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Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) is a four-year project in support of USAID’s Global Climate Change Office. CCRD activities have taken place throughout Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

On March 16-19, 2015, USAID and CCRD hosted the Advancing Climate-Resilient Developme
nt Symposium in Washington, D.C. This invitation-only Symposium brought together adaptation and development experts and decision-makers to:
  1. Share lessons learned from CCRD
  2. Exchange adaptation-related approaches and experiences
  3. Identify new ways to advance climate-resilient development
Implemented by Engility/IRG with a consortium of 11 partners, the CCRD project piloted USAID’s “development-first” approach to climate change adaptation in more than 30 countries.The Climate-Resilient Development Framework (PDF) takes the development-first approach to systematically including climate considerations in development planning and decision-making.
View all Symposium photos: HERE. Click HERE to download the press release. 


Over the course of the project, the CCRD team implemented numerous programs that focused on developing, testing, and
implementing the Climate-Resilient Development Framework; providing technical assistance and training on national adaptation planning, climate-resilient infrastructure services, climate services, adaptation in high mountain regions, and other issues; promoting peer learning and knowledge sharing; developing climate planning tools; conducting stakeholder workshops; and providing small grants. View the report HERE

The symposium presentations and discussions revealed several important findings and conclusions related to climate-resilient development:
  • Consensus that CCRD’s Climate-Resilient Development Framework provided a big step forward in advancing the theory and practice of climate-resilient development for developing countries, and it is essential to continue to apply and build on the Framework.

  • The Climate-Resilient Development Framework offers a flexible, "development-first" approach that can be adapted to different countries and cultures, development goals, government levels, applications, and climate change scenarios.

  • Climate information is crucial to climate-resilient development, but it is essential to understand and incorporate local knowledge and cultural norms from the beginning.

  • Pilot projects are valuable when used appropriately – for example, for learning and evaluating key lessons prior to scaling up a project, ensuring that you are not going too far down the wrong road, testing innovate ideas, and building communication connections among local partners.

  • Financing is a common concern for stakeholders, thus it is important to integrate and leverage public and private funding. As a solution, implementers can assist stakeholders align behind strategic priorities (e.g, NAPs and LAPAs) to help obtain support and future funding for adaptation.
Overall, symposium participants agreed that it is essential to continue to apply and build upon the Climate-Resilient Development Framework and other lessons learned about adaptation and climate-resilient development, which participants shared during the meeting. Generally, there is much to be learned going forward – climate-resilient development is an evolving process that requires ongoing learning, evaluation, and implementation.

CCRD Library
The project developed a technical reports, white papers, tools, fact sheets, videos, frameworks, workshop summaries, and other resources to help development practitioners understand and address climate variability and change. Please visit the CCRD Library to access these resources.

Contact michaelcote@ccrdproject.com for more information.