Assessing the CBA community of practice?

The document examines how six annual conferences on community-based adaptation (CBA) have fostered a 'community of practice' characterized by 'high creativity collaboration'. It details the growth of the network in terms of participant diversity and thematic expansion, while arguing that future evaluations must move beyond simple inputs and outputs toward a 'realist' approach to understand how, why, and when such communities improve climate adaptation practices.

• The IIED's community-based adaptation (CBA) conference series has successfully established a community of practice by fulfilling six key functions: acting as filters, amplifiers, conveners, facilitators, community builders, and investors/providers.
• The CBA community is categorized as 'high creativity collaboration', meaning it is defined by a strong loyalty to a shared approach rather than just interpersonal ties, and its membership crosses professional, organizational, and geographical boundaries.
• The community has grown significantly in scale and scope over six years; the number of participants increased from 90 at the first conference to 315 at the sixth, and the number of themes addressed grew from six to 18.
• To support the community's need for less rigid learning, the sixth conference introduced 'out of the box' sessions that banned PowerPoint in favor of interactive dialogue.
• The community is supported by digital and institutional extensions, including the CBA-X online resource for exchanging information, the weADAPT Google Earth layer for sharing projects, and the Global Initiative for Community-Based Adaptation (GICBA) for securing funding.
• The authors argue that traditional monitoring and evaluation are insufficient for communities of practice; they propose a 'realist' evaluation that focuses on the 'implementation context' to determine how, why, and when interventions work.

APA

Gundel, S., Anderson, S., Kaur, N., & Schoch, C. (2013). Assessing the CBA community of practice? Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Briefing-Note-on-Assessing-the-CBA-Community-of-Practice.pdf

Chicago

Gundel, Sabine, Simon Anderson, Nanki Kaur, and Corinne Schoch. Assessing the CBA community of practice? Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2013. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Briefing-Note-on-Assessing-the-CBA-Community-of-Practice.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gundel |first1=Sabine |last2=Anderson |first2=Simon |last3=Kaur |first3=Nanki |last4=Schoch |first4=Corinne |title=Assessing the CBA community of practice? |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=April 2013 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Briefing-Note-on-Assessing-the-CBA-Community-of-Practice.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gundel2013assessing, author = {Gundel, Sabine and Anderson, Simon and Kaur, Nanki and Schoch, Corinne}, title = {{Assessing the CBA community of practice?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2013}, month = apr, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Briefing-Note-on-Assessing-the-CBA-Community-of-Practice.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }