperatures, they are still incapable of giving us more detailed information. Many

researchers have shown how local communities have already a strong perception of

anomalies in the weather (ibid.). Given our attention to peoples adaptation practices we will

focus more on the effects of the anomalies in the climate variability in the medium and short

term, rather than on the long terms effects of climate change. This because the latter are

not only not yet fully predictable; but also relatively comprehensible and relevant to peoples

lives.

3.1.b Vulnerability to climate change (Box 2)

The concept of vulnerability to climate change has been theorized in different ways. There

are two main, somehow conflicting, conceptions: outcome vulnerability and the contextual

one (Adger, 2006; Brooks, 2003; OBrien 2007; Kelly, 2000).

Some authors, whose views are rooted in the positivistic science and environmental

economics (OBrien et al., 2007) theorize vulnerability as the result of the exposure of a

certain community or area to a certain hazard. This approach, that can be labeled outcome

vulnerability, has its main focus in quantifying the losses related to climate change and it

has a scarce consideration of the influence of social issues in the framework of climate

change. This vision tends to inform technical adaptation solutions, for instance in the

provision of weather forecasting information (Tanner and Mitchell, 2008) and, in the field of


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education stressing the need for awareness rising trainings or the inclusion of climate

change knowledge in school curricula (IPCC, 2001; UNISDR, 2004).

The second and most relevant to us, approach is the so called contextual vulnerability, also

called starting point vulnerability (Ensor and Berger, 2009). Within this vision vulnerability is

the state of a given community or area that makes it exposed to climate hazards (Brooks,

2003; Wisner, 2004). This state does exist independently from the hazard and, being

related to socio-economic conditions present in a society, is mutable in the time and often it

is not distributed evenly. Within this vision, changes in climate are considered to occur in

the context of political, institutional, economic and social structures and changes, which

interact dynamically with contextual conditions (OBrien et al, 2007), socioeconomic

systems therefore can determine peoples ability to cope with the impacts of climate change

(Chambers, 1989). A crucial point is the understanding that the potential disastrous effects

of climate hazards are not natural phenomena, but rather social constructions, a result of

the resources availability and the architecture of entitlements (Adger and Kelly, 1999) to

access those resources (Kelly and Adger, 2000). This approach therefore provides the

theoretical grounds to reveal that the poorest communities are the most vulnerable to

climate change, and that the shocks caused by climate change are already hindering the

development efforts (DFID, 2005, Scott, 2008).

This concept of vulnerability provides a very important framework for the formulation of

policies oriented towards the identification of social and institutional tools to address

vulnerability. Also, recognizing that vulnerability is a complex phenomenon involving a

multiplicity of factors, it encourages a multidisciplinary approach (OBrien et al., 2007) within

the policy making process.

As we will see later in this chapter (3.1.c) and in Chapter 4, social networks and collective

action (Adger et al., 2003, Pelling and High, 2008) and good governance (in terms of

enhancement of accountability and participation in public decision making) are believed to

play a very important role in the reduction of vulnerability to climate change.

3. 1.c Adaptation practices (Box 3)

The adaptive capacity of a certain community, social system or area has been described in

many different ways; we will use Brookss definition:

The ability or capacity of a system to modify or change its characteristics or behavior

so as to cope better with existing or anticipated external stresses (Brooks, 2003: 8).


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14

This ability is excised through a number of adaptation practices that can be both physical

and behavioral. There is a growing recognition that people are already adapting to the

impacts created by climate change (Smithers and Smith 1997, Pelling and High, 2005,

Agraval, 2010, Chatterjee, 2010, Moser et al, 2010). When there is no public policy that

respond to climate hazards by promoting adaptation measures (planned adaptation),people engage in so called autonomous (or spontaneous) adaptation practices. (IPCC,

2001; Smith et al, 2010).

Autonomous adaptation practices need some conditions in order to be successful. Some

authors assess how the agents assets (such as education, access to information and

financial resources, social networks) have an influence on the adaptation choices and

outcomes (Brooks, 2003). While other authors focus on the key role of the authorities

(Argawal, 2010) to create enabling environments. It is therefore important to analyze the

practices, their agents and the wider political and economical contexts1.

In the following chapter I will therefore explore the role of literacy - that can be considered

(Chapter 2) as a prerogative of individuals, households and communities - in shaping

individual, households and collective adaptation practices (Moser et al, 2010). I will

furthermore look at the nexuses between literacy practices and social capital. As Pelling

and High (2005) have suggested there are two main, and opposed, scopes for the

mobilization of social capital in the framework of adaptation. On one side social capital can

support the organization of material interventions(such as the community mobilization for

the construction of river banks or drainages). In this case people mobilize their own already

existing social capital (Chatterjee, 2011).

On the other side, social capital is invoked as a driving force to lead processes of

institutional modification, such as democratization of the use of natural resources or broad

political participation. In this case the latent social capital capacity needs to be developed.

As in the development and adaptation continuum (3.2.a), all these adaptation practices can

be ordered according to how directly they address a particular climate hazard.

1

The construction of specific adaptation practices will be therefore dependent on the socio-economic resources (box 5, Figure 1), the institutions (box 4, Figure 1), and the social and physicalvulnerability to a specific hazard (box 2, Figure 1).


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Figu

As we will see in the foll

framework of our analysi

adaptation choices done a

3.1.d The role of instituti

Institutions here are defi

nongovernmental organiz

community based organiimportant roles in determin

often it is trough local insti

the communities. Argawal

institution in adaptation pr

an institutional context, a

interaction of stakeholde

institutions). These transa

will require different literac

3.1.e Socio-economic res

When talking about soci

individuals and communiti

factors and vulnerability a

discussed by many author

important to notice that t

individual condition; they th

The role of literacy in pro-poor climate chan

re 2 Mapping adaptive capacity through social capital

owing chapter, some of these elements

s, together with Tanner and Mitchell (20

cording to the poverty category (Chapter 4).

ns (Box 4)

ned broadly, as we will see that formal

tion, etc) and informal institutions (church

ations), public and private bodies and cing peoples ability to perform adaptive pra

tution that external resources (box 6, Figur

(2010) confirms this interaction with his stu

ctices and concludes that local adaptation

d most of the times ongoing adaptation

rs at different level (households, civil

tions are often textually mediated, as sho

practices according to the nature of the sta

ources/assets (Box 5)

o-economic resources I will hereby refer

s assets, capabilities and entitlements. Th

nd resilience in the context of climate cha

(Moser, 1998; Adger and Kelly, 1999; Bro

hese elements are meant to characterize

erefore could differ from the physical or soci

e adaptation practices

15

ill be utilized in the

08) classification of

(local government,

es, social networks,

ivil society, all playtices. Moreover very

1) are channeled to

y of the influence of

always occurs within

ractices involve the

society and public

n in Chapter 2, and

eholder involved.

to households and

e link between these

ge has been widely

ks et al, 2005). It is

a household or an

ial vulnerability of the


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16

wider community. The attention to the household unit of analysis is justified by the fact that

this dissertation focuses on chronic poverty (Hulme et al., 2001). On the other hand, it is

recognized that also within the household there can be significant differences in the

distribution of assets, especially according to gender and age (ibid).

These assets strongly shape the adaptation practices and the ability to perform them. As

Prowse and Scott (2008: 39) suggests assets are vital elements of any pro-poor adaptation

strategy. II will argue in the following chapter that literacy practices are very relevant assets

within the adaptation discourse.

3.1.f External resources (Box 6)

As anticipated in Chapter 2 (p. 9) the context of adaptation to climate change is

characterized by the involvement of a number of international actors and the commitment of

the mobilization of resources that shall address this issue in the future. Even if the

mechanisms that will govern the allocation of the adaptation funds are far from being clear,

there will be tangible possibilities for poor people to benefit from these measures. However

it is very important to make sure that those benefits will reach the poorest communities and

that their priorities are met (Tanner and Mitchell, 2008).

3.2 Vulnerability, Development and Resilience

I will add two more concepts to the adaptation framework, as they are strongly related to it

and will be utilized in the following chapters.

3.2.a The Vulnerability Development Continuum

It is widely recognized that developing countries are the more vulnerable to climate change

(IPCC, 2001), therefore there are attempts to integrate adaptation measures within the

development discourse. On one side, it is believed that the adverse effects of climate

change are going to hinder the development progresses towards economic and social

development of many countries; on the other side, many people advocate for the

prioritization of the most vulnerable and poor areas in directing adaptation efforts (Pavoola

and Adger, 2006).

Mc Grey et al (2007) propose that there is a continuum between development and

adaptation; on the one hand of the continuum there are the classic development activities,

that can reduce the overall vulnerability but do not target a specific climate change hazard;

on the other there are adaptation activities strongly targeted at reducing the negative

impacts of specific hazards (and that would not normally be addressed within the


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17

development framework); between these two ends there are various forms of activities that

place different degrees of emphasis on vulnerability reduction and addressing climate

related hazards.

3.2.b Resilience

The concept of resilience is highly debated and contested, especially because it is utilized in

a number of different disciplines (Manyena, 2006). Echoing the definition given within the

Hyogo Framework for Action, for the purpose of this dissertation we will refer to the

definition suggested by Twigg (2010). A community or system can be defined resilient when

it able to: anticipate, minimize and absorb potential stresses through adaptation or

resistance; manage or maintain certain basic functions during disastrous events; and

recover after an event. This definition of resilience poses attention on what community can

do for themselves based on their capacity rather than their vulnerability and needs when a

disaster strikes. Therefore building resilience can be considered as a systematic approach

to improve the existing adaptation practices (box 3 in Figure 1) aimed at risk reduction and

management (Twigg, 2010).

3.3 Conclusions

As anticipated in the introduction, the focus of the dissertation is to analyze the interactionbetween one asset, literacy, and all the other elements composing the adaptation practices

framework. Within this chapter I have described all the elements of the framework and how

they are generally understood to relate to each other. In the following chapter I will unpack

the adaptive practice box and its relation with literacy further, looking at it through a chronic

poverty lens.


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Chapter 4: The li

The objective of this cha

Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

skill, or a technology; it is i

(functionings). Literacy is

mediators and collectively,

other side, it has been ex

depends on a number of

predictions; on the overall

institutions and external relastly and more significant

household or individual.

4 .1 Which options ar

4.1. a Definition of chroni

When talking about pove

multidimensional aspects

consumption paradigm (M

and Satterthwaite, 2008). I

of poverty as theorized b

dimensions are taken in co

Figure 3 T


eracy-adaptation analytical

pter is to merge the two theoretical fram

On one side, it has been shown that litera

stead a social practice that has multiple sh

not only an individual requisite, as it can b

and texts mediate human interactions of v

lained that peoples resilience and adaptati

factors: on the nature of the hazards a

physical and social vulnerability to the haza

sources that can facilitate the creation of enly to us, on the socio-economic resources

e available to chronic poor?

c poverty

rty we will refer to the body of literature

composing human wellbeing, going bey

ser, 1998: Tanner and Mitchell, 2008: Hul

n the framework of this dissertation we hav

y Hulme et al. (2001) (see Figure 3 belo

nsideration: time and expenditure.

e chronic poor, transient poor a non poor - a categorizati

So

e adaptation practices

18

ramework

eworks described in

y is far more than a

pes and applications

e performed through

rious nature. On the

on to climate change

d the clarity of the

rd; on the role of the

abling environments;(assets) of a certain

that recognizes the

ond the income or

e et al, 2001; Moser

used the categories

w), where two main

on

rce: Hulme et al. 2001


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19

As we can see, chronic poor are those experiencing the deepest level and duration of

poverty. The Chronic Poverty Research Centre of Manchester has estimated that there

were between 320 and 443 million chronically poor people in the world in 2007, the majority

living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (CPRC 2008). Most of them live in insecure

environments and have few assets or entitlements to cope with shocks and stresses(CPRC 2008: vii).

The concept of asset vulnerability utilized in the chronic poverty literature to describe

insecurity in the wellbeing of individuals, households and communities, including sensitivity

to change (Moser, 1998) has obvious resonances with the adaptation practices framework

identified in Chapter 3.

4.1. b Adaptation Practices and poverty categories

Tanner and Mitchell (2008) describe how people belonging to different poverty groups

(utilizing the categories described by Hulme et al., 2001) have different adaptation choices.

The table below (Table 1) is an adaptation form the one proposed by them. I have divided

the public policy driven adaptation practices into two categories: social protection and

governance, referring to the two categories proposed by Pelling and High (2005) already

discussed in Chapter 3: material intervention and institutional modification. This two

categories give us the opportunity to explore two different ways to approach the institutions

that, as we will see shortly, require different literacy functionings.


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20

Table 1 Adaptation practices per poverty category

Aggregate category Chronic Poverty Transient Poverty Non-Poor

Specific povertycategory

Always Poor Usually poor Churningpoor

Occasionallypoor

Never poor

Au

tonomousa

dap

tation

Livelihoods

selling lastassets

sending youngerchildren to work

crime

migration tomore exposedlocation

reduction ofnutritional intake

sendingyoungerchildren to work

migration

crime

seasonalmigration

less riskyproduction

workingmultiple jobsand longerhours

diversifylivelihoods

investmentsin multiple

financialassets

buy drought-tolerantseeds or newtechnology

diversifylivelihoods

Marketexchange

N/Amicro-savings,micro-credit,micro-insurance

Cattleinsurance

weather indexinsurance

cattle

insurancemicro-savings,micro-credit

selling assets

weather indexinsurance

micro-

savings,micro-credit

selling assets

cropinsurance

farm and

domesticinsurance

price hedging

Pu

blicpo

licy

drivena

dapta

tion

(Box

4&

6,

Chp

3)

SocialProtection

materialintervention

social pensions

cash for work

assistedmigration

conditional cashtransfers

subsidizedseed banks

cash for work

communityrestockingschemes

communityrestockingschemes

improvedremittanceschemes

employmentassuranceschemes

improvedremittanceschemes;

N/A

Governance

institutionalmodification

democratizationof naturalresourcemanagement;

right toadaptation/redistribution

promotion ofhealth andnutritionservices

democratizationof naturalresourcemanagement

promotion ofhealth andnutritionservices

improvedclimateinformation(seasonalforecasting)

irrigationschemes;ecosystemrehabilitation

improvedclimateinformation(seasonalforecasting)

N/A

Adapted from Tanner and Mitchell, 2008

How literacy, and what kind of literacies, can empower or limit the exercise of these

options? I have utilized the above adaptation-poverty framework to develop a literacy-

adaptation analytical tool (Table 2) that summarizes the most relevant nexuses between

literacy and adaptation practices, proposes policy and pedagogy possible implications and

related theories.


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21

Table 2 Literacy-Adaptation analytical tool

AdaptationpracticeCategory

Role of literacy in adaptationpractices

Implications for pedagogiesand policies

Theories andmethods

Livelihoods

Mobility/migration related literacy

Bookkeeping related literacy andnumeracy

Skilled work related literacies

Access to information about newtechnologies, climate relatedinnovations

Integration of literacy andnumeracy teaching within

livelihoods trainings

Teaching of literacy in theworkplaces

Livelihoods relatedprimers/curricula contents

Focus on lifelong learning andnon-formal education

Ethnographicenquires

Marginal returns

Marketexchange

Bookkeeping related literacy andnumeracy

Reading and composing contracts forselling and buying assets

Marketing goods related literacy

Independent control or positiveliteracy mediation over insurancedocuments

Integration of literacy andnumeracy teaching within micro-finance programs

Focus on lifelong learning andnon-formal education


Marginal returns

SocialProtection

Independent control or positiveliteracy mediation over the completionof bureaucratic forms

Independent control or positiveliteracy mediation over the documentsproduced within aid/disaster reliefprojects

Explicit consideration of literacyin the planning of aid/disasterrelief programs

Integration of literacy within riskand adaptation awarenessprograms


Literacymediation

Governance

Command over communication with

institutions: reading writing letters,minutes of meetings

Access to laws, governmentdocuments, newspapers, politicaldocuments;

Access to the web

Integration of literacy within

programs aimed at raising criticalconsciousness

Integration of literacy within rightsbased programs

Teaching of literacy and ITCrelated skills

Critical analysis over theteaching and use of hegemoniclanguages (multilingual contexts)

Focus on quality education andlifelong learning

Ethnographic

enquires

Socialreproductiontheories

Criticalpedagogies

Grassrootsliteracy

GenderInequalities

Bookkeeping related literacy andnumeracy to gain control overhousehold assets;

Reading and composing contracts toreclaim rights over property;

Collective use of literacy within genderawareness raising;

Gender sensitiveprimers/curricula;

Gender sensitive pedagogies,teacher/learner relations;

Integration of literacy teaching ingender awareness raisingprograms;

Reflect/Mahila Samakya;

Focus on lifelong learning

Socialreproductiontheories;

Ethnographicenquiry

Criticalpedagogies

Note: By positive literacy mediation I mean a situation where the mediator shares the same agenda with thebeneficiary of the mediation


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4.2 What role for literacy in these adaptive options?

4.2.a Livelihoods and market exchange

As we have seen, the relation between education, literacy and development is highly

contested (Chapter 2). Moreover, the nature of the relation between education and chronic

poverty is not obvious and poorly researched (Rose and Dyer, 2005).

The first thing that we notice looking at the livelihoods options available to chronic poor

(Table 1) is that they are not many. This is because in a context of extreme scarcity of

assets, the adaptation options and the economic interests might conflict violently. For

example, in order to prevent or respond to a shock a family might be forced between

sending their younger children to school or reduce the family food intake. These actions

instead of reducing vulnerability make it worst in the medium or long run. This phenomenon

is known as maladaptation (Sattethwaite et al., 2007). In this context being resilient is

particularly important, as livelihoods are often on the edge (Ellis, 2003).

Literacy plays a significant role in maintaining the fragile livelihoods of chronic poor. When

talking about literacy and livelihoods it is very important to recall that there are literacy

practices involved in a large number of economic and productive activities. Chronic poor are

often managers of a complex portfolio of economic activities and an ethnographic eye on

these practices can tell how texts mediate most of them. As Maddox (2001:148) reports

when observing literacy mediations in a bazaar in Bangladesh what is relatively rare in thebazaar and in other types of rural economic activity is the non-use of literacy. Selling assets

very often involves the production of official documentation as running small businesses

requires some form of record keeping; the same is required when asking for a formal or

informal credit. However these functionings are frequently very different from the ones

taught within the formal schooling system or in adult education primers (Rogers, 2005).

These literacy functionings are particularly interesting for two main reasons: one is that they

are often performed by people who consider themselves (and within the statistics officially

classified as) illiterate and they are mainly learned outside the formal schooling system

(Maddox, 2001, Rogers et al., 2007). They therefore disclose that illiterate are often not

passive people with a deficit, they are rather active performers of agency, that through the

literacy practices that they enact, pinpoint the goals that literacy programs shall attain.

When people are not able to perform these micro-literacies (Maddox, 2001:141) they have

to use mediators. As we will see later, the role of these mediators is far from neutral as they

carry their own agenda.

The second reason of interest is that these located expertise literacy functionings, even

though might not be enough to allow individual or household social mobility, can build their


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resilience to shocks. Resilience, especially in the case of the category of usually poor and

the churning poor (see Figure 1) might significantly contribute to diminish the chances to

drop back in a lower category and increase the possibility to improve their conditions by

accumulating other assets. Maddox (2010) explains that chronic poors acquisition of basic

literacy and numeracy skills in the framework of adult education classes in Bangladesh hasshown benefits in daily life management of livelihoods. These marginal returns, even if

causing minimal economic returns as measured in the classical economic way, trigger

tangible benefits. These daily micro-literacy events have in fact a massive importance in

strengthening the fragile stability of the few livelihoods assets available to chronic poor.

In addition to that, in the framework of pro-poor adaptation is crucial to: on one side to

empower existing livelihoods (addressing the root causes of vulnerability, see Chapter 3)

and, on the other side, to increase people capacity to adapt their livelihoods in the face of

changing conditions (Eriksen and OBrien, 2007). This is why diversification becomes

crucial. It has also to be taken into account the evidence that chronic poor are not prone to

take on risky behaviors to modify their situation (Wood, 2003). Migration of some member

of the household is a typical way of diversifying livelihoods. The role of literacy and

education in migration can be crucial. To quote one example, when migration is performed

towards urban centers mainly young educated male will be sent, reaffirming and

strengthening gender inequalities (Khotari, 2002).

The above mentioned ethnographic studies help us in understanding of how, in a context of

limited resources and multiple risks, the control over the micro-literacy and numeracy

events that are central to many economic transactions might be crucial to preserve, expand

or diversify livelihoods. Additionally, the studies highlight the critical role literacy has over

decision making in contexts of literacy inequalities.

4.2.b Power relations and decision making over uses of assets

This category is not originally included in the adaptation-poverty framework (Table 1).

However, households gender inequalities over the decision making processes are to be

considered an important underlying cause of vulnerability (Roy and Venema, 2002; Brody,

2008); in addition to that, adaptation policies, in order to be pro-poor, have to be gender

sensitive (Polak, 2008). I suggest that a focus on literacy inequalities makes it imperative to

exploit the transformative potential of the use of literacy empowerment to address

adaptation. Literacy inequalities are often present within the same household, and this is

signaled by the strong correlation between low literacy rates and high dependency rates

(CPRC, 2008). These inequalities strongly influence the power over the making of decisions

that can be crucial for the destiny of the households livelihoods. As mentioned in Chapter 2,


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some literacy practices, such as the literacy and numeracy that allow the control over the

family bookkeeping, can have a transformative effect on the gender relations (Maddox,

2005).

The focus on gender inequalities can inform a number of transformative pedagogies

(Aikman and Unterhalter, 2005) in both the formal and the informal literacy education

sector.

4.2.c Networks and public policy driven adaptation

The concept of social capital is widely utilized in the context of climate change (Adger,

2003). One aspect that is generally recognized (Moser and Satterthwaite, 2008) is that the

capacity of a household or a community to make demands and work in partnership with a

number of different stakeholders (local authorities, national or international Ngos, financial

institutions) can reduce significantly their vulnerability.

The distribution of losses through the support of networks, at many levels, is one of the

adaptive practices most used. An in-depth research done by Chatterjee (2010) in Mumbai

slums has shown that, after a flood, most of the households have utilized local networks

(mostly money lenders, informal establishment and local traders) and networks within the

ward and the city (religious organizations, employers, friends and family) to acquire

economic assistance and recover. Noticeably, over the 18% used national and global

networks as well. This example confirms that networking is crucial when it comes to

adaptation (Pelling and High, 2005, Moser and Satterthwaite, 2008 STHH).

What could it be the role of literacy in shaping these options? The first observation is that

often the (power) relations within or across social networks are mediated by literacy events.

When these events involve stakeholders of different nature, then text will need to have

certain characteristics that make it transferrable, form a context to the other (Chapter 2).

The second consideration is that activities oriented at material interventions might requiredifferent literacy functionings than activities oriented at the modification of the institutions2.

4.2 d Material intervention oriented adaptation practices

As Chatterjee (2010) describes, people living in the poorest areas of Mumbai show to have

a wide spectrum of stakeholders/networks, from local to global scale, on which they can rely

to reduce their vulnerability on the face of climate hazards events. We can assume that the

2We hereby refer to the categories proposed by Pelling and High (2005) within the Mapping adaptive

capacity through social capital, discussed in Chapter 3.


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25

relations established with money lenders and local traders will probably require literacy and

numeracy functionings similar to those described in the livelihoods and market exchange

section of this chapter. However there are a number of more formal relationships which are

more likely to be mediated by bureaucratic texts. For instance, the access to the social

protection measures (Table 1) that the government or other relevant organizations mightmake available, would probably require at least one person to fill in one form and declare

its status. In this case, issues of literacy mediation and all the power related issues attached

(Chapter 2) play an important role. Bureaucratic texts are the embodiment of the power

relation that occurs between the state and the citizen; they often force the officers

representing the state on the field to act as translators (Jones, 2000) for the citizens. This

mediation service is not neutral, it might be positive but it also might leave a very small

space for the citizen agency. This lack of control might be problematic in cases of conflicting

interests or agendas between the mediator and the citizen (Barlett et al., 2011).

Furthermore, in the context of policy driven adaptation practices made available through aid

agencies, literacy issues and literacy practices might influence the outcomes. Kell (2005,

2008) and Aikman (2001) investigated on the role of literacy within development

interventions. Kell suggests that development projects might be considered as communities

of practice (Kell, 2005:177) that create their own literacy events. Within these interventions,

text, such as lists, plans and invoices are central to the construction of agency of

individuals (Kell, 2008:892). She notices that the beneficiaries agency can be empowered

through the mediation process. Therefore, not all the individuals need to be literate in order

to make things happen. However, to make this process work it is essential an explicit

consideration of the role played by literacy (Aikman, 2001). The way in which

considerations about the literacy practices are taken into account when designing and,

especially, when implementing a development (or an adaptation) intervention will tell much

about how power relations are considered and challenged.

4.2. e Institutional modification oriented adaptation practices

This is a very crucial field because of its transformative claim, but it is also generally

undervalued (Pelling and High, 2005). According to the CPRC, one of the characteristic of

chronic poor is their exclusion from the political sphere, their lack of representation and

sense of citizenship. In this case, in order to overcome this tendency, the empowerment of

their social capital is both a must and a challenge. As we have seen in Chapter 2, literacy

can play a role in enhancing peoples participation in the public space (Freire, 1970,

Doronila and Cuevas Sipin, 2005). Moreover, it has to be noticed that often, especially in

urban environments, authorities have a hostile attitude towards the chronic poor

(Sattethwaite et al, 2008) and therefore do not put in place mechanisms for participation

that take into account peoples communication needs.


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As Blommaert (2008) suggests, the inequalities in the distribution of literacy are mirroring

the wider inequalities present in a society. The processes to make the voice of the poor

heard are often mediated by texts and various form of literacy. This reduced the chances of

circulation of ideas, interests and perceptions that would be crucial for the authorities to

design effective pro-poor initiatives. OBrien and Leichenko (2000) note how poor aresubject to a double burden: climate change and globalization. The challenges posed by

globalization dont allow any legitimacy for grassroots literacy (Blommaert, 2008), on the

contrary they require the production of texts that have to be globally understandable, not

only in terms of language, but also in terms of register and mode of transmission, such as in

the case of internet. Looking at this scale, literacy inequalities seem to be overwhelming,

raising on one side issues of educational quality, on the other issues of cultural hegemony.

Because of the predominance of the Education for All agenda (Torres, 2000; Maddox et al.,

2011) in the framework of the international educational policy, the attention towards the

transformative potential of literacy (Freire, 1970) has strongly declined in the last 30 years.

However, it is still possible and necessary, when talking about literacy and social change, to

think of transformative pedagogies. There has been interventions, where adult literacy

trainings had a central role, that proved to have a strong impact in the way people have

negotiated the use of public resources (Doronilla and Cueva Sipin, 2005), an issue that is

crucial in the field of adaptation.

4.3 Conclusions

This chapter shows that there are tangible nexuses between the mastering of certain

literacy practices and the performance of the analyzed adaptation practices categories. We

also have discovered that literacy, when promoted through appropriate pedagogies, can

also have a transformative potential in the field of gender inequalities. These nexuses are

particularly crucial for the chronic poor as, in a context of dramatic scarcity of assets,

addressing literacy inequalities might represent an effective way to build peoples resilience.

Moreover it confirms that, as Tanner and Mitchell (2008) suggest, the focus of climate

change adaptation interventions, focused at reducing the vulnerability of chronic poor, have

to be located in the development side of the development-vulnerability continuum (Mc

Gray et al 2007, Chapter 3).


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Chapter 5 Urban poverty, literacy and climate change in

Bangladesh, a case study

This chapter tests the relevance of the literacy-adaptation framework developed in the

previous chapter and raises some questions about the reliability of the mainstream literacy

measurement.

5.1 Chronic poor adaptation to climate change in urban centers

People living in urban3 centers in low and middle-income countries are, worldwide, the most

exposed to climate related hazards (Moser et Satterthwaite, 2008).They represent more

than one third of the world population and are estimate to grow massively in the next 20

years (Satterthwaite et al, 2007). Urban centers located in low and middle-income countries

are considered to be extremely vulnerable, because of the inadequacy of the infrastructure

and the poor accountability of the institutions governing them (ibid). One of the

characteristic of urban chronic poor is that of living in environmentally insecure areas

(CPRC, 2008). But also, they are typically poorly represented politically and live situations

of conflict with the local authorities (ibid.). As Sattertwithe et al (2007) suggest, in many

cases urban policies (often focused at blocking the expansion of slums settlements)

increase peoples vulnerability to climate hazards, producing maladaptation (Sattethwaite et

al., 2007). Given the magnitude of the vulnerability of the poor urban population, the

necessity for pro-poor oriented adaptation initiatives is evident (Satterwaite et al, 2007;

Moser and Satterthwaite, 2008).

.

5.3 Chronic Poor adaptation in Bangladesh urban areas

5.3.a Urban chronic poor and exposure to climate variability in Bangladesh

Urbanization is a key feature of the recent history of Bangladesh. According to Banks et al

(2011), within this generation the country will witness the tipping point whereby urban poor

will outnumber rural poor. Even if the trend is clear, there are evidences that not enough

3

I am aware of the limits of the use of the definition urban, especially when utilized in the dichotomyurban-rural. This antithesis is a human-made construct. The risk of this polarization is to over-generalize and to depict the urban poor as a deprived category of people all holding the samecharacteristics.


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28

attention is given to the research and the production of sound policies oriented to the

reduction of urban poverty (ibid).

In addition to that, the peculiar nature of the Bengali natural territory puts these people at

high risk of climate related hazards. Agrawala (2003) anticipated that climate change willaffect Bangladesh in four main ways: accelerated Himalayas glacier melting, increase in

rainfall during the monsoon season, sea level rise leading to flooding, and increased

frequency and severity of cyclones. Rawlani and Sovacool (2011) show how every area in

the country will be affected at least from one of these hazard. One of the expected

outcomes of these phenomena is the forecasted migration of an enormous number of

people: 25 million climate refugees if 15% of the land will be inundated by 2050, (ibid.). This

will obviously put greater pressure on urban centers. Dhaka has been already signaled as

the most vulnerable Asian city by the WWF (Roy et al, 2011), and it is already believed to

become the world second largest city by 2020 (Banks et al., 2011).

Urban poverty is a renowned feature of cities in Bangladesh. Over the 35 per cent of the

national urban population is believed to live in slums, and even though urban poverty rates

have experienced a decline in the last 30 years, the absolute number has however risen

dramatically (Blank et al., 2011). It has to be noticed that the high commoditization of urban

life (need of purchasing food, paying for rent and transport) makes poverty lines generally

unfit to measure the cost of living in urban areas (Satterthwaite, 1997). Therefore, thephenomenon of urban poverty tends to be underestimated (Blank et al., 2011). The

dependency on purchased food also makes urban poor particularly vulnerable to the

already happening prices hikes and that are believed to increase in the future due to climate

change (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). Lastly, from the urbanization point of view the slums

are high-density areas, where people live in overcrowded houses that are generally of very

poor quality (made out of mud, tin of partially in concrete or worst in squatter settlements).

These areas are scarcely served by public services such as water supply and drainages.

Moreover the land tenure is often a problem and the risks of eviction are very high (Rashid,2000). These conditions add to the overall vulnerability and make the dwellers of these

areas extremely vulnerable to climatic hazards.

5.3.b Urban Chronic poor and literacy in Bangladesh urban centers, what is to be

measured?

From a literacy point of view the situation in Bangladesh is far from positive. Even if the

educational policies have been successfully focused at reducing the divide between boys

and girls enrollment, on the other end no efforts have been putted into improving the quality

of education provided (Chowdury, 2003). Nowadays the national over 15 years old literacy


37/49

rates are of 55% (UNES

higher in urban environm

together with the scarce

provoked a worsening in a

Figure 4

Can we therefore consider

utilized data collected in

Programme (UPPRP) of t

Development Programme (

In the questionnaire delive

economic characteristics

education. Two questions

other one to the years s

framework might not be v

urban data. While in terms

noticing, that in 3 out of th

Comilla. The majority, 33.

attended the secondary sc

4These data were collected b

realize a baseline survey for ttowns in Bagladesh (Khulna,

of the survey are poverty-relpoverty and comparison amogiven the importance of the clrelated to hazard physical vul


O, 2011). Even if, as it might be expect

nts the constant increase in the number

ttention to service provision to poor living

ult literacy rates in urban areas (Figure 4).

orsening human development indicators in urban locatio

the issue of literacy a m

Documents

The Role of Literacy in Pro Poor Climate Change Adaptation