CBA SCALE+

According to the IPCC, approximately 40% of the global population is now “highly vulnerable” to the harsh realities of climate change. Southern Africa’s ecosystems, communities and infrastructure face significant risks due to climate change, and the region has already experienced widespread losses and damages. People have always lived with a degree of climate-related risk, but those risks are changing and increasing, and the increasing uncertainty is heavily impacting the livelihoods of people in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

A number of projects have promoted community-based adaptation (CBA) across Southern Africa to try and reduce local vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. However, these approaches have been institutionalized in a limited way, and the potential of CBA has been limited by a lack of resources for implementation.  

CBA SCALE+ works with local authorities, communities, and policymakers across the three countries to address these gaps.

The project is implemented by a consortium led by CARE Deutschland (Germany), CARE Mozambique, CARE Zambia and CARE Zimbabwe, along with IUCN, FANRPAN and IISD.

Regional partners are the Associação dos Jovens e Amigos de Govuro (AJOAGO), Associação para promoção de desenvolvimento da Mulher (MAHLAHLE), Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), Alliance for Nutrition and Reconstruction (ANR), Nutri Aid Trust (NAT), Cooperazione e Sviluppo
(CESVI), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE).

CBA SCALE+ seeks to:  

• engage communities, local governmental institutions and civil society in adaptation planning processes and – critically – work towards the implementation of inclusive, gender-responsive, and nature-based CBA actions. 

• introduce a variety of solutions via project partners, demonstrating effective approaches to facilitating CBA and ensuring these are nature-based, gender-responsive and inclusive.  

• produce robust evidence on what works and what doesn’t to inform adaptation within and beyond Southern Africa. 

• work with decision-makers at the national and international level to foster an enabling policy and financing environment for CBA, engaging with institutions and policies to embed CBA in local development processes. 

• work in 100 communities and support 500,000 people to manage climate risks. 

• initiate adaptation actions that will act as a stimulus for scaling up, so more communities will benefit.

The project funder is The International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN).

You can read more about the initiative here.