Overview

This toolkit provides background and context for conducting a climate change adaptation (CCA) interventions assessment, and then provides step-by-step guidance and templates for developing an assessment framework and implementing four research tools. Examples are based on a hypothetical agriculture sector project, with illustrative material primarily featuring CCA interventions related to food security and livelihoods. 

Description

Communities across the globe are coping with the impacts of a changing climate. Weather patterns have become more erratic, and droughts, storms and floods have become more extreme and frequent. To help communities in developing countries manage these impacts, USAID and its partners increasingly apply a “climate lens” to activities across their portfolios. This process involves understanding localized climate risks and integrating effective, context-appropriate responses to improve resilience. A critical input to the process is guidance on best practices on both the use of climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies and the targeting of resources to where they can achieve the greatest impact. 

Produced by USAID’s Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project, the toolkit presents a framework for analysis and recommends four research tools that USAID and partners can use together with local communities to help prioritize interventions to improve climate resilience. 

It is important to note at the outset that CCA interventions should be designed and implemented to respond to climate risks and vulnerabilities that have been identified through a rigorous risk analysis or vulnerability assessment process. When the CCA interventions are designed and implemented in this way, assessment of their effectiveness is more likely to yield useful results. Furthermore, assessment of CCA intervention effectiveness is facilitated by Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems explicitly including indicators that track CCA interventions. Having those data available to assessment teams, whether assessments are undertaken during project implementation or following project completion, greatly improves the usefulness of assessment results. 

Audience

This toolkit is a resource for development practitioners to assess the effectiveness of various CCA interventions.