ARA’s Grassroots Action Research Microgrants

The ARA micro-grant approach seeks to empower grassroots actors to identify needs and opportunities, and to co-develop potential solutions for adapting to the local impacts of climate change alongside researchers and relevant stakeholders who can scale up and implement actions. 

In this way, the financing is used effectively and sustainably, with local voices leading rather than funding institutions or outsiders. 

The Grant

Between 2023 and 2025, 55 grants were awarded in the Global South, amounting to GBP 700,000. Microgrants emphasise the importance of co-creation in fostering effective, meaningful, and equitable outcomes, while also highlighting less-explored areas of adaptation action research. These projects last for eight months. They received up to GBP 15,000 to conduct inclusive, locally led action research to identify needs and opportunities for building resilience. The awarded projects were based in 22 countries from the Global South, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Haiti, Kenya, the Philippines, Somalia, India, and Uruguay.

Locally-Led Adaptation Strategies

The videos below present selected examples from the ARA micro-grants, showing how locally led, action-oriented research is being carried out across different contexts. They reflect how communities, researchers, and local organisations are working together to respond to climate risks in ways that are grounded in lived realities.

Taken together, these cases highlight both the diversity of adaptation challenges and the range of approaches being tested, from strengthening local knowledge systems to improving access to data, livelihoods, and basic services. They also point to gaps that remain and the need to better connect local insights to wider policy and investment decisions.

1. Climate risks and responses

Ground-level responses to specific risks

• Zambia – indigenous seeds and knowledge for adaptation
• Sri Lanka – water scarcity
• Bangladesh – erosion in haor
• Uruguay – flood perceptions and actions

2. Locally led adaptation in practice

Community-driven adaptation and decision-making

• Brazil – strengthening adaptation through local knowledge
• Chile (Independencia) – greywater food systems
• Chile (Renca) – community data use
• Panama – watershed resilience plan
• Argentina – land use in Paraná Delta

3. Gender, equity, and social dimensions

Where adaptation intersects with lived realities

• India (Sundurbans) – menstrual health and adaptation
• Madagascar (Tanjona – multiple sites):
  • Antsahabingo – mangroves and women
  • Katsepy – livelihoods, raffia, and women
  • Mariarano – climate change education and women
  • Mandrosoa – women’s association

4. Systems and scaling

Where local action connects to wider systems

• Madagascar – climate-smart agriculture
• India – adaptive community spaces
• Chile – green spaces and heat

Lessons Learned

This video provides an overview of ARA’s micro-grants, showing how small-scale funding supports locally led efforts to identify climate risks and test practical adaptation responses.

These microgrants were also discussed in this video. It shows how local actors, often with limited resources, identify challenges, test responses, and draw on local knowledge to strengthen resilience.

Links to Related Reports