Yanayi Project

Rural populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti are heavily dependent on natural resources, making them particularly vulnerable to climate change. In this context of climate emergency, it is crucial to understand their vulnerabilities and value their knowledge and adaptive capacities. Operating within the framework of open science, the participatory action-research project "Yanayi" has involved rural communities from eight countries of the French- speaking Global South to collect local knowledge and develop tools for reflection, awareness, and guiding collective action on climate change. As a result, 478 climate change narratives from elders were collected in local languages, translated into French, and integrated into an open qualitative database (Epicollect5). This conference will first present the "Yanayi" project, highlighting achievements made possible by the involvement of rural communities in collecting local knowledge and creating tools to act on climate change. Student projects completed in 2023 and those currently in preparation will then be presented. Keywords: population resilience, narratives, local knowledge, adaptation strategies, climate change.