Role of participatory approaches and communication in national adaptation programmes of action: lessons learnt for national adaptation plans

Abstract

This research explores how participatory approaches and communication methodologies were used in the design and implementation of Nation Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) to detect lessons learnt and to understand how to deploy these approaches in Nation Adaptation Plans (NAPs). The study was developed through a literature review, survey and interviews. Firstly, it provides an overview of the most important participatory and communication approaches available, emphasizing the crucial role they play in climate change. Secondly, it assesses how these approaches are utilized in NAPAs, introducing the historical background behind the development of NAPAs and presenting the specific case of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with respect to climate change adaptation. The use of communication and participatory approaches within the process and the specific methods or tools are analysed. An evaluation of the effectiveness of communication and participatory approaches in the process is carried out and it draws on previous evaluations of the NAPA process in order to identify possible gaps where further evaluation would be beneficial, which will inform the rest of this study. Thirdly, it illustrates how the fundamental principles of communication and participation were embedded in the NAP process. It investigates the similarities and differences between the NAPA and NAP processes and it evaluates whether these principles have been embedded in the NAP process by analysing the normative process provided by the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG). In support of these analyses, a survey and interviews were developed in order to answer the following questions: 1.How were participatory approaches and communication established in the implementation of NAPAs? 2.What approaches were used and what were the results? 3.Which stakeholders were involved? 4.What were the lessons learned and how can participatory approaches and communication be used for the NAPs? Finally, a participatory and communication strategy for NAP draws on the literature review and results presented by the survey responses and interviews in order to complement the LEG National Adaptation Plans technical guidelines and provide new ideas for communication and participation within the proposed framework. In support of the thesis that participation and communication play a key role in the implementation of NAPA and NAP, a case study for Ethiopia has been analysed. The case study evaluates the approaches in designing and implementing NAPA and the subsequent programmes and projects in the country. The outcomes arising in Ethiopia from using these approaches were compared with those in other countries and specifically in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Central African Republic (CAR). As a conclusion of the case study, recommendations for the use of participatory approaches and communication methods in the design and implementation of NAPs in Ethiopia were provided.