Successful climate change adaptation relies upon those communities most at risk of climate hazards and vulnerability having the capacity to adapt. However there is a lack of evidence about what are the most effective interventions to promote adaptive capacity. ACCRA - the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance - exists to meet this need.

ACCRA's approach

ACCRA is a consortium made up of Oxfam GB, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Save the Children Alliance, Care International and World Vision International and funded by DFID and CDKN.

ACCRA aims to increase governments' and development actors' use of evidence in designing and implementing both humanitarian and development interventions that increase poor and vulnerable communities' adaptive capacity.

ACCRA has four key objectives:

1. To understand how existing social protection, livelihoods and disaster risk reduction projects by ACCRA members build adaptive capacity to climate change in beneficiaries, and how these approaches can be strengthened.

2. To use the findings to influence donors, development partners and civil society to improve future planning/action.

3. To work together with local and national governments to build capacity to implement interventions which can build communities' adaptive capacity.

4. To encourage learning across countries and disciplines.

ACCRA has four programme components:

1. In-depth research:

   we have carried out detailed research on 11 projects across Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda  - effectively 11 months of research, one in each site. The ACCRA research seeks to test whether existing programmes are already be contributing to adaptive capacity or not, as well as to identify where existing programmatic approaches fall short, in order to inform actions to build adaptive capacity as an integral part of CCA programming. Through our research we'll bring together good practice from Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Sustainable Livelihoods and Social Protection programming to better understand how programmes and policies can support communities' and individuals' capacity to adapt to climate change.  

2. Capacity-building:

   ACCRA will implement national level capacity-building activities to support improved policy and practice of government actors. Whilst all countries have committed to national level engagement around key opportunities, each ACCRA country will also select one focus zone in each ACCRA country in which to undertake more direct capacity building support to support governments to successfully implement policy commitments. There is a strong commitment to cross-programme learning across countries and a variety of meetings and exchange visits involving programme and government personnel will enable the sharing of good practices.

3. The ACCRA Local Adaptive Capacity Framework:

   A key overarching conceptual tool for our programme is our Local Adaptive Capacity framework (LAC), which we are currently using to frame for our research.  The ACCRA LAC was developed following an experts' workshop in February 2010. We then consulted extensively with governments, civil society members and of course ACCRA members in Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique, and amended it significantly. The LAC drew on emerging thinking around adaptive capacity, recognising that this is a new area of work that isn't explicitly considered in any programmatic approaches. The LAC has the potential to be used in a number of different contexts, and for a range of purposes, for example for mainstreaming climate change adaptation, design or evaluation purposes. We're already looking at how it can be used in ACCRA members' policy and programming work, but our ambition is for it to be used much more widely. Take part in the LAC consultation.

4. Working and learning with others. ACCRA has a strong commitment to working with governments, and for this reason the consortium is fully operational in all three countries. We have an ACCRA national coordinator working alongside ACCRA members to build a strong relationship with and support the national government and work with local and national government at each step of the process. We're also working closely with existing civil society networks to ensure ACCRA contributes to their work, and with the wider development community through key platforms and meetings. 

Programme outcomes

The programme's expected outcomes include:

• The global evidence base on successful approaches to adaptation grows and is used to inform advocacy for improved policy and increased investment.

• Consortium agencies adapt their programming and invest more resources towards government capacity building for successful disaster risk reduction (DRR), livelihoods and climate change adaptation (CCA) approaches in three countries.

• National governments, donors and development actors in Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia adapt institutional structures, policy and budgets to join-up, invest more and effectively implement DRR, CCA, social protection and livelihoods initiatives.

Find out more

• Visit the ACCRA website, sign up to the ACCRA newsletter and join our group to receive regular updates.

• Internationally, contact Saskia Daggett, International Programme Coordinator: sdaggett@oxfam.org.uk

• In the UK, contact Chris Anderson, Oxfam Global DRR adviser: chanderson@oxfam.org.uk

 Key resources

• Rethinking Support for Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change
• The ACCRA Local Adaptive Capacity Framework (LAC)
• ACCRA in a nutshell
• ODI background note on ACCRA