Locally Led-Adaptation (LLA) Programme

The International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) is one of the leading research and capacity-building organizations working on climate change and development in Bangladesh. ICCCAD’s mission is to generate evidence-based knowledge on climate change, specifically on adaptation to climate change with a focus on the global south. Local people and communities affected directly by the impacts of climate change often are the most active and innovative in creating adaptation solutions. However, their limited access to resources, technology, capacity-building opportunities, and funding undermines their capability to implement those innovative and local solutions effectively. This vast potential and the creativity of the local people and communities can be explored and supported through a locally led adaptation (LLA) approach. With the support of IIED and the pioneering leadership and expertise of the late Dr. Saleemul Huq (OBE), the organization started its “Locally Led Adaptation” program in 2021. The goal of the LLA program is to generate research on the success and failures of local actors/communities’ leadership in the climate change arena in global south; enable inclusion; and engage with community of practitioners to understand the practicality of the 8 principles of LLA in their own contexts.

Importance of LLA

Locally-led Adaptation is different from consultative, participatory, and community-based approaches to adaptation as it is defined by local actors having agency over adaptation rather than barely participating in processes around adaptation. Hence, it is vital to uptake LLA to ensure that those most affected by climate change have agency over decisions about adaptation finance and programming that will affect them. LLA also has the potential to:

Address structural inequalities faced by women, youth, children, people living with disabilities, people who are displaced, Indigenous Peoples, and ethnic groups.
Aid to mobilize more climate finance by improving the quality of finance, and adjusting governance and decision-making processes to ensure the agency of local actors in adaptation planning and implementation.
A catalyst to integrate social equity into standard processes and decisions, and by investing in mechanisms specifically designed to support groups that experience disproportional vulnerabilities.

LLA in the Context of Bangladesh

Since Bangladesh is known for its vulnerability and pioneering leadership in climate change adaptation, LLA can be more resourceful for uplifting and capacitating the vulnerable communities consistently. Even though, we have formulated number of policies from 2005 to 2021 such as NAPA, BCCSAP, NDC, Bangladesh Delta Plan, Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, NAP there is a gap in providing finance to the local actors who require it most urgently, and it is frequently ignoring the essential knowledge and expertise they offer. Recent estimates suggest that less than 10 percent of climate finance from international climate funds is dedicated to local action, less than 2% of humanitarian aid goes directly to local partners, and less than 5% of official designated funding for environmental protection goes to Indigenous peoples and other local communities. In Bangladesh, LLA can be utilized for more equitable distribution of power and resources, and elevation of local innovation and knowledge, and for more effective resilience-building. LLA can also be a catalyst to establish a one-of-a-kind platform for the Community of Practitioners in Bangladesh to engage in co-production of knowledge and implementation.

ICCCAD’s LLA Program

International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) is working to mainstream LLA by conducting research and capacity-building; promoting the inclusion of the most vulnerable individuals; facilitating knowledge sharing through a partnership with national and international networks in the Annual Gobeshona Global Conference; and investing in local institutions to leave institutional legacies. The current stream of work with IIED, WRI, and other LLA consortium partners on these components- governance of an active community of practice; peer-to-peer learning; co-designing the long-term strategy of LLA to generate knowledge and evidence on LLA. ICCCAD collectively alongside 9 other institutions is working globally to unfold the 8 principles of LLA in the context of local communities. ICCCAD has already undertaken and designed several projects, and case studies focusing on LLA. Besides, there are a number of publications authored by ICCCAD team. ICCCAD along with IIED, and WRI are in the process of developing a synthesis paper highlighting case studies from Bangladesh that aligns with the LLA core principles.

Goals

To increase the evidence-base of success stories and challenges of LLA from Global South.
Lead advocacy, research, knowledge management, capacity building, co-production of knowledge, and implementation for LLA
Identify the relevant stakeholder in Bangladesh and Global South to scale up activities on LLA funding and implementation and monitoring and evaluation

National Platform on LLA

ICCCAD, with the support of IIED and FCDO organized a two-day consultation on Locally-led Adaptation (LLA) in Bangladesh at Six Seasons Hotel, Dhaka in May 2022. More than 60 participants in this consultation representing NGOs, INGOs, universities, private sector, think tanks took part. The consultation enabled to understand the importance of incorporating the eight principles of LLA in planning, design and implementation of climate change adaptation projects and program. One of the major outcomes of the consultation was the launch of ‘National Platform on Locally-Led Adaptation, Bangladesh (NPLLA, Bangladesh).’

National Consultation on Locally Led Adaptation: May 2022
Introductory Meeting of the National Platform on Locally Led Adaptation (NPLLA, Bangladesh): September 2022
2nd planning meeting of the National Platform on Locally Led Adaptation (NPLLA, Bangladesh): August 2023

Divisional Platforms on LLA

Khulna Division: February 2023
Chattogram Division : September 2023
Sylhet Division : February 2024

Research/Projects

Assessing Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) approach of the Climate Change Resilience Project (CCRP) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
Building Climate Resilient Migrant Friendly Town Through Locally Led Adaptation in Mongla
Exploring Village Common Forest (VCF) Assessing the impacts of climate change and sustainable management through indigenous community participation (CAP-RES)
360 Accountability Scorecard on Locally Led Adaptation

Knowledge Dissemination , Events & Workshop

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