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The 2023 study found that none of the five water infrastructure investments in Garissa County were fully functional, with three partially functional and two non-functional. The primary drivers of failure were a lack of dedicated budgets for operations and maintenance (O&M), capacity gaps in local management, and limited early engagement with water institutions. The report recommends establishing sustainable financing mechanisms, integrating renewable energy to lower costs, and strengthening the technical and project management skills of local site committees.

The 2023 study found that only two of nine assessed water investments were fully functional, with many others limited by inadequate maintenance, vandalism, and resource-based conflicts. While community-led planning and local knowledge improved sustainability, the report highlights a need for dedicated maintenance financing, better technical siting, and genuine gender inclusivity in management committees.

A 2023 study of 12 water infrastructure investments in Kitui County, Kenya, found that 59% were functional or partially functional, while 16% were non-functional due to lack of maintenance. The report highlights that most investments failed to provide adequate water during dry seasons and suffered from insufficient funding for operations and maintenance. While local knowledge was integrated into planning via Ward Climate Change Planning Committees, the study recommends better integration of hydrogeological data, landscape restoration, and institutionalised project audits to ensure long-term sustainability.

A 2023 study of 13 water infrastructure projects in Makueni County, Kenya, found that most remain functional seven years after implementation. The success of these locally-led adaptation investments is attributed to the integration of local knowledge with technical data and strong partnerships between the county government and communities. While the projects have improved water access and increased agricultural incomes, challenges remain regarding siltation, funding for major repairs, and the need for green energy transitions to reduce production costs.

A 2023 longitudinal study of 23 water infrastructure projects in Wajir County, Kenya, found that boreholes are significantly more resilient to climate shocks than water pans, which accounted for all non-functional projects. While community involvement in planning fostered ownership, the study identified critical gaps in technical capacity for maintenance, a lack of climate information during the design phase, and a failure to budget for ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

The longitudinal study evaluates water projects in Kenya's ASAL regions, finding a decline in functionality from 2019 to 2023, while highlighting the benefits of community-led investment and the critical need for dedicated operations and maintenance funding.

The report argues that climate resilience requires innovation in complex systems, which inherently involves failure. However, a prevailing culture of failure-aversion—driven by rigid funding structures, short-term metrics, and power imbalances—stifles this innovation. The authors propose a multi-dimensional model to shift responses to failure from limiting to constructive across individual, operational, and organisational levels.

The terminal review evaluates a UNDP-GEF project aimed at scaling early-stage innovations to enhance climate resilience in fragile regions of Uganda and Sudan. The project achieved high effectiveness, with 98% compliance of objective indicators and 94.8% of outcome targets, despite the civil war in Sudan. Key successes include the empowerment of women and the use of innovative finance mechanisms for agro-forestry commodities like coffee in Uganda and Gum Arabic in Sudan. The review highlights the success of a 'hands-off' implementation model where UNDP provided oversight while the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) managed execution. While the project is considered highly cost-effective and sustainable, remaining risks include conflict-related challenges in Sudan and perceived high investment risks in fragile states.

The report finds that while a diverse range of urban resilience solutions exist in the Global South's informal settlements and economies, most are in early development stages and heavily reliant on philanthropic funding. It highlights a significant gap in private sector investment and municipal buy-in, while noting that these interventions often yield co-benefits in health, gender equity, and livelihoods. The document recommends that municipalities integrate informal settlements into city plans and that funders coordinate to streamline access for small-scale innovators.

The GRP 2024–2029 Strategy focuses on three transformative opportunities: regenerative food systems, reimagined finance flows, and community-led resilience. The partnership aims to scale locally-led innovations and bridge the adaptation finance gap, which is currently five to ten times lower than required for developing countries. Key goals include transforming food and financial systems, scaling formal-informal collaborations, increasing transdisciplinary learning, and embedding resilience in the private sector. Geographically, the strategy prioritises sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia, and Small Island Developing States in the Pacific and Caribbean.

The 2024 Regional Resilience Hubs virtual summit focused on democratising climate governance and advancing locally-led adaptation (LLA) across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The event emphasised the need for flexible, decentralised climate finance to bypass bureaucratic delays and reach vulnerable communities directly. Key discussions highlighted the intersection of gender, care work, and human rights, arguing that reframing care as a communal responsibility and securing land rights for women are essential for holistic resilience. The summit showcased specific tools and initiatives, such as the County Climate Fund in Kenya and the CSMAP tool in Asian Mega-Deltas, to demonstrate how participatory mapping and subnational funding can drive effective climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure. Looking toward COP30, the report calls for a shift from tokenism to meaningful inclusion of marginalised groups and a transition from high-level speeches to concrete, actionable proposals for community-driven adaptation.

Kenya's 2024 Adaptation Communication details the nation's vulnerability to droughts, floods, and sea level rise, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). It outlines a comprehensive policy framework centered on the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2015-2030 and the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) 2023-2027, prioritizing food security, water management, and disaster risk reduction. The report estimates a financial requirement of USD 44 billion by 2030 to implement priority adaptation actions.

The NAP Global Network's 'Envisioning Resilience' initiative uses photography and storytelling training to empower underrepresented women to document their lived experiences with climate change. By presenting these visual stories to decision-makers, the project aims to shift policy dialogue from simple consultation to meaningful engagement, highlighting the intersection of gender, social exclusion, and non-climatic vulnerabilities.

The report examines the integration of national and sub-national governance in climate adaptation planning. It finds that most developing countries' NAPs assign sub-national governments roles in planning and implementation, and all NAPs reference at least one non-state sub-national actor. The analysis emphasizes that vertical integration is essential to ensure adaptation priorities reflect local realities and that resources are effectively channeled to sub-national actors.

The report examines vertical integration in National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes, finding that while most countries reference sub-national governments and non-governmental actors, there are varying levels of integration across planning, implementation, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) stages.

The report examines vertical integration in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), highlighting the roles of subnational governments and non-governmental actors. Based on an analysis of 45 multisectoral NAPs, it finds that while most countries recognize subnational roles in planning and implementation, gaps remain in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and stable financial flows to local levels. It provides recommendations for national governments, subnational authorities, development partners, and funding bodies to strengthen multi-level coordination and capacity.

The Community Resilience Partnership Program (CRPP), managed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aims to strengthen the climate resilience of approximately 3.2 million poor and vulnerable people in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu. The program is structured into two interlinked components: a Trust Fund (TF) for upstream capacity building and knowledge research, and an Investment Fund (IF) for downstream implementation of adaptation measures. The GCF is requested to provide USD 120 million (USD 100 million in grants and USD 20 million in loans) to co-finance the Investment Fund, leveraging an additional USD 555 million from ADB and USD 75 million from bilateral donors. Key interventions include improving climate information services, implementing resilient pro-poor livelihoods, and constructing adaptive infrastructure such as ecosystem-based defenses and multipurpose emergency shelters. A central pillar of the program is a dedicated Gender Window within the Trust Fund to address structural inequalities and empower women in resilience-related decision-making.

The Southeast Asia Regional Resilience Dialogue emphasizes the need for a 'whole of society approach' to climate risk, advocating for the recognition of local communities and grassroots organizations as agents of change. The document highlights successful community-led initiatives in Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand, while identifying systemic barriers such as restricted financial flows to the local level and a lack of recognition for the root causes of vulnerability. It recommends diversifying financing instruments, supporting decentralization policies, and creating more direct engagement mechanisms between grassroots actors and decision-makers to ensure inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 and the achievement of sustainable development goals.

The report examines Ghana's climate adaptation landscape, highlighting the gap between national policy and community-level implementation. It identifies specific locally led adaptation (LLA) practices—such as climate-smart agriculture and nature-based coastal solutions—and argues for the devolution of finance, integration of traditional knowledge, and clearer definitions of 'local' to enhance resilience in vulnerable communities.

The report examines the disconnect between Nigeria's top-down climate adaptation frameworks and the actual practices of frontline communities. Through case studies in Ogun, Lagos, and Anambra states, it demonstrates that community-led initiatives—such as biogas production, aquaculture modifications, and traditional erosion control—are already occurring despite limited finance and technical support. The authors argue that integrating these bottom-up strategies into national policies like the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is essential for sustained climate resilience.