Assignments

Since Garama was established in April 2012, we have worked with a wide range of clients on diverse assignments related to adpatation and resilience, and other aspects of climate change. Below is a non-exhaustive list of assignments that we have undertaken since our inception, in reverse chronological order. Garama personnel bring a wide range of additional expertise to the table, through their experience on other, non-Garama assignments.

Support to national governments for development of National Adaptation Plans (2024), with the NAP Global Network.

Training for adaptation start-ups in the Global South (2023-2024): development of webinars on the development of business models to support adaptation and resilience, for adaptation start-ups in Africa, Asia and South America, for Climate-KIC.

MEL for NAP Toolkit (2023), with IISD – contribution to development and publication of toolkit to support monitoring, evaluation and learning for National Adaptation Plans.

Review of ODA support for local adaptation governance (2022-2023), for OECD Climate Change Adaptation Governance group, based on diverse evidence from program evaluations, meta-evaluations, analysis of global databases, and interviews with stakeholders.

Adaptation Gap Report 2022: Lead author on Chapter 5: Effectiveness of adaptation.

Rethinking climate-security narratives (2022): lead author on advisory paper critically examining climate-security narratives and proposing more nuanced approaches for integrating adaptation and disaster risk management, with ODI on behalf of GIZ.

MEL for sustainable development (2021 – 2022): development and testing of principles and guidance for integrating climate change into the evaluation of sustainable development initiatives, with IIED.

Climate risk assessment for the Sahel G5 countries (2021-2022): coordination of chapter on complex climate risks, based on assessment of socio-economic trends, livelihoods and vulnerabilities, and new climate data, with UK Met Office, for ODI and FCDO. Download report

Adaptation Gap Report 2021: Lead author on Chapter 5: Global progress on adaptation implementation, with specific input on adaptation outcomes and risk reduction.

Country study of climate change action in Mauritania (2021) for the UK FCDO through South South North, involving a review of climate change policy, governance, finance and programming in Mauritania to support the British Embassy in Nouakchott.

Coordination of indicative Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (2021), to support the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara in its climate planning and diplomacy.Download the NDC and associated briefing

Mapping climate-conflict displacement variables & points of convergence in Galmudug, Somalia (2021) for GIST Research/International Organization for Migration (IOM), providing expert input on climate science and climate change & conflict for IOM commissioned study on links between climate change and violent conflict in Galmudug province.

Supporting North Norfolk’s climate change planning (2021), providing support to NNDC on climate change planning for net-zero and resilience transitions and public engagement.

Review of DFID’s Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF) (Jul-Nov 2020), through South South North. Distillation of learning around adaptation and resilience framing in programming, use and communication of climate information in decision-making, and programme impact.

Climate change and water evidence mapping for the MENA region, with Mott MacDonald for DFID (Jan-Jul 2020). Input on search parameters and methodology for evidence mapping app, testing of app and interrogation of research questions on climate change and water in MENA region.

Evaluation of High-Volume Transport proposals, with IMC for DFID (Apr-May 2020). Evaluation of proposals addressing climate change mitigation, adaptation, resilience and inclusion.

Shifting norms and values for transitions to net-zero. Commissioned expert review and working paper with accompanying insight briefing for Climate-KIC (Sep 2019 – Feb 2020). Identifying and linking norms, values, worldviews and ideologies associated with climate (in)action, and discussion of how these might be shifted in a pro-mitigation direction through social innovation.

Scoping for Climate and Resilience Framework (CLARE) programme, with DAI Europe for DFID (Sep 2019 – Mar 2020). High-level strategic input to scoping phase of DFID CLARE research programme, including coordination and learning across thematic scoping/review studies and technical input/facilitation for workshop in early 2020.

Support to the Paris Agreement on Transparency, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) for Adaptation, with IIED for GIZ (Dec. 2017 – Jun. 2019). Review of national adaptation MEL systems, delivery of policy briefings and webinars on adaptation MEL, leading on paper addressing framing and tracking of adaptation in relation to Paris goals, reporting requirements under Enhanced Transparency Framework, and projected warming beyond the Paris temperature thresholds.

Review of Tools & Methods for Measuring Resilience, with IMC for DFID Nepal (May 2018 – Mar. 2019). Leading on literature review to identify measurement tools and methods that are potentially applicable or adaptable for use across DFID Nepal’s Resilience and wider Portfolio. Report available here as pdf.

Nepal National Climate Change Support Programme (NCCSP) transition phase, with Landell Mills, for DFID Nepal (October 2017 – June 2018).
Supporting transition from Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs) under Phase I of the NCCSP, to integration of climate risk management into local government development planning under Nepal’s new federal structure for Phase II of the NCCSP.

Resilience & Transformation symposium, with Oxfam GB. Participation in Oxfam GB’s June 2017 symposium on Resilient Solutions in Oxford, including in panel discussion on ‘transformation’. The event is covered in this article on zilient.org, in which we get a mention. Following the session on transformation, we were invited to submit a blog post for the Oxfam website on transformational adaptation. The post is an extract from a longer blog post here on the Garama website on transformational adaptation, which takes a long-term perspective on the implications of rapid and severe climate change.

Adaptation and resilience learning for StARCK+ programme, for DAI Europe (September 2016 – July 2017). Assessment of extent to which activities and projects under DFID-funded StARCK+ programme are likely to deliver tangible resilience and adaptation benefits, based on desk review, stakeholder interviews and field visits. Reports available online at https://starckplus.com/index.php/starck-results-against-icf-kpis/learning-reports. 

Climate Change Adaptation support to VUNA programme, with Adam Smith International for DFID (June 2015 – February 2017). Support on theory of change, log-frame, development of M&E system; preparation of discussion paper on transformational adaptation in agriculture in East & Southern Africa; organisation and facilitation of a conference on this theme in South Africa (January 2017).

Adaptation Training for Government of Mozambique (May 2015).
Preparation and delivery of one-week training course in Maputo on climate science, adaptation, mainstreaming and M&E for staff from multiple ministries involved in Mozambique’s Spatial Development Programme.

Measuring resilience, with Landell Mills for DFID (2014). Input to development of M&E framework for DFID BRACED programme and development of methodology and guidance for reporting against UK International Climate Fund (ICF) Key Performance Indicator (KPI) 4: number of people with improved resilience.

Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) framework, with IIED for DFID (2012-2015). Leading on development of TAMD methodology for assessing success of climate change adaptation in development contexts, at multiple levels and scales. Included work with Cambodian government in developing national and sectoral climate change M&E system, capacity building/training and workshops in Cambodia, Kenya and Ethiopia.