Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – 9 September 2025
At the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the message was clear: Africa’s path to resilience must be locally led. The Addis Ababa Declaration committed to tripling adaptation finance by 2030 and embedding Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) in national and regional strategies. Against this backdrop, FANRPAN and partners convened a powerful side event at the Agriculture and Food Systems Pavilion to showcase community-driven innovations.
Jointly organized by the CBA SCALE+ consortium partners, Trust Africa, ILRI, and the Rural Women’s Assembly, the event—“Locally Led Adaptation Action to Drive Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Food Systems” featured a panel discussion and a curated photo exhibition celebrating grassroots solutions.
Opening the session, Ms. Beatrice Makwenda of Trust Africa reminded participants that communities are the real drivers of innovation: “We often look to governments and institutions for answers, but the truth is that innovation is already happening in villages, women’s groups, and farmer networks. Our role is to listen and support,” she emphasized.
From Ethiopia, Shigdaf Mekuriaw, ACIAR Project Coordinator, highlighted how smallholder livestock farmers are adapting through Community-Based Breeding Programs (CBBP) and Animal Health Interventions (AHI). These initiatives have boosted productivity, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and empowered women. Participating flocks recorded a 17% reduction in emissions intensity and notable weight gains, while women’s empowerment scores rose significantly compared to non-participants. Shigdaf urged stronger livestock trade corridors, low-emission breeding programs linked to carbon credits, and the integration of gender and nutrition into livestock policies.
From Zambia, Doreen Simoonga of CARE Zambia shared lessons from the Locally Led Adaptation Project (LLAP) and the CBA SCALE+ initiative in Kalomo District. Through participatory assessments, communities designed their own adaptation plans, resulting in boreholes that now supply safe drinking water and support food production. She spotlighted the revival of Holistic Livestock and Land Management (HLLM), an Indigenous rotational grazing practice that improves soil fertility and crop yields. Doreen underscored that scaling such innovations will require private sector investment and stronger grassroots finance models such as Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA).
From Malawi, Alice Kachere and Emily Phazi of the Rural Women’s Assembly delivered a powerful reminder that women are the backbone of African food systems while also bearing the greatest climate risks. They spoke of savings groups that give women financial independence and of intergenerational networks that preserve resilience knowledge across communities. Yet, they cautioned that systemic barriers, including insecure land rights, unequal access to resources, and exclusion from decision-making, must be dismantled if food systems are to become both resilient and equitable.
Closing the session, Sithembile Mwamakamba of FANRPAN reflected on the lessons shared: “Top-down approaches have not delivered the resilience we seek. Real transformation happens when communities take the lead.” She outlined four priorities: embedding participatory planning in national policies, scaling innovations without losing their local strengths, securing women’s land and resource rights, and linking adaptation practices to markets, finance, and regional learning networks.
The side event demonstrated that locally led adaptation is not only possible but already thriving across Africa. From breeding climate-resilient sheep in Ethiopia, to water security initiatives in Zambia, to women’s financial empowerment in Malawi, communities are innovating solutions that work. What they need now is greater recognition, sustained investment, and supportive policies that enable their efforts to scale.
As the Addis Ababa Declaration reaffirmed, Africa is committed to placing communities at the heart of adaptation. The challenge for policymakers, donors, and private sector actors is to transform these commitments into concrete action. Because, as this session made clear, when communities lead, resilience follows.