Background

The Global Stocktake decision adopted at COP28 (Decision 1/CMA.5) calls for all Parties to complete their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and to significantly advance implementation by 2030. Despite increased attention to adaptation, progress remains uneven—only 74 Parties have submitted NAPs to the UNFCCC to date.

In East and Southern Africa, progress varies considerably across the 19 Parties in the region, which include 11 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and two Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Ten countries have submitted their NAPs, and some have begun implementing priority actions. Others remain in advanced formulation stages, while several are in the early stages or yet to begin.

A diversity of entry points, capacities, and challenges calls for tailored, well-coordinated support. The support landscape has expanded with contributions from UN agencies, MDBs, and intergovernmental institutions. However, partners have also identified risks of duplication and fragmentation. Following the Regional Dialogue on Accelerating Support for NAP Formulation and Implementation (2025), partners expressed the need for a regular coordination platform to improve synergy, coherence, and scale of assistance.

RCC for East and Southern Africa is, therefore, convening this Roundtable Dialogue to align partner support, share ongoing and future NAP support initiatives and collectively strengthen country pipelines support for NAP formulation and implementation.

Objectives

The roundtable aims to create a shared platform for partners supporting NAP processes in East and Southern Africa to:

• Review the current landscape for NAP formulation and implementation across the region.
• Identify country specific and regional gaps that hinder progress towards the NAP submission target and 2030 implementation milestones.
• Share pipelines of partner activities through end 2026, including technical and financial assistance opportunities.
• Explore opportunities to harmonize efforts, promote complementarities, and enhance the effectiveness of country level delivery.

The session is designed as an interactive dialogue to facilitate joint solution building and strengthen regional collaboration.

Outcomes and key takeaways

The meeting commenced with opening remarks delivered by William Otieno, RCC EASA Regional Lead, who framed adaptation as a present-day necessity and the need for collaboration and support in the NAP formulation and implementation of the region. This was followed by a comprehensive overview of the global and regional NAP landscape presented by the RCC EASA team, setting out where the 19 countries the RCC supports currently stand. The technical discussion was followed by a round of partner interventions, with UNCDF, FAO, UNDP, the NDC Partnership, UNICEF and WWF each speaking to current support, planned activities for the remainder of 2026 into 2027, and where collaboration would add the most value. Botswana's UNFCCC focal point offered a candid country perspective, and the meeting concluded with remarks from William Otieno reaffirming RCC EASA's role as convener and connector.

Key Takeaways

• Progress on NAP formulation across the region is real but uneven. Nine of the 19 RCC EASA countries have submitted their NAPs to date, including Tanzania and Lesotho in 2026, while others continue to advance through technical review, Cabinet approval, consultations, or early institutional groundwork.
• The barriers between NAP planning and implementation are structural rather than country specific. Partners identified six recurring bottlenecks: financing scale and access, lengthy and duplicative project cycles, institutional discontinuity, fragmented project-by-project financing, weak MEL systems, and heavy reliance on external technical support.
• A broad range of technical and financial support is available to the region through partners such as UNCDF, FAO, UNDP, and the NDC Partnership, spanning local-level climate risk assessments and grants, evidence and readiness tools, bankable pipeline development, and country-level NDC-NAP alignment support.
• Coordination, not additional support, is the binding constraint on NAP implementation across the region. Partners agreed that support exists but remains fragmented across tools, missions, and financing modalities, reinforcing the need for both a country-level NAP partner coordination platform and a regional NAP coordination platform to harmonize support across institutions and countries.
• The GCF readiness clock is running. FAO and UNDP confirmed that no East and Southern African country has yet unlocked GCF's third, implementation-focused readiness window, and with the current readiness cycle closing in 2027, helping countries fully utilise Windows 1 and 2 was named the most time-sensitive priority on the table.
• A regional Community of Practice on Adaptation and NAPs would formalize peer learning going forward. Building on a proposal from Tanzania, RCC EASA can take this forward as a standing space for countries to exchange experience, complemented by joint missions, shared diagnostics, and common results frameworks proposed by FAO and the NDC Partnership.
• Partners agreed to provide feedback in the EOI  to join RCC EASA in co-organizing and co-coordinating future NAP Partners meetings, signaling shared ownership of the coordination platform going forward.

A total of 15 organizations participated in the meeting, including EABD, IFAD, GIZ, UNCDF, UNEP, UNDP, FAO, WWF, UNICEF, Ocean Conservation, Climate Analytics GmBh, NDC Partnership, NAP Global Network, IIED, UNFPA, Beyond Boarders International.