Reflections on using political economy analysis in OPM’s action on climate today programme

This document forms part of a series of papers that illustrate ‘how change happens in the Action on Climate Today (ACT) initiative’. This note describes ACT’s approach to understanding and engaging in the political change space, with an associated brief focusing on ACT’s approach to operating adaptively within a complex and transient political environment.

OPM has long been applying political economy analysis (PEA) to development issues. The implementation of projects requires us to ‘work politically’ because effective policy design and implementation hinges on the ability to work in politically informed ways in order to navigate constantly changing local contexts. In turn, interventions need to be flexible, adaptive and responsive to windows of opportunity for reform. We believe that understanding the history and political theories that influence the dynamics of the country in which we are implementing programmes is key to engaging in ‘politically smart’ development.