Practical Approaches to Integrating Community Based Adaptation in Local Planning in Northern Ghana

Integrating community based adaptation activities into local- and district-level plans is considered one of the most effective ways to support vulnerable communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change. However, practical approaches for integration that reflect the realities and priorities of the communities on the ground have always been a challenge.

Fighting food insecurity with community vision

In the drought-prone Northern regions of Ghana, thousands of people are food insecure, which means that they have very limited access to sufficient and nutritious food. Furthermore, these regions have been identified as the most vulnerable to climate change in the country because of their low adaptive capacity. Since 2010, CARE’s Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) in Ghana has supported eight communities in the districts of Garu Tempane and East Mamprusi in Northern Ghana to develop Community Adaptation Action Plans (CAAPs). These CAAPs include adaptation strategies, which strengthen the communities’ adaptive capacity to become resilient to current and future climatic hazards.

To do this, groups in the communities identified the climatic risks, hazards and vulnerabilities they face, as well as their existing capacity to adapt. They created community visions for development and then assessed their feasibility, barriers and opportunities presented by possible impacts of climate change. The process led to identification of practical adaptation opportunities and priorities by men and women. The outcome of the process was production of the CAAP plans, which are owned and implemented by the communities themselves and supported by community monitors and representatives of local government.

Community Adaptation Action Plans endorsed by district government

Community monitors presented copies of the CAAPs to the District Coordinating Director, who signed them to signify reception and endorsement on behalf of the district government. The monitors highlighted the communities’ future visions and their planned activities, which aimed at reducing their vulnerability to climate change and improving their adaptive capacity and resilience. Many of the activities implemented by households in the community are supported by technical and value chain services or micro-finance, without the need for external funding. Some, however, call for community or higher-level action and support. These activities can be incorporated into the district development plans and budgets.

Following the partnership established between the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and ALP, climate change adaptation and broad based participation in decision making were integrated into the planning guidelines. In this period, as part of NDPC roll out of the guidelines, ALP provided training on adaptation integration to 1,385 local government officials from all 216 Districts and 10 Regional coordinating councils. Key points included basic steps of mainstreaming adaptation in the planning and budgeting process, outcome indicators and evidence pathways for tracking adaptation investments; the critical role of participatory planning; and the use of climate information to manage climatic risks and uncertainties and build resilient communities.

Photo: Women’s group farming in Kugri, Ghana
© Fiona Percy 2011

Emerging lessons for scaling-up CAAPs

Whilst recognition of the CAAPs by the district government is critical for integration into district level plans, systems for scaling-up CAAPs across districts need to be identified. For example, this scaling can be accomplished when community monitors have the capacity for developing CAAPs in all communities, or by selecting representative communities whose plans can form the basis of Area Council prioritising. Criteria are also needed for prioritising actions to be supported from limited District budgets including ensuring these are climate resilient and of a ‘public good’ nature. When I interviewed the District Planning Officer of Garu-Tempane, Andani Iddrisu, he argued that the CAAP concept ensures ownership, transparency and enhances participation of the community members. However, one of the pitfalls of the concept is that lack of implementation of higher-level action may weaken the participation and the motivation of the community members. Thus, there is a need to find a way for action and implementation of the communities’ plans.

Communities are encouraged to find their own means and not to expect or depend on government resources. Group saving and loans schemes are proving a powerful means of providing low levels of finance for daily needs and bring about a major increase in social capital and community organisation, particularly among women. Community members can gain skills to seek out and lobby for finance for their specific projects, from micro-finance, non-government projects, private sector schemes and others.

The ALP Ghana experience demonstrates:

1. that local government plans can and should respond to community determined priorities for activities and strategies that are adapted and resilient to climate change,
2. there are real limitations for local government budgets to support all community priorities,
3. systems are needed to manage expectations and focus on actions that will benefit large numbers of people and
4. communities themselves and their local authorities benefit greatly from their own planning process, which can be empowering and productive when it promotes their own ownership and responsibility for action.

Reducing expectations for external financial support and building capacity for different channels of ‘self-funding’ are essential. However, significant external resources and a system for their effective channeling are essential to enable adaptation and long-term resilience. Mainstreaming adaptation into the formal planning and budgeting process and making links to international adaptation finance are routes to achieving this, especially as the impacts of climate change including heavy rain, droughts and floods are becoming increasingly common in Ghana. It is hoped that the training provided for all NDPC officials on integrating climate change adaptation into district level plans will be a positive step in this direction.