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Contribution short abstract

This poster introduces the concept of the Peace-Positive Climate-Smart Village (CSV+), a model that embeds conflict sensitivity and peace-oriented social inclusion into Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) programming.

Contribution long abstract

Through a political ecology lens, this paper examines Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) interventions, and introduces the concept of the Peace-Positive Climate-Smart Village (CSV+). We argue that current CSA approaches reproduce power asymmetries by neglecting conflict sensitivity and peace-oriented social inclusion, which are essential for truly transformative climate adaptation. Drawing on a case study from Senegal, we interrogate how dominant, technically oriented CSA frameworks fail to address underlying power relations, and propose the CSV+ model to embed political ecology approaches into climate resilience.

Our mixed-methods study analyzes how CSA interventions reconfigure access to resources, participation in governance, and local power dynamics. Through focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and household surveys, we examine perceptions of trust, cooperation, inclusion, and institutional performance to show the contested nature of seemingly "neutral" climate adaptation interventions.

Findings demonstrate the deeply political nature of CSA programming: while interventions improved agricultural productivity and created economic opportunities for women, they simultaneously reproduced existing inequalities through exclusive institutional arrangements that privileged certain groups' access to resources and credit. This contradiction exposes how CSA interventions, when implemented without attention to power structures, can reinforce rather than transform colonial legacies in resource governance. We document how weak communication channels and limited transparency in leadership structures further entrenched inequitable power relations, creating sites of resistance and contestation among marginalized groups.

Through the CSV+ concept, we argue for CSA interventions that center centers transparent governance, inclusive participation, and structured grievance mechanisms, moving beyond technical solutions toward climate interventions that explicitly address power asymmetries.