For countries on the front lines of climate change, M&E of adaptation measures is integral to enhanced resilience and reduced loss and damage. Adaptation can only be effective when it is accompanied by systems that track progress, evaluate results and support learning over time. Once measures are in place, it is vital to understand whether they are working. This ensures that countries have the ‘right’ measures in place, and enables them not only to demonstrate progress to national decision-makers and international partners but to adjust adaptation measures over time.

When sound M&E systems are in place, countries can make evidence-based decisions about how to prioritize resources, learn from what is and is not working, and report progress in a transparent manner.

In 2025, ICAT supported Eswatini and Mozambique to strengthen their capacity to monitor, evaluate, and report on adaptation. While both countries face significant climate vulnerabilities, their experiences illustrate different stages of this work, from building new M&E frameworks in priority sectors to assessing whether existing local plans are achieving their intended results.

Eswatini: M&E frameworks for health and water

Eswatini is a small, landlocked country with a population of approximately 1.7 million. Around 70 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture and livestock, making livelihoods highly vulnerable to climate fluctuations. Eswatini is not a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, but the country is disproportionately affected by climate change.

In its enhanced NDC, submitted in 2021, Eswatini outlined adaptation priorities in two key sectors: water and health. These sectors are key to the country’s climate resilience, as improving access to water and addressing climate-related health risks are vital to protect vulnerable communities. To track progress against these commitments, Eswatini needed M&E frameworks that could meet both domestic planning needs and international reporting requirements. 

Support in two phases

ICAT supported Eswatini to develop its M&E frameworks in two phases. The first, which concluded in 2022, focused on raising awareness about the links between climate vulnerabilities and the health and water sectors. This work resulted in a roadmap for implementing M&E systems, including a gap analysis and action plan.

The second phase, which ran from late 2023 to March 2025, built on these foundations to develop a full M&E framework for adaptation. Working closely with the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, the ICAT project helped to design two M&E frameworks: one for health and one for water. This process included mapping the institutions responsible for collecting and reporting data, designing reporting templates and identifying indicators to track progress against NDC contributions.

Training was central to this work. ICAT supported stakeholders with guidance on using the new templates, data collection techniques and reporting adaptation in BTRs. An M&E guidance document was also produced to support ongoing implementation.

The new M&E system has strengthened Eswatini’s capacity for transparency in its climate adaptation activities. The health sector, which already had data collection systems in place, now has a clearer framework for climate-related reporting, while the water sector benefited from guidance on which stakeholders to engage and what data to collect. A core group of trained stakeholders is in place to take this work forward.

Work in Eswatini will continue: the M&E frameworks have been defined, but they are not yet fully integrated into the broader national transparency system. Data collection can be time-consuming and sustaining momentum will require continued investment. However, the foundations are now in place for systematic tracking of adaptation progress in these priority sectors.

Mozambique: Strengthening adaptation monitoring

Mozambique faces some of the most severe climate risks in southern Africa. The country is vulnerable to tropical cyclones, coastal flooding and prolonged droughts, with compounding effects on human health, food security and water availability. 

To address these challenges, Mozambique has been working to strengthen its climate resilience, reduce greenhouse emissions, and follow a low-carbon development pathway, aligned with its climate goals. However, how effectively the plans were being implemented, and whether they were making a difference, was unclear. Experts from Mozambique’s National Directorate on Climate Change recognized that the level of implementation was not well understood, which would pose a risk to the population if the adaptation measures were not effective and, at the same time, compromise the country’s ability to report on adaptation progress in its BTRs.

Applying ICAT methodologies

ICAT helped to address this need with its third project in Mozambique in 2025. Building on two earlier phases that had focused on transparency systems for the energy sector, this project targeted climate adaptation. It began with a technical assessment of local adaptation plans in two climate-vulnerable districts, Nicoadala and Morrumbala, in the Zambezia Province. The assessment used ICAT methodologies, including the Sustainable Development Methodology, the Stakeholder Participation Guide, and the Assessment Tool and Guide for Adaptation Project Proposals. The team worked with local communities to gather qualitative data on climate risks and adaptation experiences, including from women, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities.

The assessment revealed that implementation of the local plans was often uneven and not well documented, making it difficult to trace results or aggregate impacts at the national level. There were also gaps and inconsistencies between national guidelines and what had actually been developed and implemented on the ground.

Perhaps most significantly, the assessment found that implementation reporting had focused on documenting activities, such as training sessions or infrastructure projects, but lacked evidence of whether these actions had actually reduced vulnerability or increased adaptive capacity. This was largely due to the absence of outcome indicators and baseline data.

The project also identified challenges in stakeholder engagement. While community representatives and district officials had participated in the development of the local adaptation plans, follow-up engagement during implementation had been inconsistent. This limited opportunities for feedback from beneficiaries, which could improve future planning.

Many of these issues were a result of a lack of local implementation capacity, with district-level institutions often lacking the technical skills, human resources and financial means to properly monitor and analyse adaptation outcomes.

Based on these findings, the project developed several recommendations for strengthening adaptation monitoring in Mozambique. These include building stronger linkages between national policy and subnational implementation, scaling up digital monitoring tools and institutionalizing training programmes for district officials. The results provide a foundation for more evidence-based planning and improved adaptation reporting in the future.

Transparency can improve adaptation

The experiences of both Eswatini and Mozambique illustrate complementary, successful approaches to strengthening adaptation transparency. In Eswatini, ICAT support helped to build M&E frameworks from the ground up in priority sectors, while in Mozambique, the focus was on assessing existing local plans to understand where implementation was falling short.

Both countries encountered similar challenges, highlighting that data collection and stakeholder coordination are key issues that require consistent focus. Technical capacity at the implementing levels is often limited. And training and guidance documents, while essential, should be accompanied by clear institutional arrangements, training and ongoing support.

These projects demonstrate the clear value of transparency for adaptation. When countries can systematically track what they are doing and whether it is working, they are better placed to learn, adjust and improve. This can support both their international reporting obligations and domestic decision-making, allowing limited resources to be directed for maximum impact.

Building effective M&E systems for adaptation is a gradual process. It requires sustained investment in capacity, coordination across institutions, and commitment to using the data that is collected. With the support of ICAT in developing frameworks, assessments and trained personnel, both Eswatini and Mozambique were able to make meaningful progress in strengthening their adaptation transparency systems.