Following the Money Isn’t Enough: How Civil Society Organizations Provide Accountability for Climate Adaptation Finance

This working paper examines the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in creating transparent and accountable climate adaptation finance systems, drawing on experiences from Ethiopia, Uganda, Bangladesh, Kenya, and the Philippines to propose a framework for increasing community inclusion in decision-making.

• Local communities and local governments are currently marginalized from the national planning and financing of climate adaptation, which can result in investments that are misaligned and ineffective.
• Civil society organizations are essential for creating inclusive adaptation finance systems by leading climate adaptation decision-making and facilitating community participation, as well as tracking policies and climate-related finance flows.
• The paper proposes a four-step process for CSOs to build the capacity and expertise necessary to ensure accountable climate finance systems: conducting a political economy assessment of government planning and citizen organization; analyzing the determination and reporting of domestic and international climate finance allocations; implementing an engagement and advocacy strategy tailored to the host country's political environment; and enhancing capacity via information sharing, peer-to-peer learning, and training.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Following the Money Isn’t Enough: How Civil Society Organizations Provide Accountability for Climate Adaptation Finance. https://www.wri.org/research/following-money-isnt-enough-how-civil-society-organizations-provide-accountability-climate

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Following the Money Isn’t Enough: How Civil Society Organizations Provide Accountability for Climate Adaptation Finance. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/following-money-isnt-enough-how-civil-society-organizations-provide-accountability-climate.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Following the Money Isn’t Enough: How Civil Society Organizations Provide Accountability for Climate Adaptation Finance |url=https://www.wri.org/research/following-money-isnt-enough-how-civil-society-organizations-provide-accountability-climate |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendfollowing, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Following the Money Isn’t Enough: How Civil Society Organizations Provide Accountability for Climate Adaptation Finance}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/following-money-isnt-enough-how-civil-society-organizations-provide-accountability-climate}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }