Reporting on Progress in National Adaptation Plan Processes

The report examines 26 NAP progress reports from 20 countries to provide a framework for tracking climate adaptation. It identifies that while many countries commit to reporting, few do so due to capacity and resource constraints. The analysis proposes a four-step iterative cycle for reporting and details various methods for tracking implementation, evaluating effectiveness, and assessing the integration of adaptation into national budgeting.

• Progress reporting is often hindered by limited resources, capacity constraints, and a lack of clear guidance, leading to a situation where over 60% of countries with adopted NAPs are not actively tracking their implementation.
• Legal mandates, such as climate change laws or policies, enhance reporting effectiveness by granting authority to agencies and ensuring accountability. Examples include the UK's Climate Change Act (2008), which requires a progress report to Parliament every 2 years, and Kenya's Climate Change Act (2016), which mandates a biennial review.
• The report proposes a standardized four-step iterative cycle for progress reporting: 1) defining objectives and framing, 2) identifying resources, capacities, and needs, 3) applying MEL tools, and 4) communicating results.
• Countries use diverse methods to track NAP implementation, ranging from simple 'Yes/No' checklists (used in Saint Lucia) and narrative lists of achievements and challenges (used in Brazil) to qualitative completion criteria (used in France) and percentage-based achievement (used in Burkina Faso).
• Evaluation of NAPs often involves assessing the enabling environment or using specific criteria. Finland used a catalogue of evaluation criteria including 'collaboration of actors' and 'side effects', while Fiji evaluated seven enabling factors such as leadership, financing, and technologies.
• Progress reporting can be used to assess the integration of climate adaptation into development planning and budgeting through strategic document scans (Spain) or expert surveys (Albania and Kiribati).
• Stakeholder engagement is critical for inclusive reporting; countries have used surveys, consultation workshops, and digital tools like KoboToolbox to collect data and raise awareness among sectoral and local actors.
• An operational monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) system is not a prerequisite for progress reporting; instead, reporting can follow a 'learn-by-doing' approach that helps inform the eventual development of a formal MEL system.
• Gender and social inclusion reporting is significantly lacking in most reviewed reports, with Cameroon being a notable exception for conducting a specific gender evaluation using a scale from 'gender blind' to 'gender transformative'.

APA

Guerdat, P., Masud, S., & Beauchamp, E. (2023). Reporting on Progress in National Adaptation Plan Processes. NAP Global Network. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/napgn-en-2023-reporting-on-progress-in-nap-processes.pdf

Chicago

Guerdat, Patrick, Shafaq Masud, and Emilie Beauchamp. Reporting on Progress in National Adaptation Plan Processes. NAP Global Network, 2023. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/napgn-en-2023-reporting-on-progress-in-nap-processes.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Guerdat |first1=Patrick |last2=Masud |first2=Shafaq |last3=Beauchamp |first3=Emilie |title=Reporting on Progress in National Adaptation Plan Processes |publisher=NAP Global Network |date=September 2023 |url=https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/napgn-en-2023-reporting-on-progress-in-nap-processes.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{guerdat2023reporting, author = {Guerdat, Patrick and Masud, Shafaq and Beauchamp, Emilie}, title = {{Reporting on Progress in National Adaptation Plan Processes}}, institution = {NAP Global Network}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/napgn-en-2023-reporting-on-progress-in-nap-processes.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }