The GCA Local Adaptation Champions Awards

The GCA Local Adaptation Champions Awards spotlight and reward innovative, exemplary, inspiring, and scalable locally led efforts that address the impacts of climate change. These awards build effective climate resilience among the most vulnerable communities, sections of society, and individuals who are at the frontlines of the greatest existential threat faced by humankind.

2024 AWARD CATEGORIES

Water Security This category recognizes local, community-based initiatives that address water-related challenges and enhance local adaptation capacity through efficient water drainage, channeling, use, or conservation. Solutions must be locally designed, accessible, and tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable groups in the community, ensuring equitable management of water resources for all.

Food Security This category recognizes local, community-led initiatives that support the design, mainstreaming, and adoption of climate-smart food production systems. These systems are designed by and for smallholder producers and vulnerable communities along the supply chain. Initiatives should demonstrate contributions to ensuring continuous, equitable, and sustainable access to diverse, nutritious foods for poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged groups.

Urban Adaptation Solutions This category recognizes locally led initiatives for adaptation to climate change in urban areas. Successful initiatives engage and benefit vulnerable urban neighborhoods, community leaders, and city governments through collaborative design, integration into city adaptation plans, and a long-term vision to continuously increase adaptive capacity over time.

Local Entrepreneurship This category recognizes local, community-based businesses that:

• Develop or adopt adaptation solutions or technologies addressing local climate-related vulnerabilities.
• Support local communities and governments in adaptation efforts.
• Address structural inequalities faced by women, youth, children, disabled, displaced, indigenous peoples, and marginalized ethnic groups.

Application Information We invite applications from:

• Women-led groups
• Non-governmental organizations (local, national, and international)
• Universities, research institutes, and think tanks
• Governments
• Entrepreneurship support organizations
• Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
• Tech and non-tech enterprises
• Locally grown corporates or organizations promoting local climate adaptation along supply chains

Eligibility Criteria Only applications that meet all five of the following criteria will be considered for the 2024 competition:

1. The intervention is being implemented, and results are demonstrable.
2. The intervention addresses adaptation to climate change impact or builds resilience against climate impacts.
3. The intervention aims at the most vulnerable communities, sections of society, and individuals experiencing climate impacts.
4. The intervention is locally led, adhering to one or more Principles of Locally Led Adaptation.

Call for Applications Open from 1 July to 11 August 2024.

Apply HERE