Calls for accelerated climate action throughout 2019, whether on the streets or in ministerial-level policy discussions, routinely include the demand to support those most vulnerable to climate change and variability. Capacities to cope with climate impacts are lowest in contexts affected by fragility and conflict. It seems logical therefore that climate funds should be directed to these contexts, but the challenges involved, particularly in channelling funds through government systems, have prevented investment at the scale required. The capacity to anticipate, absorb and adapt to climate change remains low in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and few financing mechanisms have been developed to respond to this challenge.
The Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) programme sought to address this.
Highly innovative when it began in 2014 because of its inclusion of multiple conflict and post-conflict contexts, BRACED represented the largest financial resilience investment of its time. While significant effort has been made in monitoring and evaluating progress at a project and programme level, learning has yet to be consolidated on how to plan, deliver and manage climate resilience programmes and projects in fragile and conflict-affected contexts from an operational perspective.
This report addresses that gap. This review explores how climate resilience programmes and projects can be designed, established and managed to be resilient themselves in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. It combines evidence-based learning from over four years of implementation from 15 projects across 13 countries, as well as from the BRACED Fund Manager and Knowledge Manager. A subset of BRACED projects – in Mali, Myanmar, Niger, South Sudan – were explored in particular depth: see the accompanying Case Study Synopsis.