Arin report on the ARA African regional workshop

Summary

This report presents key insights, challenges, and recommendations from the ARA African Regional Workshop, convened as a platform for exchange of ideas and learnings in Locally Led Adaptation (LLA), as well as an avenue to share project experiences and lessons. The workshop brought together ARA micro grantees and stakeholders to reflect on project implementation across Africa, highlighting the importance of co-production and co-creation processes in ensuring community engagement, trust building, and long-term buy-in for climate adaptation strategies.

Discussions also emphasised the need to disseminate climate information in a manner that can be understood by local communities and the role of multi-stakeholder approaches in addressing climate change challenges.

Key challenges identified included inadequate climate financing, data capacity gaps, language barriers in communicating climate concepts, and difficulties in securing community buy-in due to socio-economic constraints. Short project timelines and complex grant application processes were also noted as barriers to effective implementation and sustainability of initiatives.

The report outlines recommendations to strengthen LLA implementation, including the need to upscale climate financing and technical support, promote sustainable and long-term grant initiatives, enhance collaboration with government and other partners, and adopt multidimensional and multi-stakeholder approaches, while emphasising the importance of building on existing initiatives and allowing adequate time for co-creation processes.