United States In-Country NAP Support Program

The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process is a key strategic framework for the achievement of developing countries’ adaptation goals.

To achieve these goals, a coordinated approach to adaptation across sectors and government levels is essential. Recognizing this, the United States government is providing in-country NAP support to help developing countries implement adaptation actions to address priorities they identify through their NAP processes.

The U.S. In-Country NAP Support Program is implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), which hosts the NAP Global Network Secretariat, under the guidance of U.S. government representatives in Washington, D.C.

Below, you can read about the work underway to support countries’ NAP processes through this program.

The Program of Support for Colombia seeks to increase national-level awareness and multisectoral engagement with the NAP process; contribute to operational adaptation plans; strengthen capacities in priority sectors; and increase awareness and understanding of adaptation in post-conflict settings.

In close collaboration with both the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the National Planning Department, priority investments were identified for advancing the NAP process. These include the following activities:

1. Holding a national NAP Assembly to strengthen the implementation of the NAP’s Action Plan, and the design and operationalization of adaptation plans across sectors.
2. Supporting the development of adaptation plans for selected priority sectors (e.g., health, housing and tourism), including monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of adaptation, in order to strengthen the implementation of the NAP process, the National Development Plan and the climate change policy on adaptation.
3. Contributing to the NAP implementation in post-conflict areas through the development of guidelines for the implementation of the NAP Action Plan, and the strengthening of local capacities to implement adaptation strategies in selected post-conflict territories.

The Program of Support for Peru seeks to achieve a robust and sustainable NAP M&E system that generates accountability and learning to strengthen the NAP process; to increase the capacity of government stakeholders to monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of adaptation; and increase national-level awareness and engagement with adaptation linked to a NAP Assembly and a communications strategy.

Priority activities for support were determined through in-depth consultations with the NAP Global Network focal point in Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, USAID and a broad range of adaptation stakeholders that participated in the NAP Assembly held in Lima, December 6–7, 2016. These include:

1. Supporting the design and operationalization of Peru’s NAP M&E strategy in order to ensure a robust reporting and learning system on adaptation progress and impact.
2. Building capacity on M&E for adaptation across priority sectors and levels (national and regional), strengthening the ability of key stakeholders to support the NAP’s implementation.
3. Foster national awareness and momentum for the implementation of Peru’s NAP process.

Read the report Estado del arte del monitoreo y evaluación para la adaptación al cambio climático en el Perú (November 2017).

The Program of Support for Saint Lucia seeks to raise awareness for the NAP process across Saint Lucia; to build political support for the NAP process; to increase climate resilience in a key vulnerable sector; to increase domestic capacities for developing sectoral strategies; and to increase coordination among donors supporting adaptation in Saint Lucia.

In partnership with the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, the Program of Support was developed with a view to achieving the following objectives:

1. Support the development of an adaptation strategy and investment plan for a sector that is deemed a priority due to its vulnerability to climate change impacts, its inherent economic benefits and its contribution to livelihoods.
2. Formulate a communication plan to inform on the processes and benefits of the NAP to a broad range of constituents, including government, the media, civil society, the international community and the Saint Lucian public.
3. Build political and financial support for the NAP process and NAP implementation in Saint Lucia through a NAP Assembly to facilitate donor coordination and alignment with broader development and resilience goals.

Visit the Government of Saint Lucia’s climate change website.

In Ethiopia, the In-Country NAP Support Program focuses on the transition from NAP document to implementation.

The NAP Global Network works in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEFCC) to implement the program, which has four key components:

• Regional adaptation workshops, which incorporate capacity building for regional stakeholders as well as prioritization of adaptation options outlined in the NAP.
• Engagement of national-level stakeholders, through dialogue and capacity development on key issues related to the NAP process.
• Long-term technical support, through a full-time advisor, embedded within the Climate Change Planning and Mainstreaming Directorate of MEFCC.
• Short-term technical inputs, on key issues such as gender and mainstreaming of adaptation across sectors and levels.

The program in Ethiopia launched in August 2017. Key achievements to the end of 2017 include:

• Technical inputs to the final draft NAP document.
• Support for Ethiopia to launch its NAP document.
• A strategic planning workshop, which emphasized the need to involve subnational actors in the NAP process (more information at the above link and in this blog).
• A training workshop on communications for the NAP process, focusing on communicating with international audiences.
• Two regional workshops that were held in the Amhara and SNNPR regions, where government actors, private sector and civil society representatives identified adaptation objectives and priority actions for the region, based on the options outlined in the NAP.

The NAP Global Network is working with the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to advance their NAP and help ensure that the island nation is well-equipped to meet the current and future challenges of climate change. The SVG Program of Support aims to achieve the following:

• Develop a sector-specific adaptation strategy and corresponding investment plan for a sector that has been deemed a priority due to its vulnerability to climate change impacts;
• Increase domestic capacities for developing sectoral adaptation strategies;
• Develop a financing strategy for the NAP, exploring the domestic and international sources of funding – both private and public – that could pay for the activities outlined in the NAP;
• Increase domestic capacities for understanding the development, implementation and monitoring of financing strategies for climate change adaptation;
• Increase domestic understanding of the mechanisms available for integrating the NAP in the national budget, and facilitate the design and use of such mechanisms; and
• Build political and financial support in SVG for the NAP process and its implementation by highlighting how coordination and alignment can help to achieve broader development and resilience goals.

The Program of Support was designed in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Unit of the Ministry of Economic Planning, Sustainable Development, Industry, Information and Labour. It was also developed in consultation with other donors working on SVG’s NAP, namely the UNDP Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (JCCCP). This helped to ensure that all programming complemented and supported the work of both the government and other donors working in-country.

The Program of Support for Guyana was developed in collaboration with the Office of Climate Change (OCC) within the Ministry of the Presidency. It aims to achieve the following objectives:

• To strengthen communications around the processes and benefits of the National Adaptation Plan to a broad range of constituents, including government, the media, civil society, the international community and the Guyanese public;
• To ensure the effective, impactful delivery and continuous improvement of the NAP process through the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework for Guyana’s NAP;
• To increase the capacities of staff from key ministries working at the local and regional level –namely the Ministries of Communities, Finance and Public Infrastructure–to plan and finance adaptation activities under the NAP.

The Program of Support was developed in consultation with other donors working on Guyana’s NAP, namely the UNDP Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (JCCCP). This helped to ensure that all programming complemented and supported the work of both the government and other donors working in-country.

Visit the Government of Guyana’s Office of Climate Change website.

In South Africa, the NAP Global Network is collaborating with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to advance their NAP process.  The program aims to create an enabling environment for implementation of the NAP.  It will include three main components:

• Technical support and mentoring, to increase capacity for NAP implementation among sectoral and subnational actors
• Adaptation training workshops for key actors involved in NAP implementation
• A NAP Assembly, to build support for NAP implementation among government actors and development partners

The program in South Africa is in the process of being launched.

To help Fiji develop and implement their NAP process, the NAP Global Network is providing technical support to fill identified capacity gaps.

Priority areas for support were determined through discussions with the head of the Climate Change and International Cooperation Division within the Ministry of Economy, an embedded advisor within the Ministry of Economy, and in consultation with other donors working in Fiji and the Pacific region.

The Program of Support for Fiji aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Complete the development phase of the National Adaptation Plan
2. Develop and pilot a model of vertical integration, which integrates risk hazard mapping, climate models and community-level vulnerability assessments to inform Fiji’s NAP process
3. Develop a knowledge management system for relevant policies, programs and initiatives
4. Design a monitoring and evaluation framework for the implementation phase of the NAP process
5. Design a resource mobilization strategy—including both financial and non-financial resources from both public and private stakeholders—for NAP implementation

The expected outputs from this program of work will include a completed and approved NAP that has been developed using participatory methods at both the national and subnational levels, as well as a NAP implementation strategy and an associated pipeline of fundable adaptation projects.

In April 2018, the NAP Global Network began a series of NAP support programs in five West African countries to provide short-term technical support. Based on the results of this initial phase—and if appropriate—it is anticipated that additional areas of support will be identified for these countries.

Programs of Support for Ghana and Sierra Leone focus on the development of a NAP Framework in each of the countries.

Programs of Support for Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Togo will provide technical assistance to conduct an analysis of gender considerations to inform their NAP processes.