Institutions and climate risk adaptation among smallholder livestock farmers in North Wollo Zone, Ethiopia

Smallholder livestock farmers in Ethiopia face increasing climate-related risks, including drought, frost, and flooding, which threaten livelihoods and food security. While adaptation is often examined at the household level, less attention has been given to how institutions collectively shape farmers’ adaptive capacity and the coordination mechanisms that influence adaptation outcomes. This study examines the roles of public, private, and civil society institutions in supporting climate risk adaptation among smallholder livestock farmers in North Wollo Zone, Ethiopia, using an institutional and systems-oriented perspective. A qualitative case study approach was employed, drawing on Focus Group Discussions with 32 farmers and Key Informant Interviews with 33 institutional experts. Data were analyzed thematically using a hybrid coding strategy. The findings show that public institutions form the backbone of adaptation through technology generation and dissemination, extension services, coordination, and climate risk management. Private institutions contribute through financial services, input supply, and resilience-building programs, while civil society institutions strengthen grassroots adaptation through collective action and peer learning. Institutional interventions in breed improvement, livestock husbandry management, and natural resource management enhance livestock productivity and reduce climate-related losses. However, adaptation efforts are constrained by fragmented institutional coordination, weak research-extension-farmer linkages, limited financial and technical resources, and inadequate feedback mechanisms. The study also identifies important opportunities for strengthening institutional support through formal multi-stakeholder coordination platforms, improved information sharing, joint planning, stronger farmer feedback systems, and integration of climate information, livestock health, and financial services. These findings demonstrate that effective climate risk adaptation depends not only on the contributions of individual institutions but also on the quality of coordination and collaboration among them. Strengthening integrated and climate-responsive institutional governance is therefore essential for enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder livestock systems.