Revisiting the Local Adaptive Capacity framework: learning from the implementation of a research and programming framework in Africa

While adaptation to climate change has emerged as a key area of development research, little is known about the enablers and constraints to implementing adaptation-oriented frameworks for research and development programming. This paper documents lessons learned from the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) programme – a multi-stakeholder consortium comprised of four large international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and a research organization. It revisits the development and implementation of the conceptual framework that guided ACCRA’s work: the Local Adaptive Capacity (LAC) framework. Between 2009 and 2013, ACCRA’s research used the LAC to understand the impact of development interventions on levels of adaptive capacity at community and household levels. This in turn informed targeting of NGO and government programming. Challenges such as definitional overlaps between resilience and adaptation, difficulties in articulating the intangible elements of LAC’s five characteristics of adaptive capacity and differing interpretations of commonly used terms between academic and practitioner partners each had to be grappled with. Experiences from ACCRA’s research highlight the LAC’s utility as a unifying framework. However, they also point to the need to ensure that certain elements of the LAC are not under-represented (such as gender, power and politics). In addition, the need for improved guidance in describing how the conceptual elements of the LAC can be operationalized, and ensuring greater levels of collaboration between all stakeholders were identified. It is hoped that the lessons from ACCRA not only help to shape future applications of the LAC but the large number of other adaptation and resilience-oriented frameworks that guide development research and practice.