Short Abstract:

In the Malawian context, universities are partnering with local communities as a pathway towards designing context-specific climate adaptation strategies, but there is a lack of evidence on what they look like in practice, what they can achieve, and whether they create an enabling environment for advancing strategies that are driven by local communities and that advance community well-being.

Long Abstract:

University community partnerships for climate change adaptation in Malawi: a human development perspective

Chimwemwe Phiri, Higher Education and Human Development Research Group, University of the Free State

The abstract stems from paper extracted from an on-going PhD thesis

Abstract

Background

Although higher education can play a catalytic role in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 13 (climate action), there is less attention given to the role of universities in achieving climate adaptation through partnerships with local communities. The idea of communities partnering with universities in the higher education discourse represents a shift from the traditional one-way top-down to a two-way model, where the latter emphasises interactive knowledge exchange between universities and communities (Bowers, 2017; Dempsey, 2010; Amey & Brown 2005). In the Malawian context, universities have been credited for partnering with local communities as a pathway towards designing context-specific climate adaptation strategies. For instance, five of the six universities in Malawi are recognised by the government as actively engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives. However, despite these partnerships, there is a lack of evidence on what they look like in practice, what they can achieve, and whether they create an enabling environment for advancing strategies that are driven by local communities and that advance community well-being. Community well-being is conceptualised from the human development approach as the ultimate goal of development, where communities can be or do what they value in order to flourish.

Aim of the study: This study investigates how universities contribute to improving vulnerable communities' adaptation to climate change in Malawi through university-community partnerships.

Conceptual frame: Drawing from the human development approach pillars namely equity, participation and empowerment, efficiency, and sustainability, the study asserts that the objective of development should be to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy what they value (Walker, and Fongwa 2017; Nussbaum, 2011; Alkire & Denelium, 2010; ul Haq, 2003; Sen, 1999). According to Boyer (1990), university-community partnerships aim to advance the scholarship of engagement, which entails that higher education institutions must be linked to the public spaces they reside in. The human development approach recognises that universities can both contribute to and learn from the communities around them (see Fongwa et al 2022; Ntawa & Fongwa, 2016; Preece, 2013). On the other hand, the approach is about putting the needs of the communities first. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, conceptualising university-community partnerships for climate change adaptation entails exploring the relationship between universities and communities with the aim of positioning the community’s climate adaptation needs at the centre of university activities. This implies opening up opportunities for communities to contribute and actively participate in the climate adaptation process

Methods: Data from this qualitatively-designed case study of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi was collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. University lecturers (10), support staff (2), third-year students (10), community members (18), policymakers (4) and climate change experts (2) participated in this study.

Results and conclusion: The findings show that university-community partnerships in Malawi, and in Africa more broadly, have the potential to positively influence how global development challenges such as climate change are defined, understood, and addressed in ways that are contextually sensitive. The findings also offer contrasting and critical views, suggesting that while partnerships can enhance sustainable community well-being, they seldom achieve this. This is because partnerships can stimulate innovative ideas for adaptation strategies and capacitate university and community members to broaden opportunities for generating income and to widen their skill set for addressing climate change, but they do not offer adequate space for bottom-up initiatives or allow for inclusive decision-making. These partnerships also tend to advance university interests at the expense of creating more equitable outcomes for local communities. Thus, the study considers what university-community partnerships might look like if they were to be more inclusive and equitable. It identifies four key dimensions of a human development-centred framework: 1) equitable relationships; 2) inclusive decision-making; 3) streamlining resource efficiency; and 4) sustainable community well-being. The study further makes a case for harnessing the role of bounded agency across the four dimensions, as structural and institutional arrangements can affect the interplay of individual motivations for undertaking interventions. Drawing from this framework, implications for the initiation and implementation of future university-community partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa are considered.

Keywords: climate change adaptation; university-community partnerships; human development; Malawi; Africa.

REFERENCES

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