How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change

This working paper by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) explores strategies for scaling out community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change. It distinguishes 'scaling out'—increasing quality benefits to more people over a wider geographical area—from 'scaling up,' which focuses on mainstreaming pilots into government policy. The document identifies key enabling factors for success, including the holistic development of adaptive capacity, the creation of strategic networks and partnerships, the use of documented evidence to prove value, and the identification of flexible institutional and financial channels, including the private sector.

• Effective CBA requires a holistic approach to adaptive capacity, as its five core characteristics—access to assets, institutions and entitlements, knowledge and information, innovation, and flexible forward-looking decision making—interact and depend on one another. Interventions focusing on a single characteristic, such as only providing assets, are unlikely to support full adaptive capacity.
• Successful scaling out requires rethinking participation to address power imbalances and ensuring local participation in all project stages, from identification and design to choosing funding and delivery modalities.
• For a CBA pilot to be viable for scaling out, it must be well-documented, evaluated, and demonstrate a positive cost-benefit ratio. In Bangladesh, the 'Action Research on CBA in Bangladesh' (ARCAB) program emphasizes that pilots should only be scaled if they can prove their value and effectiveness in building adaptive capacity.
• The private sector can serve as an alternative to government agencies for scaling out CBA. In Zambia, the company Dunavant Zambia partnered with the NGO Shared Value Africa (SVA) to scale the 'Trees on Farms' program, reaching over 15,000 farmers by 2013 by integrating climate-resilient agroforestry into existing commercial contract farming systems.

APA

Gogoi, E., Dupar, M., Jones, L., Martinez, C., & McNamara, L. (2014). How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CDKN_Working_Paper_community_adaption_Final_web-res.pdf

Chicago

Gogoi, Elizabeth, Mairi Dupar, Lindsey Jones, Claudia Martinez, and Lisa McNamara. How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CDKN_Working_Paper_community_adaption_Final_web-res.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gogoi |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Dupar |first2=Mairi |last3=Jones |first3=Lindsey |last4=Martinez |first4=Claudia |last5=McNamara |first5=Lisa |title=How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=April 2014 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CDKN_Working_Paper_community_adaption_Final_web-res.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gogoi2014how, author = {Gogoi, Elizabeth and Dupar, Mairi and Jones, Lindsey and Martinez, Claudia and McNamara, Lisa}, title = {{How to scale out community-based adaptation to climate change}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = apr, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CDKN_Working_Paper_community_adaption_Final_web-res.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }