Call for evidence: Effective learning for climate adaptation and resilience

Source(s): International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
steved_np3/Shutterstock

steved_np3/Shutterstock

By Tracy Kajumba

The LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) is inviting submissions on effective practice – approaches, methods and incentives – for building a strong community of practice. The submissions will contribute to the development of a learning and knowledge platform.

The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group’s Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) is developing its community of practice – spaces for effective learning and knowledge sharing through the development of the initiative. 

Globally, LDCs have led innovative climate responses, building on their decades of experience in managing climate risks and through the delivery of climate adaptation programmes. 

The LIFE-AR community of practice will distil good practice for delivering support to local communities as they strengthen their adaptation responses and build resilience. This will recognise that each community’s context is different and each country’s governance mechanisms vary. 

To support the development of this community of practice, LIFE-AR is currently undertaking a process to elicit effective standards for how bespoke responses can be delivered. See more details below on how to make your submission.

Communities of practice are defined as communities that bring together practitioners to engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour. They provide spaces for the practitioners to interact regularly to share information and experiences, learn from one another, provide support to members, engage in joint activities and discussions, and organise collective action. 

Such communities, given time and sustained interaction, can build up a shared repertoire of resources: tools, solutions to recurring and common issues, and stories and experiences to engage outside audiences.

The LIFE-AR community of practice seeks to draw in the experience of LIFE-AR implementation across the seven LDC countries that are ‘frontrunners’ in the initiative among the whole group of 47 LDC countries. This will help to ensure knowledge and best practices are shared across LDCs, including those yet to make as much progress, to ensure that no LDC is left behind.

LDCs at different stages of their journey can share their diverse experiences to enable all LDCs to learn together around a common purpose. The community of practice will be driven by the interests of the LDCs based on their needs and the most effective methods for supporting learning practices in each country.

The community of practice will focus on:

  1. Distilling good practice: communities of practice will be set up in regional clusters and across those developing similar delivery mechanisms, to distil LDC-wide learning and develop guidance and peer support, with a focus on engaging those LDCs often left behind
  2. Reaching the second cohort of LDCs: through evidence and lessons, it will contribute to identifying the second group of LDCs as the next cohort stepping forward to deliver the LDC 2050 Vision
  3. Enabling adaptive management: generating learning processes for adaptive management within countries and inform setting LIFE-AR standards across countries to effectively support the LIFE-AR board and national delivery consortiums
  4. Informing global good practice: by using evaluation and monitoring systems for robust analysis of the effectiveness of mechanisms as well as capturing the tacit learning of how to support countries develop effective whole of government and whole-of-society responses, and 
  5. Promoting coherence between climate change and national development priorities: through a robust monitoring and learning system that enables LIFE-AR to contribute to LDC national and global climate priorities, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

Scoping study objectives

The scoping study will be the first step in setting up the community of practice, and will include:

  • Assessing existing platforms and forums within the LDC Group, from global and regional to national level, examining their objectives, capacities, memberships, practices and linkages with the LIFE-AR principles
  • Identifying other communities of practice on adaptation and resilience, and capturing best practices in terms of memberships, learning practices, platforms (physical, online and so on), principles and standards, and
  • Use the scoping study results to inform the design of the LIFE-AR community of practice and determine how LDCs will work with others based on their needs and interests.

The community of practice is intended to align learning at local, national, regional and global levels with existing processes where possible, rather than duplicate or create new ones. This will be cost effective and help to mainstream the LIFE-AR initiative into existing LDC workstreams, avoiding a siloed approach to adaptation and resilience.
 
The LDC cross-group learning will contribute to the LDCs’ position as global leaders, supporting the sharing of their expertise and experiences worldwide. 

Making your submission

Adaptation, mitigation and development practitioners can submit innovative and effective learning practices from their communities of practice or learning initiatives, that have been useful for strengthening capabilities and informing adaptive management, by 28 February 2021. 

This information will help the LDC Group understand different opportunities and models for building a community of practice for LIFE-AR, and contribute to lasting climate-resilient development in the LDCs.

Ultimately submissions will contribute to the LDC Group's long-term vision (PDF) for all least developed countries to be on climate-resilient development pathways by 2030 and deliver net-zero emissions by 2050 to ensure LDC societies and ecosystems thrive.

The LDCs welcome submissions of knowledge, experiences and evidence from the widest possible range of organisations, such as governments (including the LDCs, middle-income countries, the global North); multilateral development banks; international climate funds; donors; implementing agencies, including NGOs and civil society; research organisations; universities and/or the private sector.

The study is particularly looking for experiences of communities of practice that can work at scale and over the long term, and which are socially just, participatory and locally driven. 

Make your submission

Format: Please input your submission by answering the questions on the Google Survey form. There are open answer boxes to allow space for elaboration. Please include in these boxes explanations of why you feel the intervention has high potential for effective and innovative learning that could contribute to strengthening LDC capabilities and informing LIFE-AR adaptive management processes.  

Please also present evidence for your explanations in the form of project or programme documents, evaluations, case studies or research papers, which can be uploaded to the form. Where possible, we would like to receive internal evaluations or project documents as well.
 
All submissions must include a contact email address that we can use to follow up for more information. 

Deadline: Sunday, 28 February 2021.

About the LIFE-AR initiative

The least developed countries are 47 nations that are especially vulnerable to climate change but have done the least to cause the problem. Many of these countries are already experiencing increasingly severe climate change impacts.

The LDC Group’s 2050 Vision sets out what the LDCs intend to do to respond strategically to the threat to societies, economies and ecosystems. And it asks the international community to partner with LDCs in new ways, aiming to shift away from business-as-usual approaches, to a more effective, more ambitious climate response.

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