Understanding social vulnerability for more effective climate strategies: Lessons from CCDRs in Southern and Eastern Africa

The goal of the report is to show how understanding social vulnerability can help policy makers to prioritize climate investments, design projects and programs to be more inclusive, and create tailored initiatives that make households and communities stronger and more resilient overall. It highlights how social vulnerability puts some people in harm’s way or prevents them from finding safety; limits their access to resources for adaptation; and constrains their agency and their voice. Poverty is a key factor, but so is social exclusion.

The recommendations that follow aim to inform project design as well as broader country engagement on macroeconomic policy, development planning, climate policies and strategies, and institutional capacity building:

• Strengthen the knowledge base on social vulnerability
• Integrate social vulnerability analysis in country engagement and project design
• Prioritize social inclusion in the pursuit of global public mitigation goods