ABSTRACT
The design of climate change policies and programs has been based on the assumptions that policy-makers, scientists, and development practitioners make about what constitutes and causes the vulnerability of others. There is little space for those who are targeted by these policies and programs to voice how they perceive and experience their vulnerabilities in policy debates. Taking the case study of Nepal, this chapter discusses the use of deliberative governance to negotiate a shared understanding of vulnerability among stakeholders with different identities, power, and interests. It builds on a 2-year action research project led in the Tarai-Madhesh region of Nepal, which included participatory video and participatory deliberative practices, gathering men and women farmers, district and central level government officials, and representatives from the civil society. Using discourse analysis, the study highlights how farmers’ and policymakers’ framings of vulnerability are socially constructed. It calls for using storylines and narratives on what “is” rather than top-down arguments on what “should be” to guide governance processes.
