Community-Led Climate Adaptation as Social Innovation: Evaluating Equity, Participation and Institutional Support

Abstract

Community-led climate adaptation has proven to be an effective way to increase resilience, combining local knowledge, participatory governance and decision-making. This study explores how community-led climate adaptation is a social innovation and assesses the role of equity, community engagement and institutional support on adaptation effectiveness. A data set of 500 observations was used in a quantitative research design. Descriptive statistical analysis, reliability and validity test, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and model diagnostics were used to analyze the data. The results show that all three factors—equity, community involvement and institutional support significantly influence adaptation effectiveness, with institutional support proving to be the strongest predictor. The findings show that, besides environmental interventions, climate adaptation is also dependent on just governance, engagement of stakeholders and adequate institutional capacity. The study is part of the body of climate adaptation literature as it offers an integrated framework bringing together elements of social innovation with equity, participation and institutional support. The results provide practical lessons for policy makers and development professionals who are looking to develop inclusive and sustainable adaptation strategies. Further studies are needed to test the framework proposed in this study with empirical data from different geographical and socio-economic settings.