People's Adaptation Plans Zambia

GCA, with partners PPHPZ and WFZ, will share the final sub-project manual with the World Bank to guide TRALARD II PIU in implementation. The manual contextualizes the People's Adaptation Planning process to rural Zambian contexts, and draws on learnings from pilot planning processes in the Copperbelt and Muchinga Provinces.

Community researchers in 10 villages in Copperbelt Province and 10 villages/Village Action Groups in Muchinga Province were trained to conduct comprehensive household enumerations. This crucial process involved administering questionnaires to capture both qualitative and quantitative data, including socio-economic details, demographics, service access, and climate impacts, to fully understand community needs and vulnerabilities.

As part of the Free, Prior, Informed and Consent (FPIC) process, partners conducted community sensitization and awareness meetings in all villages across both provinces, involving local government and traditional leaders.

PPHPZ and WeForest Zambia collaborated with local government planning departments in both provinces to form People's Adaptation Planning/Village Land Use Planning committees in each project area. The committees work with villages to monitor resource management and land use beyond the planning process, and are composed of traditional leaders, farmer groups, women and youth representatives.

GCA and partners met with Zambia's Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) and Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, who requested GCA to use the TRALARD II piloting process to inform the integration of adaptation into Zambia’s district-level Integrated Development Plan (IDP) guidelines, presenting an opportunity for nation-wide impact. GCA and partners provided feedback on the draft guidelines, emphasizing the need to embed citizen engagement throughout the planning process, while leveraging community capacities for further community ownership of the IDP’s. The guidelines now await validation and finalization by the MLGRD.

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• MLGRD Officiates Validation of Integrated Development Plans (IDP) Guidelines

After engaging with and securing buy-in from key stakeholders and traditional leaders in both provinces, a selection criteria that included geographic, accessibility, socio-economic, and climate vulnerability components was established to pilot the planning process. This resulted in the selection of 10 villages and Village Action Groups in each of the two provinces.

WeForest Zambia initiated district-level engagements in Muchinga, leading to special coordinating meetings with local government and traditional leaders. Concurrently, PPHPZ held inception meetings with stakeholders, CBOs, and traditional leaders in the Copperbelt, while also engaging the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Thirteen community mobilizers were trained on the Social Tenure Domain Model, an essential, gender-responsive tool guiding spatial and socio-economic data collection. This group will form the core trainers for community-based data collectors conducting household enumerations in Muchinga and Copperbelt Provinces.

GCA signed a sub-grant agreement with PPHPZ and WeForest Zambia, followed by inception meetings with the World Bank in Lusaka to launch the partnership. To ensure a collaborative approach to the People's Adaptation Planning process, GCA facilitated peer-to-peer learning to harmonize approaches for locally led adaptation planning with the partners' distinct methodologies: PPHPZ's expertise in locally led participatory planning processes and WFZ's proficiency in Village Land Use Planning. 

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• Inclusive land use planning through People’s Adaptation Plans will support protection of Zambia’s Miombo woodlands