Opening and introduction - 10 min

The Adaptation Committee welcomed participants and provided a brief framing of the event by sharing insights from previous work undertaken under the UNFCCC on M&E, including reflections on the existing experience in measuring and assessing the impact of actions aiming to reduce vulnerability.

Co-Chairs of the Adaptation Committee: Cecília da Silva and Alessandra Sgobbi

Speaker: Pilar Bueno, member of the Adaptation Committee

Part I: Sharing existing knowledge and tools on measuring progress and impacts of adaptation actions – 40 min

Iterative monitoring and evaluation of progress made by adaptation interventions is an integral part the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans. It is also recognized as one element of the adaptation communications under the UNFCCC process and the biennial transparency reports.

Countries and organizations highlighted perspectives and dimensions of M&E, focused on exchanging knowledge and existing tools for measuring impacts and outcomes of adaptation actions to eventually enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change. The exchange focused on experiences made so far.

Part II: Communicating M&E results – 40 min

Monitoring and evaluation of adaptation is not conducted as an intellectual exercise – it is intended to inform future adaptation interventions and thereby improve the capacity of communities, businesses, and governments to mount effective responses to the changing climate. To have this effect, the results of M&E efforts must be communicated to different stakeholders in a meaningful and understandable way, noting that to successfully communicate results and facilitate learning, these actors have to be engaged early on in the adaptation process.

The second part of the event recalled the importance of ‘back casting’ in tailoring the communication efforts: The goals, objectives and anticipated outcomes of the adaptation interventions must be clearly defined from the onset, against which monitoring and evaluation will be applied, and only then can the correct target audience be identified and the messaging on experiences and lessons learned tailored to them accordingly.

Stakeholders who have carried out M&E reflected on their experiences of explaining the results, including offering insights on questions such as: How can we effectively tailor our communications about adaptation M&E to different groups? Who are the various target audiences to benefit from learning about experiences made? What are challenges related to communicating M&E? What are some methods or techniques that have succeeded?