Local Leadership in Adaptation Finance: Learning from Locally-led Action in Adaptation Fund Projects and Programmes

In the context of climate change adaptation, locally-led action refers to practices or methodologies that meaningfully put local-level actors in the driving seat on planning, designing, and executing measures that build adaptive capacity and resilience to climate impacts. However, knowledge is limited on what works in practice to best promote locally-led action.

This report examines the Adaptation Fund’s experiences in promoting locally-led action on adaptation. It highlights a number of institutional and project-level strategies that have proven central to the successful promotion of locally-led action on adaptation. It also reports on some of the common challenges that local actors have faced in converting the promise of local empowerment into effective action in practice.

The report provides recommendations on how the Adaptation Fund and its partners can continue to support and learn from locally-led action. The report also contributes to the work of the Global Commission on Adaptation action track on locally-led action.