Today, at the PopTech Climate Gender Lab we went out into the field.
Part of the participants went out to visit farmers went to witness the work of Rose Goslinga, who leads the Syngenta Foundation’s Kilimo Salama, the first micro-insurance product available to smallholder Kenyan farmers.
Our group traveled two hours east of Nairobi to participate in a community-based scenario game focused on climate change and gender.
In the morning, we met with local members of the Kenyan Red Cross who briefed us on the local situation.
Specifically, years of poor rainfall and drought are forcing girls to drop out of school and migrate to Nairobi to become servants. This is in part due to the fact that farmers need to switch from traditional crops (corn and beans) to more resilient crops, namely cassava.
Cassava is native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy, tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.
The game was created by Janot and Pablo Suarez, and is used with the Red Cross and Red Crescent to help communities think through strategic responses to the effects of climate change.
Local farmers and elders greet us and welcomed us to their community-based organization (CBO).
Due to low rainfall, the corn fields are completely dried up.
This community build has been leased and turned into a cassava-processing center.
A members of the Kenyan Red Cross listens to the rules of the Climate Game.
Many age groups were well-represented.
Janot Mendler de Suarez facilitates the game, in which decisions have consequences.
Our documentarian filmmaker, Daniel, tries to be subtle.
The "losers" have to "migrate to Nairobi" and sit out the rest of the game.
A roll of the dice determine what seasonal rains will come.
In another round, wrist bands determine who is male and who is female.
Elders watch on in curiosity.
Cassava after it has been shredded. It can then be milled and turned into flour.
The farmers end with a dance.
The proud members of the C.B.O.
Sketch of a cassava plant and its big ole tubers!