Driving equitable ecosystem-based adaptation: Lessons from water funds in Latin America

The Knowledge to Action, EbA and GESI Small-Grants Programme

In the framework of the Andean Platform, FFLA-CDKN launched an open call, where project proposals from six of the ten water funds (two from Colombia, two from Ecuador, and two from Peru) were selected to implement Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) measures incorporating the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) approach.

Community-led approach

The selected projects emphasised the active and committed involvement of communities and local stakeholders. During the proposal development phase, water funds collaborated with these communities, ensuring their participation and securing letters of support and commitment. Additionally, before the project selection, FFLA-CDKN facilitated capacity strengthening sessions that allowed the applicant water funds to refresh their knowledge on EbA and GESI concepts and design proposals that promote social-ecological resilience.

Participatory design and implementation

In the initial phase after project selection, FFLA-CDKN and the water fund technical teams held several working sessions to jointly develop situational analyses describing the environmental, climatic, and social issues in the area. They adapted the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation Methodology to identify climate and environmental threats affecting these territories, as well as how these impacts influence inequalities among different social groups. This participatory process enabled a review of projects to better understand potential issues and to formulate strategies to address identified threats.

Subsequent workshops were held with the active and committed involvement of the various communities and local actors from the projects. The workshops provided a space for local actors to review, edit, and validate the situational analyses, strategies, and expected outcomes of the intervention. This process helped to develop inclusive EbA measures based on the perspectives of a wide range of contributors to ensure that the measures represented the needs of those facing systemic exclusion.

EbA measures with a GESI lens

From Medellín and Manizales in Colombia, through Quito and Tena in Ecuador, to Lima and Piura in Peru, the six water funds have been implementing EbA measures with a GESI approach to address climate threats, particularly the intense rainfall and frequent droughts affecting these territories. These impacts are exacerbated by social issues of inequity and exclusion, including limited opportunities for women and youth to participate in, and lead, processes promoting sustainable livelihoods and ecological resilience.

Some of the EbA measures include:

Construction of barriers to protect crops from the wind including living fences (planting trees as a natural windbreaker)

Planting diverse grasses (to improve the diversity and resilience of pastures)

Placement of scattered trees in grazing fields (to provide shade to animals and to enhance soil health in the face of extreme temperatures)

Revegetation using native species (to enhance biodiversity and improve soil health and erosion control)

Construction of water reservoirs for irrigation storage (to increase access to water from streams during times of drought)

Restoration of highland wetlands/bofedales (to help ensure its ability to slowly release water for downstream communities during times of drought)

Accordingly, a GESI approach has been integrated throughout these EbA measures with interventions such as awareness and capacity strengthening workshops, community activities such as mingas (voluntary and collective agricultural work for socially useful purposes), that promote women’s and youth participation, and by establishing criteria to prioritise farms or ‘chakras’, owned by women heads of households.

“Minga” for fencing the forest in the conservation area of the Samanga Community, Peru, September, 2024. Courtesy of FORASAN Piura.

Key lessons learned

Many valuable lessons have emerged thus far. Among them, is the understanding that the active participation of men and women from communities is a process that can’t be rushed and will not be achieved with a single workshop. For meaningful participation, several enabling conditions must be considered. These include:

Time and flexibility are required to achieve active participation of community members in both proposal and contractual processes. FFLA-CDKN extended deadlines to ensure that both the water funds and communities had sufficient time to jointly develop proposals and secure letters of support. Additionally, some clauses in the collaboration agreements were modified to allow changes and adjustments to project documents, based on feedback received during the participatory workshops held at the start of the projects.

An adaptable, shared methodology is helpful for projects to meet their objectives while remaining flexible across varying contexts. In this instance, the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation methodology was specifically adapted to integrate climate and GESI considerations. This methodology enhances comprehension of the interconnected environmental, social, and gender-related challenges, thereby informing effective strategies to address them.

Supporting women's participation is fundamental. It's important to identify ways to support the specific needs of women, who, due to domestic and caregiving responsibilities, do not always have the time to participate in project activities but do show great interest and enthusiasm. For instance, it was essential to specifically invite women to the workshops and ensure equitable participation slots between men and women. These workshops were also scheduled at flexible times that accommodated women’s availability.

These measures represent the initial steps towards the design and implementation of EbA projects with a GESI perspective, highlighting the importance of involving local actors. Co-creation, understood as a continuous process, requires creating spaces for reflection, awareness raising, and capacity strengthening and is essential for integrating a GESI focus. This will help ensure that the goals of water funds are not limited to achieving the validation of initiatives but also genuinely respond to their needs and interests' diverse community members and local actors. Only in this way we can move toward truly transformative outcomes that promote equality and sustainability.

Visit to the Markahuasi Stone Forest in San Pedro de Casta, Peru as part of a field exchange between two Water Funds, April 2025. Courtesy of FFLA.