Power Considerations as Invisible Filters of Local Involvement in Participatory Climate Adaptation: The Case of Ghana’s Effutu Municipality

The rising incidence and severity of environmental disasters associated with climate change and the acknowledged failure of adaptation projects to address the priority needs of marginalized and most vulnerable social groups in less resilient communities have necessitated calls for the inclusion of local people and their experiences in climate adaptation initiatives., this dissertation examines how inequalities in external and local actors’ power considerations and expressions shape the actors’ participation and roles in climate adaptation decision making in rural communities. It also explores how existing sociocultural systems and power structures influence the involvement of rural women and the use of local people’s ecological knowledge in climate adaptation project planning and the constraints therein.

This dissertation is designed as a three-part case study, using a mixed methods approach. Data was collected primarily through interviews with adaptation actors, including officials of local government agencies and leaders of fishers’ and farmers’ groups in the Effutu Municipality of Ghana in West Africa. Additional data were obtained through field observation, document analysis, and surveys with fishers’ and farmers’ group members. 

The findings partly support the view in the extant literature that dominant actors dominate local actors, and local elites dominate other local actors in participatory climate adaptation and other development initiatives. The findings also indicate that local women participate in climate adaptation projects, but multiple interlinked sociocultural and structural challenges constrain women’s involvement. The analysis also shows that local and external actors’ differential power and perceptions about local ecological knowledge limit its use in climate adaptation. 

Contrary to the widely-held unidirectional, top-down view of power flow in participatory climate adaptation processes, the analysis uncovers a multidirectional power flow in the interactions among local and external actors. Local people (including politically and socially marginalized groups like women) also possess and express power by leveraging their agency through diverse strategies to regulate external domination and promote their priorities during adaptation planning and implementation. Theoretical and methodological contributions to the analysis of participatory processes and social inclusion are discussed. The practical implications for inclusive participatory adaptation planning, policymaking, and communication for development and social change are also discussed.