Community-based planned adaptation has become a popular vehicle for building the adaptive capacity of communities vulnerable to climate change. In the global south, planned adaptation interventions are often implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the support of bilateral and multilateral donors. This paper examines the influence of external agencies involved in funding, planning and implementation of community-based adaptation (CBA) initiatives in Bangladesh. We show that the principles of CBA are negatively impacted by top-down project design, simplistic notions of “community”, lack of downward accountability and pressures to meet tight timeframes. We found that NGO-initiated CBA interventions tended to repeat the past mistakes of bottom-up approaches, primarily because of embedded institutional culture that inhibits the possibility of achieving socially just, effective and sustainable adaptation outcomes in Bangladesh. We argue that the automatic and normative attribution of NGO interventions as being “good” needs deconstructing to ensure that future initiatives are aligned with and prioritise community needs over external expectations. This requires flexible funding, planning and implementation structure for adaptation projects, which may forge new ways of engaging communities and locally led innovation to adapt to climate change.

Bangladesh has a long history of coping with and recovery from disasters. Although climate extremes are increasingly taking huge tolls especially in the southwestern part of the country, households are resisting the negative outcomes of these events eventually. This research explores the livelihood coping and recovery strategies of the people of a coastal village in the wake of a cyclone, Aila. The vulnerability approach to disaster is adopted as theoretical framework of the research, in which disaster is considered as hazards affecting vulnerable people. Using semi-structured interviews and observations, the coping strategies of a cyclone affected village community are examined. The study finds that people?s livelihood coping and recovery largely depend on the indigenous knowledge. Results show that households followed diverse strategies such as livelihood diversification, informal risk sharing within the community and migration in response to the cyclone Aila. The study also addresses the role of local government, civil society organizations and communities and finds that these actors hardly addressed the root causes of vulnerability.

Australian regional communities are changing. The combined impact of out-migration and ageing populations means that the capacity of regional communities to function as they traditionally have is challenged. In this context, volunteer effort remains a vital part of building community resilience and social capital. Yet, volunteering per se is under threat, and encouraging young people to volunteer an even greater challenge. This paper presents the results of a project that sought to understand the barriers to, and incentives for, youth volunteering at three regional local government areas in South Australia. First, we find that despite a popular conviction that youth volunteering is on the decline, it has in fact increased; the actual decline is with those volunteers who are within the 35–55-year age groups. Second, we found that two models of volunteering exist in the regions: (1) volunteering as an activity involving participation on committees or doing regular primarily public good group-based work (e.g., emergency services, Rotary, conservation); and (2) event-based, one-off, fun activities (sometimes, but not always, for the broader public good). Volunteering per se, however, was considered by all participants as central to community identity. Culture, sports and youth clubs emerged as important hubs for youth activity and potential volunteer recruitment. We suggest a new model for regional youth volunteering that prioritizes events, partnerships and social media, as well as using existing institutions as bridging organizations.

Community-based adaptation (CBA) has gained traction in the management of climate risks within developing societies, due to its capacity to include local knowledge and build the adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups and communities. Yet little is known about what happens when such projects are implemented on the ground. This paper presents the results of a research project that sought to understand local perceptions and responses to planned CBA interventions in rural coastal communities in Bangladesh. Based on a qualitative approach, this paper presents the dominant narratives within local communities about the NGO-initiated CBA project. Findings highlight there is a deep disconnection between the objectives of CBA interventions and the perceptions of local communities about the project. Such a difference in perceptions meant that project participants prioritized personal gains over the creation of collective capacities to adapt to climate change. The paper concludes that in order to resolve such tensions, the gap between ‘community-based’ adaptation theory and practice needs to be addressed.