Migration, remittances, adaptation and resilience to climate change in arid and semi-arid regions of Senegal and Tajikistan

Budget: $ 185,995

Start date: September 2015

End date of the project: March 2018

Donor: Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

Partners: IED Afrique, DfID, IDRC

Preamble:
The project is one of the research packages of the “Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies or PRISE”. PRISE is a five-year, multi-country research project that generate new knowledge about how economic development in semi-arid regions can be made more equitable and resilient to climate change. PRISE is carried out under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), with financial support from the UK Government’s Department (DfID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

The main activities of the project:

Step 1. Desk review: During this stage, the team will collect and review statistic and documentary data and information available, including analysis of data, reports and review of policies on climate change related issues, migration and socio-economic development of countries.

Step 2. Household surveys: The project team will conduct household surveys in the selected research sites. The questionnaires will target and not limit the following categories (i) general information about the respondents, (ii) overall income and share of remittances, (iii) distribution of remittances, (iv) vulnerability to climate change, risks and responses, (v) money transfers (banks, handover, etc.,); (vi) using of remittances to ensure sustainability, as well as their relevance and applicability to the public.

Step 3. Comparative analysis: Comparative analysis, based on a qualitative method, intends to track changes and commonalities between two SAL countries Senegal and Tajikistan in terms of migration patterns, flows of remittances, distribution, gender specificity, etc.

Step 4. Scenario projection: This step envisages a quantitative support and modeling exercise. Both project teams need a resource person, who can contribute to the research by projecting the future economies in SALs on migration, remittances and linkages to a climate-resilient future to see (a) what will be the situation with a business as usual scenario (no policies are in place, the situation continues as it is), and (b) what will be the situation if improvements in policies (social safety nets, banking systems, etc.) are undertaken.