Governing Adaptation Finance for Transformation (GAP)

GAP is a research programme analysing the institutional architecture of how and where finance for climate change adaptation is spent and which route of transfer it follows from national to local levels. 

GAP is a four-year programme (2021-2025) involving collaborating research institutions in Denmark, Kenya and Tanzania. GAP is financed through the Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC).

Photo: Eddie Gerald, Alamy Stock Photo, Clerks at work in the ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Lilongwe capital of Malawi Africa
Read more about the programme

Citizens in the Global South are being affected by the increased frequency and severity of climate change-related hazards, as well as receiving only inadequate government and donor support for their adaptation efforts. It is therefore with good reason that the UN’s Climate Conferences have continued to focus on the inadequacy of financial support for adaptation, and recently also on the process of implementation. Yet, despite the strong global research literature on climate change adaptation, implementation of adaptation at sub-national levels in the Global South remains under-researched.

GAP will analyse how (de)centralized modes of governance influence the distribution and use of finance for adaptation during implementation. GAP’s overall hypothesis is that devolving the governance of climate change adaptation produces a less skewed spatial distribution of financial resources, although devolution alone may not alleviate political conflict or produce solutions that are better tailored to local conditions. GAP will contribute to the academic literature by establishing the implementation of climate change adaptation as a new arena of political contestation among (sub)national actors.

GAP is organized around three analytical components, each included in a different work package. These components combine insights into (i) the financial architecture with (ii) the politics of adaptation finance in Kenya and Tanzania, while (iii) building the partnerships and capacity for scrutinizing adaptation finance in all three partner countries.

Work Package 1 (finance) provides an overview of the architecture for adaptation finance in Kenya and Tanzania. Adaptation finance institutions constitute a complex field, including government revenues, international climate-change financial mechanisms, multi- and bilateral development assistance, as well as NGOs and other private and (semi-)public organizations.

Work Package 2 (politics) provides a qualitative in-depth political economy analysis of climate change adaptation as an arena of political contestation where formal actors, personal agendas and informal institutions seek to influence decisions over how the funds are spent. We explore the background for the (de)centralized socio-political context around adaptation agendas in Kenya and Tanzania and explore the potential ambiguities surrounding the terminology of what constitutes adaptation among donor, national, political and implementing agencies, as well as among communities exposed to climate hazards.

Work Package 3 (capacity) seeks to build capacity and collaboration in and between the partner countries, thereby contributing to making adaptation finance transformative. Transformative adaptation is defined by a situation in which the root causes of vulnerability to climate change are addressed. In response to global challenges, policy documents and a growing academic literature, we will discuss the need for transformative adaptation to climate change, and attempt to identify opportunities for transformation through changes in values, agency, relations and social processes.

Researchers

DENMARK

Esbern Friis-Hansen
Senior researcher at DIIS. He has 35 years of experience as a development researcher in natural resource management and climate change adaptation with long-term involvement in Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He is the GAP coordinator and will primarily focus on the governance of climate change finance in Tanzania.

Marie Ladekjær Gravesen
Post-doc at DIIS. She has worked on climate change adaptation, the politics of natural resources and climate-related conflicts. In GAP, she primarily focuses on the socio-political context of adaptation finance in Kenya and engages with GAP’s various partners and stakeholders.

Hans Peter Dejgaard
Director and consultant at INKA Consult, Denmark. He has extensive experience with climate change projects at the community, municipal and national levels in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has undertaken studies of international climate finance for INGOs and drafted Danish MFA’s reporting to OECD, EU and UNFCCC. In GAP, he will primarily contribute to Work Package 1.

Andrew Hattle
Consultant at INKA Consult, Denmark.


TANZANIA

Lucas Albani Katera
Director of Commissioned Works at REPOA, Tanzania. He is an economist with experience of research and policy analysis, particularly in the areas of poverty, public policy, governance, service delivery and rural development. In the GAP programme he will contribute to understanding the governance of adaptation finance in Tanzania.

Jamal Msami
Director of Strategic Research and Senior Researcher, REPOA, Tanzania. Coordinates REPOA’s research on productive sectors and inclusive development, gender and human development, governance, environment and climate change. He has experience with public service reforms. In the GAP programme he contributes to the understanding of the political economy of adaptation finance in Tanzania.

Per Jakob Tidemand
Consultant, REPOA, Tanzania. For the last 25 years he has been working as a consultant on local government finance issues in twenty countries across Asia and Africa. He has long-term involvement in Uganda and Tanzania. Under the GAP programme, he is focusing on the institutional aspects of climate change financing.

Noah Makula Pauline
Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Dar es Salaam, Institute of Resources Assessment (IRA), Tanzania. His areas of interest are environmental management, natural resources management, adaptation and climate change finance. In GAP, Noah supervises PhD students and contributes to the understanding of climate change adaptation in Tanzania.

Beatrice Sumari
PhD student at the University of Dar es Salaam, Institute of Resources Assessment (IRA), Tanzania. She is a trained community engagement professional with eight years of experience working with Tanzanian government institutions and other national and international stakeholders. In GAP, she explores local government capabilities in the management of climate change adaptation finance in Tanzania.

Peter Rogers
PhD student at the University of Dar es Salaam, Institute of Resources Assessment (IRA), Tanzania. He trained in natural resource science at the University of Dar es Salaam and has experience with climate change mitigation and adaptation. In the GAP programme, he focuses on adaptation finance in Tanzania.


KENYA

Eric Mutisya Kioko
Lecturer/Research Fellow at the School of Environment and Community Development, Kenyatta University, Kenya. He has published on natural-resource management, conflict and climate change-affected landscapes. In GAP, he leads the Kenya team, supervises two of the PhD students and focuses on the socio-political context of adaptation finance in Kenya.

Maggie Opondo
Socio-Economic and Cultural Studies Coordinator at the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has researched and published widely on the impacts of climate change on communities. In GAP, she is focusing on the socio-political context of adaptation finance and on nurturing partnerships with all GAP stakeholders.  

Edward Mungai
Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Climate Innovation Center, and Lecturer at Strathmore University, Kenya.

Judith Mulwa
PhD student at the School of Environment and Community Development, Kenyatta University, Kenya.

Millicent Omala
PhD student at the School of Environment and Community Development, Kenyatta University, Kenya. She has ten years’ experience working on adaptation and development in Ghana, Nepal and Kenya. In the GAP programme, she focuses on the coordination and politics of adaptation finance in Turkana County.

Dennis Ochieng
PhD student at the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

 

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Forskning og aktiviteter

  • Locally-led Adaptation report and pb cover
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    Climate change adaptation in the Global South is urgent. Locally-led approaches are gaining momentum. But what does that mean in practice and does it work? This webinar launches a new DIIS report on lessons from locally-led adaptation in East Africa
  • shepherds walking in Africa
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    How should climate change adaptation be governed? This webinar examines how climate change adaptation policies and projects govern mobility, land rights and finance in the African context, and what the lessons are for adaptation governance.
  • Solar cells in Niger
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    The seminar analyses the institutional architecture of how and where finance for climate change adaptation is spent and which route of transfer it follows from national to local levels

Kontakt

Esbern Friis Hansen
Bæredygtig udvikling og regeringsførelse
Seniorforsker
+45 9132 5434
Marie Ladekjær Gravesen
Bæredygtig udvikling og regeringsførelse
Postdoc
91325552