About
Working in collaboration with the The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University, the landscape analysis project seeks to identify and map the wide range of adaptation interventions underway in South Asia in response to extreme heat and precipitation.
The research team is examining interventions led by a variety of stakeholders – individual households, civil society organizations, the private sector, and governments – and span technological/material innovations, financial instruments, law and policy, and educational, training, and awareness programs.
The analysis is focused on four key sectors – habitats, agriculture, energy services, and health, and includes adaptation interventions to address risks and vulnerabilities at various timescales – acute, medium, and long-term.
The analysis project involves the assessment of how adaptation activities are conceptualized and institutionalized at various stakeholder levels, the manner in which these interventions are deployed on the ground, and the enabling frameworks and environment required for their deployment. The research team will also also study the scenarios/conditions under which these adaptations will be effective and engender long-term resilience.
Enhancing Adaptation in South Asia’s Informal Sector
Policy makers and the private sector have limited to little understanding of the day-to-day financial, shelter and food security challenges faced by the hundreds of millions of households working in the informal sector. This exercise aims to generate awareness about needs and priorities on the ground and build a comprehensive understanding of the state of adaptation and preparedness in South Asia.
This project will facilitate the identification of gaps and opportunities in adaptation activity at various stakeholder-levels that need addressing and harnessing. Our research will shed light on adaptation interventions initiated at the household and community level to bridge gaps in public service delivery, and highlights avenues that the state and private sector can enter to incentivize, support, and spur such localized action. Our findings will also help identify localized adaptation interventions which can serve as a pipeline of ideas and best practices that community organizations, governments, and private sector entrepreneurs can replicate and scale in other geographies and contexts for wider impact.
Collaborating Organizations
- All India Disaster Mitigation Institute
- Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
- TrustBridge
- BRAC University, Bangladesh