Critical Framework: Theoretical Framework

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The UNDP defined mainstreaming as the integration of adaptation objectives, strategies, policies, measures or operations such that they become part of the national and regional development policies, processes and budgets at all levels and stages (UNDP, 2005 as cited in Levina and Tirpak, 2006). Also, consistent with this view is the UNDP-UNEP concept which describes mainstreaming in climate change adaptation as the iterative process of integrating climate change adaptation into development policy-making, planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring processes at national, sector and sub-national levels (UNDP-UNEP, 2011). This implies that mainstreaming is a cross-scale, multi-stakeholder effort aimed at facilitating…show more content…
Moreover, adaptation processes require regular revisiting of development policies, plans and projects as climate and socio-economic conditions change (OECD, 2009). This iterative attribute of mainstreaming makes it a development-oriented approach appropriate for addressing climate change adaptation challenges (Oates, Conway and Calow, 2011). As noted by Elsey, Tolhurst and Theobald (2005), the idea about mainstreaming is that, cross-cutting issues should be embedded in the activities of development, rather than being addressed as separate initiatives. Consequently, the mainstreaming approach has been lately adopted in the context of climate…show more content…
The concept has been applied since the 1990s as a tool for tackling development issues such as gender inequality, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS, disability and poverty reduction in the developing world (Oates, Conway and Calow, 2011; Lebel et al, 2012). Mainstreaming in adaptation to climate change hopes to extract useful lessons from these areas. One notable lesson was the Beijing Conference in 1995 (the Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women) where mainstreaming was adopted as a global strategy for the promotion of gender equality. Though ten years later, it had become an important element of many policies, its implementation has remained a challenge as the outcomes for gender equality have remained largely unknown (Moser and Moser, 2005; Lebel et al, 2012). As observed by Kusakabe, many barriers to mainstreaming gender have been identified including a lack of meaningful participation and political commitment as well as persistent practices within organizations that continue to discriminate against women (Kusakabe, 2005 as cited in Kumari, 2013; Lebel, et al, 2012). Mainstreaming was also applied in the Poverty-Environment Initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which supported the mainstreaming of poverty and environment linkages in national development planning (UNDP-UNEP, 2008; Lebel et al, 2012). In this area too, mainstreaming

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