The Application of Participatory Action Research to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: A Reference Guide

The primary aim of this Reference Guide is to provide a set of concepts and practical tools for use by Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme grantees working to support stakeholders (communities, government agencies, policy makers) in their efforts to adapt - or to help others adapt - to climate change. The Guide nevertheless presents a generic set of concepts and tools that is likely to be of use to others engaged in climate change adaptation research and development efforts in the region, or those working to address other development challenges requiring a multi-stakeholder learning-by-doing approach.

The guide is meant as a reference document to assist diverse actors in an innovative system to learn in a systematic way from experience acquired through problem-solving, to draw out lessons learned, and to apply these lessons to a new round of challenges, which become ever more complex as "first-generation" challenges are tackled.It aims to fill an ideological, methodological, and institutional gap between research and action (development, adaptation) by enabling systematic learning to take place on the change process itself – allowing lessons to be learned about "what works where, and why."

This Reference Guide was produced for: (1) partners implementing research projects across a range of sectors and climate change adaptation Challenges, and (2) other change facilitators (development workers, conservationists, institutional change experts, policymakers) and researchers with an interest in supporting climate change adaptation efforts in Africa and beyond.