working paper

Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation

Planning and Action into Health Systems in Fiji, Ghana, and Benin

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Appendix A. General Semi-structured Interview Questions for Country Experts

Purpose of the Interview 

Mainstreaming adaptation entails integrating adaptation into development plans. In the mainstreaming process, relevant actors, private and public, proactively consider climate risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts in their policies and plans. Mainstreaming adaptation into development policies and plans could lead to the implementation of adaptation action. 

The purpose of this questionnaire is to understand the process of mainstreaming adaptation. We aim to learn the enabling factors that have led to narrowing or closing the “implementation gap” as well as the barriers that slow down the process of mainstreaming. We also wish to better understand the benefits of mainstreaming.  

Section 1: Broad Questions  

  1. Can you tell me briefly about your familiarity and experience with climate change and adaptation? 
  2. Do you think that integrating adaptation into sectoral plans, development policies, or other policy documents is important? Why or why not? 
  3. What level of adaptation planning would you say your country is at? 
    1. Incipient – just starting to think about adaptation planning
    2. Early – e.g., funding and staffing for adaptation planning have been established
    3. Intermediate – an adaptation plan, such as a National Adaptation Plan, is underway
    4. Advanced – plans for adaptation have been established with concrete activities outlined
  4. What stage of implementing adaptation would you say your country is at? 
    1. Incipient – just starting to think about integrating adaptation 
    2. Early – planning for integration of adaptation but no implementation yet 
    3. Intermediate – some implementation of adaptation planning in some sectors/ministries 
    4. Advanced – many sectors/ministries/programs are considering and implementing adaptation actions 
  5. Has your country been able to mainstream adaptation in the health, disaster risk reduction, agriculture, watersheds, and/or ecosystems fields? If so, how was adaptation mainstreamed?

    Section 2: Enabling Factors and Barriers to Mainstreaming Adaptation

  6. From this list of five topics (or “gears”), which are the two that really stand out as being enabling factors or barriers, and why? Interviewers can use the following gears to prompt additional details; e.g., if leadership is mentioned, you can ask the questions listed under Leadership. 
    1. Policy Framework:  
      1. Does your country have political commitments, mandates, and laws that support the integration of adaptation into health planning? If so, please describe them. 
    2. Leadership:  
      1. Are there leaders or champions positively influencing the mainstreaming of adaptation in your country? Who are they, what is their motivation, and what institution/sector do they represent? 
      2. How have these leaders supported mainstreaming adaptation planning and how has this catalyzed action? 
      3. Has training champions in health and climate helped to mainstream adaptation?
    3. Coordination: 
      1. Has there been any cross-sector collaboration to mainstream adaptation? 
      2. Have inter-ministerial steering committees, task forces, or discussions been set up to support mainstreaming? 
    4. Information and tools: 
      1. Is the Ministry of Health able to access and share data on climate-sensitive diseases and risks? Has this led to more health plans with climate information?
      2. Do health officials have access to planning tools that help mainstream adaptation into health systems? 
    5. Financial process:  
      1. Is there funding for decision-makers to consider climate risks in health planning? 
  7. Other: 
    1. Are there other enabling factors or barriers that you would like to highlight? 

Section 3: Implementation Stage and the Benefits of Mainstreaming 

  1. Now that you have mainstreamed adaptation, is this leading to the implementation of adaptation action? If so, what is being implemented? 
  2. Is the country gathering any data on the level of implementation or monitoring any outcomes from mainstreaming adaptation? 
  3. Has this implementation shown any benefits? If so, what are the benefits? If not, why not? 
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