Insights from CBA18: Five practitioners share key learnings for putting Locally Led Adaptation principles into practice

Summary

The 18th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA18) hosted by IIED in Arusha, Tanzania, from May 6 to May 9 2024, brought together over 340 practitioners, grassroots representatives, government planners, policymakers, and donors from more than 330 organizations. The conference offered a space for all to learn from, share and reimagine solutions that enable transformative outcomes, through the agency of communities driving climate action.

The conference included four days of discussion, debate, peer-to-peer ‘skill-shares’ and knowledge exchange to explore how to ‘decolonise climate action’ and promote ‘locally-led innovation and adaptation’. The agenda featured diverse topics including climate finance, policy and planning, nature-based solutions, youth, innovation and private sector participation in climate change adaptation.  

During the conference, Aaron Acuda from IIED interviewed five practitioners and invited them to share key learnings from their own work as well as from the conference regarding promising Locally-Led Adaptation (LLA) solutions and approaches.

Christine Ogola is a climate change specialist working with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Kenya and serves as the national coordinator of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), Kenya Chapter

Q: Can you tell us about your own work and how it is supporting locally-led adaptation (LLA)?

YWCA works with young women and Indigenous Peoples to ensure their inclusion and participation in climate change policy and planning. 

We believe that LLA cannot be operationalised or embedded in the local government programmes if it is not captured in local policies: if it is not documented, it will not be implemented. Local governments and institutions will implement LLA solutions if thoses are embedded in the laws and policies. We ensure that the voices of the most affected and vulnerable people are captured in policies.

Q: Are there any key lessons from your work that can be used to support LLA in other locations?

Civil society organisations normally work in silos, avoiding local governments. But for any meaningful and sustained impact, we need to collaborate with local governments and other local stakeholders. Through collaborative partnerships with local governments, LLA-related laws and policies can be effectively implemented. 

There should be efforts to support institutions in building their capacity to understand and incorporate LLA. This will ensure that they can become successful drivers of change in their communities.

Q: What are the most promising approaches, methods, projects or tools to support LLA that you have learnt about during the CBA18 conference?

In the gender transformative session, I learnt about the importance of having gender-sensitive indicators/trackers within projects in order to institutionalise gender for a more inclusive, transformative and impactful LLA.

I also learnt that there is a lack of focus on eco-anxiety and there is a need to reflect on the effects of climate change on mental health. For example, in some workplaces, workers may constantly be on their phones checking weather updates or disaster stories/updates. This affects their mental health and productivity at work. It is imperative that we start considering the impacts climate change has on mental health. 

Q: What have been your top 3 highlights at the CBA18 conference?

1. Seeing how local communities, especially the Masaai were engaged in the discussions. It was interesting to hear their perspectives on LLA.
2. Networking with like-minded individuals from several organisations, including donor organisations, local communities and NGOs, and learning about the successes, lessons and challenges.
3. Developing new collaborations with people from different organisations that will enable us to drive our work forward. 

Viola Musiimenta is Director of Programmes at African Centre for Trade and Development (ACTADE)

Q: Can you tell us about your own work and how it is supporting locally-led adaptation (LLA)?

I mainly lead advocacy and capacity building activities at ACTADE to ensure that climate change adaptation, especially LLA, is mainstreamed into national policies and programmes. We also work to localise Uganda’s national adaptation and mitigation policies. 

Q: Are there any key lessons from your work that can be used to support LLA in other locations?

Capacity-building is bidirectional. On the one hand, local practices must inform policies with organizations needing to work to ensure that national and international policies, laws and agreements are based on ground realities by building the capacities of those at national and international levels to understand local realities. On the other, Community-Based Organisations and Non-Governmental Organizations who are directly in contact with communities, play an essential role in ensuring that the international and national climate discourses are understood at the local level and are able to support local climate change effort. 

Q. What are the most promising approaches, methods, projects or tools to support LLA that you have learnt about during the CBA18 conference?

I was able to learn the different approaches people are using to localize climate change adaptation, especially engaging vulnerable groups and ensuring that they are the centre of decision-making. 

Q.What have been your top 3 highlights at the CBA18 conference?

1. I was excited to learn about the different financing mechanisms considered or applied in different countries, especially the non-traditional financing structures. 
2. It was my first time at CBA, and I really enjoyed the interactive nature of the conference where everyone in a session participated in the discussions. Marginalized groups were highly included in presentations and discussions—everyone was given an opportunity to participate. 
3. I had the opportunity to learn about what different organizations are doing in advancing LLA.

Vanessa Thompson is a Communication & Development Advisor for Africa, Join for Water (previously Protos)

Q: Can you tell us about your own work and how it is supporting locally-led adaptation (LLA)?

Join For Water is an NGO that guarantees water for people and nature alike, today, as well as tomorrow. We operate in 9 countries including 5 countries in Africa, together with various different local partners.  Over the last 40 years, Join for Water has developed an expertise on freshwater resource protection and social-ecological resilience. We support LLA through our work on sub-national participation, social engineering experience, and community-based work towards durability via local ownership/management. This is achieved through training, institutional strengthening and sensitization of local communities on climate change issues and risks, encouraging participatory approaches to resilience building and reinforcing bottom-up responses for LLA.

Q: Are there any key lessons from your work that can be used to support LLA in other locations?

From our current project, Women River Ambassadors (WORIAS) in Uganda, we have learnt that while we have trained women on the complexities of land-river interface and how to co-create the river management buffer, we need an additional component to sustain the model once the project experimental period is over. Through feedback meetings with the Worias we decided to set up a village savings and Loans association (VSLA).

• Lesson 1: Even though river management remains the main task, you need financial literacy and economic transformation to sustain and build on the momentum of LLA actions.
• Lesson 2: VSLA is a way to ensure that the women continue to meet once a week. Creating safe spaces is key to encourage discussions about emerging challenges linked to climate change.

Q: What are the most promising approaches, methods, projects or tools to support LLA that you have learnt about during the CBA18 conference?

I was totally seduced by the use of Virtual Reality technology to create empathy. The virtual experience, as part of the break out session with Peter Ansah on ‘opportunities to involve communities,’ was amazing: to feel that you become involved in the challenges of these hard-to-reach communities, in what felt like real time, and to have the people impacted by these climate issues explain to me their situation was an eye opener. I can definitely see how by targeting the right stakeholders and sharing other communities experiences using VR  as a tool, we can be so much more impactful in tackling climate change.

Another approach that really stuck with me was the concept of mapping ‘right holders’. As an organisation, Join For Water is engaged with a variety of stakeholders that we try to identify early on in all our projects and keep engaged throughout. The concept of ‘right holders’ as indigenous communities that are often forgotten from the project mapping exercise and how to include them effectively is key. I learnt that values mapping does not only refer to universally UN defined values, but should also be personal and cultural to ensure that no one is left behind.

Q: What have been your top 3 highlights at the CBA18 conference?

1. Virtual reality is a very powerful tool for Locally Led Adaptation as it helps create empathy and links communities globally.
2. Right holders are a key underrepresented group that need to be well documented in order to ensure equity while undertaking stakeholder mapping for projects.
3. Adaptation research can be done by everyone, it is inclusive because it is action oriented.

Nancy Akello is program manager at Change Lead Agency for Social Support (CLASS)

Q: Can you tell us about your own work and how it is supporting locally-led adaptation (LLA)?

We are a youth-focused community-based organization in Northern Uganda. We mobilize and train young people in communities on various issues related to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Our work related to LLA includes improving awareness of young people on climate change, enhancing gender transformation and research to document local practices that are enabling communities to stay resilient in the face of climate change. We also do advocacy to bring community voices and evidence from our research into the national and, hopefully, international climate change policies and discourses. 

Q: Are there any key lessons from your work that can be used to support LLA in other locations?

There is a lot of great work that the communities are undertaking. It is essential that we gather this evidence, knowledge and practices to inform climate change policies and practices. 

LLA should not be implemented as a stand-alone project but rather integrated into economic and social initiatives such as community savings and credit, sexual and reproductive health and gender equality initiatives. The impacts are likely to be more long-lasting and with several co-benefits.

Q: What are the most promising approaches, methods, projects or tools to support LLA that you have learnt about during the CBA18 conference?

I participated in the CBA18 Dragons’ Den where I was able to develop my project proposal and pitch it to the CBA18 audience. It has given me great skills in developing a business pitch that will enable me to fundraise for my organization. I also had the opportunity to learn more about LLA and its principles, including how to devolve decision-making to the lowest appropriate levels. 

Q: What have been your top 3 highlights at the CBA18 conference?

1. There was a great emphasis on how funding should reach the local level which is very important to support community aspirations and initiatives. 
2. There was also a strong focus on including community members in decision-making and implementation.
3. I enjoyed networking and interacting with the diverse CBA community.

Prerna Singh is Research Fellow at Transitions Research

Q: Can you tell us about your own work and how it is supporting locally-led adaptation (LLA)?

At Transitions Research, we work in the interdisciplinary space of climate change, technology, and society. We work on exploratory research on adaptation and mitigation with people at the centre of our work. Our action-oriented work is focused on testing mitigation and adaptation solutions in mid-size cities, where we work closely with the local government in executing pilots, and we keep the community at the centre of all our solution process. This involves community behavioural assessment to identify the problem space and solution and community engagement throughout the development, implementation, and assessment phases.

Q: Are there any key lessons from your work that can be used to support LLA in other locations?

There is a lot of knowledge in the local population about climate challenges and solutions, which needs to be valued. Additionally, having a buy-in from the local government is key in implementing any solution at scale.

Q: What are the most promising approaches, methods, projects or tools to support LLA that you have learnt about during the CBA18 conference?

Story-telling based approaches are incredibly powerful to share the impacts of climate change and climate change adaptation and to push funders and other stakeholders to invest in adaptation.

Q: What have been your top 3 highlights at the CBA18 conference?

1. CBA18 is a great platform for a diverse community to engage in meaningful conversations on adaptation.
2. ‘Local’ needs to be better defined, and should include local leadership, including governance, for long-term sustainability of the solutions.
3. Funders-implementers conversations and exchanges are imperative to support adaptation investments.