Practical guidance for aligning operations with the LLA principles

Climate finance is highly centralised and often beset by bureaucratic processes that prevent local actors from accessing funds and distract them from their core mission of developing locally appropriate solutions to adapt to climate change. Without a step change in policy and practice from funders and intermediaries, this situation will not change. 

By aligning with the locally led adaptation (LLA) principles, funders and international intermediaries can give local partners space to manoeuvre. The principles are designed to guide a more effective and equitable approach to climate change adaptation by shifting agency into the hands of local stakeholders — not just in implementation, but also in funding, designing and prioritising adaptation initiatives. 

This guidance focuses on funders and intermediaries at all levels who have signed the LLA principles or aim to localise climate finance — as key actors who must put the principles into practice themselves. In this guidance, we present a broad set of simplified LLA-aligned actions that funders and intermediaries can implement based on what is most appropriate for them.