Global Center on Adaptation

New GCA sector briefs on climate resilience in The Gambia 🇬🇲

Under the African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), the Global Center on Adaptation is supporting the Government of The Gambia in coordination with multilateral development banks and development partners to integrate climate resilience into infrastructure planning and investment.

We are pleased to share replicable insights from this technical support, with three new country briefs providing practical guidance on strengthening resilience across key systems:

- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Transport Sector
- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Water Sector
- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Inland Water Transport Sector

These briefs highlight climate risks affecting critical assets and services and identify cost-effective investment priorities — from resilient road design and improved water governance to nature-based solutions and enhanced multimodal connectivity.

They are supported by three technical reports forming the analytical foundation of this work: Climate Hazard Assessment for The Gambia, and sectoral Climate Risk Assessment for Water Resources and for the Transport Sector.

Together, these outputs support ongoing efforts with national institutions and international financial institutions to strengthen climate-resilient infrastructure, improve connectivity, and enhance access to energy and essential services across the country.

🔗 Read the reports here: https://brnw.ch/21x0MyV

Africa’s adaptation finance gap remains vast — especially from the private sector.

In 2023, only 3% of adaptation finance in Africa came from private sources, despite growing climate risks facing MSME-driven economies. Scaling private capital is critical to protect livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and prevent mounting financial and development losses.

A new GCA technical brief highlights that unlocking adaptation finance requires going beyond Climate Risk Assessments. Banks need an enabling internal environment to integrate climate adaptation into lending practices — from strategic alignment and shared adaptation taxonomies to client-centered product development and addressing climate data gaps.

Drawing on GCA’s collaboration with the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank and CRDB Bank Plc, which supported climate risk assessments aligned with Bank of Tanzania regulations, the brief shares early insights from this technical assistance. It highlights four key enabling factors:
• Strategic alignment on the objectives of Climate Risk Assessments
• Shared adaptation and resilience solution taxonomy
• Client-centered financial product development
• Intentional efforts to address existing data gaps

This brief is designed for African bank sustainability leaders and technical assistance providers, offering practical insights to integrate climate adaptation into lending practices.

🔗Read the brief: https://brnw.ch/21x0Iy9

Structuring Finance for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Food Systems in Bangladesh 🌱🇧🇩

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) convened the third and final roundtable under the initiative Pathways to Implementing the National Roadmap and Global Tools for Nature-based Solutions (NbS), bringing together government agencies, development partners, and financial institutions.

Building on the Bangladesh Climate Resilient Infrastructure Investment Roadmap, which identified a pipeline of 35 climate-screened infrastructure projects, the initiative has progressed toward investment-ready concepts.

The roundtable focused on structuring financing pathways for the broader project pipeline, with particular emphasis on three model investments linking , , and agri-food value chains.

Discussions explored opportunities to mobilize public finance, development partner resources, and instruments to advance these projects forward.

Looking ahead, the discussion will help advance institutional partnerships and next steps to move these investments from concept to implementation, positioning them as scalable models for development in Bangladesh.

📘 New Handbook for Young Climate Leaders

As part of the Youth Leadership and Education Program, the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), in partnership with the University of Groningen Business School, has developed a new Handbook for the Youth Academy on Climate Adaptation and Leadership.

This resource aims to strengthen the professional, leadership, and training skills of young people, enabling them to empower their communities and accelerate climate adaptation and resilient development.

Through the Training-of-Trainers model, young leaders can multiply knowledge and support locally led adaptation across their regions.

🔗Read the Handbook: https://brnw.ch/21x0Et1

GCA is delighted to announce that H.E. President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, 6th President of the Republic of Mauritius, is assuming the role of Chair of the Board of the GCA and H.E. Rindra Rabarinirinarison, former Minister of Economy and Finance of Madagascar, is joining the Global Center as its new CEO. The appointments place female leadership from the Global South at the helm of the GCA as the Center celebrates 8 years of transformative efforts to promote climate adaptation.

The Global Center also thanks and recognises H.E. Ban Ki-moon and Prof. Patrick V. Verkooijen for their leadership as founding Chair and founding CEO as their tenures in office conclude.

🔗 Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x0AsZ

🌍 Ahead of International Women’s Day (8 March), the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) hosted a dialogue with young women climate leaders from 11 countries. Moderated by Adriana Valenzuela, the discussion featured young women leaders from newly nominated countries of the Youth Adaptation Network, a platform connecting youth-led organizations across 52 African countries working to advance climate adaptation.

🌸 Key Message
Young women are disproportionately affected by climate change, yet they play a critical role in driving adaptation solutions, strengthening community resilience, and leading climate action at the local level.

📢 Call to Action
Investing in young people and women is essential to accelerate climate-resilient development. Strengthening their leadership, skills, and access to opportunities will be key to building resilient communities and sustainable futures.

👏 Special thanks to the inspiring young women leaders from Algeria 🇩🇿, Comoros 🇰🇲, Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩, Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶, Ghana 🇬🇭, Liberia 🇱🇷, Morocco 🇲🇦, Republic of Congo 🇨🇬, Seychelles 🇸🇨, South Africa 🇿🇦, and Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹 for sharing their leadership and experiences.

Following the launch of our Adaptation Insights #02: Investing in Nature earlier this year, we are pleased to continue sharing practical content and support to advance the investments in Nature-based Solutions as effective climate adaptation measures.

Cedric Malaval, Senior Specialist at the Global Center on Adaptation, will be speaking at the upcoming online webinar organized by ORIS:
Climate Events and Infrastructure Resilience: How to Move from Climate Projection to Adaptation Measures?

Link to register: https://brnw.ch/21x0rvm

🌍✨ Young Women Leadership in Africa – Ahead of International Women’s Day

Ahead of International Women’s Day (8 March), on 5 March GCA is highlighting the voices of young women across Africa who are shaping adaptation solutions and strengthening climate resilience in their communities.

Through a dedicated dialogue, young leaders share their experiences, challenges, and perspectives on advancing inclusive adaptation.

We celebrate their leadership, commitment, and impact — and continue amplifying the role of young women in building a climate-resilient future.

What does it take to design infrastructure that is not only climate-resilient, but also gender-responsive and socially inclusive?

In our recent regional webinar on “Implementing Gender-Responsive, Socially-Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Infrastructure in South Asia,” discussions were grounded in a forthcoming practical guide developed by the Global Center on Adaptation, in partnership with the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) and with support from the Government of Canada.

The session explored:
✔️ How climate risks intersect with gender and social inequalities across infrastructure systems
✔️ Why resilience investments must address differentiated vulnerabilities
✔️ Practical approaches to integrating gender and social inclusion into planning, appraisal, procurement, and operations
✔️ Institutional entry points to strengthen inclusive climate adaptation within public investment processes
The upcoming guide translates these insights into actionable tools and methodologies for infrastructure custodians, development partners, and financing institutions.

📌 The publication will be released in the coming weeks - keep an eye on GCA page for updates.

Now Live: Adaptation Insight – A Practical Roadmap for Scaling Digital Climate Advisory Services in Africa

Across Africa, rain-fed agriculture is dominant. As a result, climate and weather patterns highly influence farm operations and therefore, food security and income of millions of people, especially women and resource-poor rural households . As growing seasons become unpredictable and climate shocks intensify, farmers need timely, trusted, and location-specific advisories climate and agronomic guidance to manage these risks.

Digital Climate Advisory Services (DCAS) are proving to be one of the most powerful tools to help farmers adapt translating complex climate and agronomic data into simple, actionable advice delivered through SMS, voice, radio, and digital platforms.
Our latest Adaptation Insight distills lessons from GCA’s activities implemented under the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program and collaboration with partners including IFIs, CGIAR and national governments.

The report discusses some key questions including the following: What field successes have been recorded where DCAS has been implemented, and what determines this? What are the barriers and to pitfalls to avoid in implementing DCAS? What insights can be shared with organizations officials who plan or presently implementing DCAS in Africa?

🔗 Read the full report here: https://brnw.ch/21x0gGo

📢 New Impact Report Released!

In 2025, the Global Center on Adaptation organized the Pan-African Youth Academy on Climate Adaptation and Leadership — a Training-of-Trainers programme empowering young people to replicate and scale adaptation training in their home countries.

Co-organized with the Kenya School of Government, the University of Nairobi, the University of Groningen, and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, the Academy brought together youth representatives from 50 countries (including 46 African countries). Special thanks to all participants and partners!

🔗 Read the full Impact Report:
https://brnw.ch/21x0fDL