Internationally Financed Adaptation: Madagascar and Mauritius

The study examines the impact of informal institutions—specifically patronage and clientelism—on the distribution of international adaptation finance in Madagascar and Mauritius. Based on 105 interviews, the authors find that while these informal institutions strongly influenced decision-making in both countries, the projects differed in their ability to reach 'particularly vulnerable' communities. The authors suggest that adaptation organizations adopt an 'imperfect equity' approach to better navigate informal institutions and improve long-term accountability.

• Informal institutions, namely patronage in Madagascar and clientelism in Mauritius, significantly influenced the decision-making processes and the distribution of project benefits in both nations, although the projects differed in their success in benefiting 'particularly vulnerable' communities.
• The difference in outcomes between the two countries is attributed to how informal institutions interact with formal accountability mechanisms and whether formal and informal incentives for project actors are aligned to promote equity.
• The authors propose an 'imperfect equity' approach for adaptation organizations, which prioritizes positive outcomes and the conditions that create them to develop strategies for managing informal institutions and improving institutional accountability over time.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2024). Internationally Financed Adaptation: Madagascar and Mauritius. https://www.sei.org/publications/internationally-financed-adaptation-madagascar-mauritius/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Internationally Financed Adaptation: Madagascar and Mauritius. 2024. https://www.sei.org/publications/internationally-financed-adaptation-madagascar-mauritius/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Internationally Financed Adaptation: Madagascar and Mauritius |date=7 June 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/internationally-financed-adaptation-madagascar-mauritius/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2024internationally, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Internationally Financed Adaptation: Madagascar and Mauritius}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/internationally-financed-adaptation-madagascar-mauritius/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }