Uganda faces the challenge of responding to rapidly changing climate and development pressures. At the local level, many communities do not have the tools, resources or capacity to adapt alone, and will require assistance and support from government and other development actors. Though most development interventions do not seek directly to address issues of climate change, the impacts of project support are likely to influence the ability of people and communities to respond and adapt to changing climate and development pressures. Yet, few development actors have considered how their interventions are influencing communities’ adaptive capacity, and what can be done to further enhance it.

This research report, Preparing for the future in Uganda: understanding the influence of development interventions on adaptive capacity at the local level, by the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) seeks to explore how existing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Social Protection and Sustainable Livelihood interventions impact on adaptive capacity at the local level in Uganda.

It does so through use of the Local Adaptive Capacity framework (LAC), which depicts adaptive capacity as being composed of five interrelated characteristics: the asset base; knowledge and information; institutions and entitlement; innovation; and flexible, forward-looking decision-making. Primary and secondary data have been gathered from three research sites in Bundibugyo, Kotido and Gulu districts.

This paper is part of the project, Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation, a two-year DFID-funded programme that focuses on a high priority research area: adaptive capacity in rural livelihoods. It is a consortium that works to increase governments’ and development actors’ use of evidence in designing and implementing humanitarian and development interventions to increase poor and vulnerable communities’ adaptive capacity.

Further reading:

Project homepage:
Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation

Project summary:
Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA): Helping policy-makers understand rural adaptation

Policy briefs:
Climate trends in Ethiopia: Summary of ACCRA research in three sites
Development interventions and adaptive capacity in rural Ethiopia
From local to national: Supporting local government action in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and development planning
The national picture: climate trends in Uganda

Research papers:
Preparing for the future? understanding the influence of development interventions on adaptive capacity at local level in Ethiopia