18. Stakeholders’ Perceptions on Effective Community Participation in Climate Change Adaptation

Till date, successful community-based climate change adaptation projects and programs are rare; rather, the resentment and frustration among the local populace are ever increasing. Community-based climate change adaptation programs become nothing more than a trap to circumvent the local communities to get some plans sanctioned, encoded by the external agencies. The reason is that participation is not a simple, straightforward notion. In this chapter, it is argued that given manifold comprehension of participation, its unshackled, combative frameworks and numerous as well as dubious operation methods and techniques, the actual implementation of the participatory projects and programs is in the hand of implementation agencies. Their willingness, understanding, skills, and capacities determine to a great extent how successfully local communities can be engaged in the climate change adaptation programs. If the community’s participation in climate change adaptation projects needs to be enhanced, it is critical to explore how stakeholders including government officials, technocrats, project managers, and donor agencies conceptualize and idealize community participation. But, in climate change adaptation studies, no such initiative has ever been made. This chapter aims to identify stakeholders’ perspectives on effective ways, steps and factors for ensuring effective community participation in climate change adaptation programs and projects based on a case study in the Wa West district of Northern Ghana. We interviewed key stakeholders including government and non-government official involved in various climate change adaptation programs.