Engaging communities in climate vulnerability assessment: lessons from Southern Africa

This study shares lessons from implementing community-level participatory climate vulnerability assessments processes in nearly 100 communities in Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe from 2024 to 2025. Community-level participatory climate vulnerability assessments (PCVAs) provide the foundation for effective locally led adaptation by linking local insights on climate impacts and vulnerabilities with climate projections. They can offer a nuanced understanding of current and future risks to diverse genders, social groups, ecosystems, and livelihoods.

Through this experience, we identified six areas that require particular attention to make PCVA processes more effective, timely, and respectful: (1) building on existing data and information, (2) combining community knowledge with scientific climate information, (3) ensuring effective and meaningful engagement of local actors, (4) conducting vulnerability assessments in a polycrisis context, (5) building and maintaining community trust, and (6) collaborating as a large consortium.