Accelerating Climate Adaptation via Meso-level Integration (ACAMI)

This two-year initiative addressed a lack of recognition of the role of meso-level organizations (MLOs) in enabling transformative, locally-led climate change adaptation.

About

The ACAMI project identified leverage points and bottlenecks affecting the capacity of MLOs to facilitate equitable and effective adaptation for small-scale producers. By co-creating tools and metrics that capture the attributes and strategies of MLOs, the project supports partnership opportunities and improves risk management and sustainable livelihoods under climate change.

ACAMI is a collaborative project co-led by ASU’s Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies, ASU’s School of Sustainability and University of Cape Town’s African Climate and Development Initiative. This project was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation.

Project objectives

Understand how Meso-level Organizations influence the effectiveness, sustainability, and scaling of climate change adaptation
Identify what might enhance the ability of Meso-level Organizations to exercise full capacities in climate change adaptation
Co-create tools, and metrics that capture Meso-level Organizations attributes and capacities to support partnership opportunities in climate change adaptation

info graphic about the Meso Level Organizations (MLOs) framework with Macro and Micro-level for climate adaptation

ACAMI Knowledge Series

Bridging the Gap: The Critical Role of Meso-Level Organizations in Climate Change Adaptation

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Meso-Level Organizations as Key Intermediaries in Climate Information Services for Small-Scale Producers

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The Organizational Learning and Transformative Adaptation Prototype Game

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Mission and Vision

ACAMI envisions a transformed institutional context for inclusive and effective adaptation in African small-scale farming systems, in which “Meso-level” Organizations – connecting financial sponsors and policy makers to farmers -- use and share knowledge on their capacities and strengths in novel partnerships, helping farmers access the knowledge, data, climate services, and other resources they value for improved risk management and sustainable livelihoods under climate change.

ACAMI’s mission is to identify leverage points and bottlenecks to enable Meso-level Organizations to serve as catalysts of equitable and effective adaptation for small-scale African producers. Through collaborative approaches, ACAMI integrates knowledge and develops decision-support tools that will facilitate the mobilization of Meso-level Organizations’ capacities, thus enhancing communities of practice in relation to resilient and sustainable small-scale farming systems.

Project location

To capture the contextual diversity of agricultural small-scale producers and climate adaptation initiatives in Africa, ACAMI focuses on four African Countries, namely

Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
South Africa

Partners and sponsors

This project, funded (in part) by a $1.25 million grant to ASU from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation looks at the ways in which organizations help African farmers adapt to Climate Change. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.