Climate change and associated increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather is causing widespread and, in some cases, irreversible damage to natural and human systems (IPCC 2022). This challenge is particularly acute in rural spaces, where the intersection between climate dependent livelihoods and socio-economic vulnerabilities are pushing people into conditions of poverty and hunger that are extremely hard to escape.

Adaptation to climate change in small-scale producer settings is critical for sustaining rural transformation processes. Yet, populations living in poverty or facing other social and economic barriers to accessing productive and protective resources, institutions, and markets face substantial constraints to adaptation.

In this context, the SERA team seeks to build evidence to identify effective interventions to reduce the costs and risks of adaptation for vulnerable small-scale producers and to create conditions for them to benefit from efforts to mitigate emissions and sequester carbon through nature-based solutions.

Key areas of work under this theme include:

1. Leveraging social protection to support climate adaptation among small-scale producers
2. Inclusive and equitable landscape restoration and conservation actions
3. Actionable weather services and early warning approaches

The term “economic inclusion” is conceptualized as a transformative process that leads to greater income-generating capacity, while addressing the productive, financial, social, and psychological factors that hinder this process (FAO 2020; World Bank 2021). Its multi-dimensional nature requires complex and multifaceted interventions. Economic inclusion policies and programmes typically involve varying combinations of direct transfers, skills and knowledge generation, and support to link beneficiaries to markets and institutions. How these various elements are combined, targeted, and sequenced can influence their efficacy.

The SERA team supports evidence generation to enhance the efficacy of economic inclusion projects and programmes. The team draws on a long history of evidence generation initiated under the From Protection to Production (PtoP) project, which was a partnership with national governments, UNICEF, and national research institutions of seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It extends this work new activities focused on:

1. Transitioning from humanitarian responses to developmental approaches in fragile contexts
2. Support countries to increase the market engagement and commercialization of small-scale producers, particularly youth, women, and poor and vulnerable people, through evidence generation in the context of value chain interventions