Neha Rai

Senior researcher, Climate Change

Neha Rai specialises in public policy analysis, urban and regional planning, climate finance and governance, and socioeconomic and environmental impact assessments. She studies the political economy of climate adaptation interventions, and is currently working on developing a framework for tracking adaptation and measuring development (TAMD).

Full biography

Expertise

Public policy analysis
Urban and regional planning
Socio-technical transitions in water and energy: multi-regime dynamics
Impact assessments: socioeconomic and environmental
Quantitative survey design & analysis
Participatory methodologies
Climate finance and governance
Measuring and evaluation (M&E)

Before IIED

Research fellow at Sussex Energy Group, SPRU, University of Sussex (2010-2012)
Researcher at UNU-Merit, The Netherlands (2008)
Manager (Urban Planning Projects) IL&FS Ecosmart, New Delhi, India (2007)
Sociologist and urban planner at SENES (Specialists in Energy Nuclear and Environmental sciences), India (2005-2007)

Current work

Political economy assessment of adaptation interventions
Tracking adaptation and measuring development

Neha Rai's projects

This graphic shows how securing well-being in the face of climate change involves reducing vulnerability, increasing resilience and increasing adaptive capacity

Supporting national monitoring and evaluation systems to enable adaptation assessment and reporting

Project, Sep 2018

Solar panels on a floating school, Bangladesh

Understanding the political economy of the Climate Investment Funds

Project, Dec 2012

Recent publications

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How bottom-up M&E insights can inform national adaptation planning and reporting

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How integrated monitoring and evaluation systems can help countries address climate impacts

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Going local: fast tracking climate finance to the most vulnerable

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Delivering real change: getting international climate finance to the local level

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The political economy of low carbon resilient development

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How can Bangladesh's private sector engage with the Green Climate Fund?

Neha Rai's blog posts

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board met in Songdo, South Korea – a new high tech city built on reclaimed tidal mudflats (Photo: pegl, Creative Commons via Flickr)

The Green Climate Fund is facing an opportunity – not a crisis

Blog, Jul 2018

A washed-out road near Lake Bisina in Uganda. Uganda is experiencing significant impacts of climate change such as increased frequency of extreme weather events like floods (Photo: James Anderson, Creative Commons via Flickr)

Assessing adaptation and development progress

Blog, Jul 2018

Chart showing decentralised energy access – finance needed and contribution of climate finance (Image: Sarah Best/IIED)

The Green Climate Fund: will the vulnerable be overlooked in a rush to spend?

Blog, Jun 2016

An image showing a group of women from Tongaradha village, Bangladesh, who saved more than 2,000 hectares of land and 500 households from flooding by rebuilding a 12km embankment and a 5km road. GCF money should be used for such innovative, community-driven projects in poor countries that will drive long-term change (Photo: WFP/Rein Skullerud, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

Expediting direct access to the GCF for least developed countries

Blog, May 2016

This sewage treatment plant in Delawas, Jaipur, was funded by the Asian Development Bank. There are concerns omitting local people from decision-making processes can lead to climate funds not sufficiently representing local priorities (Photo: Asian Development Bank, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

Getting Green Climate Funding to the local level

Blog, Oct 2015

A farmer in southern Mozambique carries greens back to his family from a project that has been backed by the Climate Investment Fund, which is working with the African Development Bank on a pilot program for climate resilience (Photo: CIF Action, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

Climate finance for sustainable development: regional forum

Blog, Aug 2015