Promoting Anticipatory Actions to Address Climate and Environmental Risks for Community Transformation (PROAACT)

Organizers: EU, UNEP, ICIMOD

About the event

Jointly organised by EU, UNEP and ICIMOD under the EU-UNEP partnership for climate environment, peace and security, this inception meeting and Training of Trainers (ToT) aims to bring together all implementing partners, national government representatives and technical teams from ICIMOD and UNEP to develop a shared understanding of the project’s goals, scope and roles in achieving desired project outcomes. Additionally, it seeks to strengthen the capacity of selected civil society organizations through a training of Trainers (ToT), enabling them to effectively and consistently implement anticipatory and locally led adaptation interventions at the community level.

Objectives

The workshop will introduce participants to:

1. The ICIMOD/UNEP toolkit which provides a structured participatory approach for risk diagnosis and planning.
2. ICIMOD’s methodologies and approaches for locally led anticipatory adaptation planning and action.
3. Participatory facilitation techniques that are required to implement anticipatory, locally led, and social stability-oriented adaptation interventions at community level.
4. ICIMOD’s safeguarding, financial and MEL system.

Expected outputs

• Improved understanding of the project’s goals, scope, expected results, and coordination and collaboration mechanisms for project implementation.
• Enhanced understanding on the application of the toolkit methodologies and approaches.
• Improved practical skills in participatory facilitation and risk analysis.
• Initial action plans developed for implementation in hotspot districts.
• Shared methodological understanding among implementing partners.
• Increased awareness of programme policies and the code of conduct for financial systems, safeguarding, and MEL systems.
• Strengthened peer learning network among local CSOs and regional partners.
• Access to practical tools and training materials to replicate methods locally.

Expected participants

1. Representatives from eight selected local civil society organizations
2. Representatives from the three target national governments and EU delegations
3. Technical teams from ICIMOD and UNEP
4. Selected project and technical partners

Background

In 2017, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established a partnership on Climate, Environment and Peace to strengthen national and regional capacities to identify and address climate- and environment-related risks, and to implement effective risk reduction and response measures.

Under this partnership, UNEP designated the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) as the regional implementation partner for South Asia under the project ‘Promoting Anticipatory Actions to Address Climate and Environment Risks for Community Transformation (PROAACT)’.

South Asia faces escalating risks from climate variability, environmental degradation, and socio-ecological pressures, particularly within the Water–Energy–Food–Environment (WEFE) nexus which affects livelihoods, social cohesion, and ecosystem stability. The partnership has therefore prioritised implementation in the Ganges and Indus basin focusing on Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.

PROAACT aims to:

1. Strengthen community resilience and anticipatory capacity to climate and environmental risks; and
2. Promote regional collaboration and learning through inter-organizational partnerships and basin-level cooperation.

A regional scoping study conducted in the three countries applied participatory and evidence-based methodologies to identify climate vulnerability hotspots. The study combined desk review of national and global climate risk data with stakeholder validation processes through national consultations held in November and December 2025.

Eight climate hotspots were identified:

• Bangladesh: Satkhira, Nawabganj, and Shariatpur districts
• Nepal: Sindhupalchowk, Dhading, and Rolpa districts
• Pakistan: Astore and Swat districts

Following this assessment, an open call for Expressions of Interest resulted in the selection of eight local civil society organizations (CSOs)/ non-governmental organization (NGOs) that will implement project activities within these priority districts under the technical guidance of ICIMOD and UNEP.