Ex post: Taking Adaptation to the Ground: A Small Grants Facility for Enabling Local-Level Responses to Climate Change (South Africa)

In South Africa’s Mopani and Namakwa districts, rural communities are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, shifting rainfall patterns, and increasing pressure on water resources and livelihoods. This ex post evaluation assesses how project outcomes have evolved several years after completion, with a focus on whether a community-based small grants approach has delivered sustained adaptation benefits and strengthened local resilience over time.

This USD 2.4 million Adaptation Fund-supported project focused on increasing the resilience of vulnerable communities through a Small Grants Facility that enabled locally led adaptation responses. The project provided direct financing to community organizations, strengthened local institutional capacity, and generated lessons to support the scaling up and replication of locally led adaptation approaches. The project was implemented by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Adaptation Fund’s National Implementing Entity in South Africa, with execution led by SouthSouthNorth (SSN) and support from local facilitating agencies in the Mopani and Namakwa districts.