Leveraging Community-Driven Development Platforms for Resilience: Lessons from a Global Knowledge Exchange in Jakarta

A decade ago, recurring landslides above West Java stripped the forested hillsides bare, and water disappeared. Today, a community-led restoration program has revived those slopes and springs, and a village-owned enterprise now manages water distribution for domestic, agricultural, and tourism uses, turning environmental stewardship into a viable local economy. Nearby in Margagiri, villages have combined micro dams, drainage improvements, and agroforestry into an integrated water and land management system coordinated through village forums that has reduced damage from heavy rains and improved agricultural production.

Experience from these villages shows that in vulnerable communities, locally led investments in climate resilience are among the most effective interventions. They protect existing productive capacity, while generating new jobs and market opportunities in growing sectors such as energy, agriculture, and tourism. 

Decades of World Bank partnership have helped Indonesia build one of the world's most mature community-driven development (CDD) systems. Today, more than 75,000 villages receive direct fiscal transfers for climate resilience investments, averaging $3.8 billion per year, and participate in structured planning processes that give communities a formal role in setting priorities and managing projects.

Facing more than 3,000 disasters annually, over 98 percent of them climate-related, Indonesia has pioneered tools that connect climate analytics to budget decisions. The Village Climate Risk Index, for example, is an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-aligned classification of village-level risk that now steers additional fiscal allocations toward the country’s most climate-vulnerable communities.

A uniquely instructive setting

As we look to build on lessons learned in countries like Indonesia and expand knowledge on what works in new contexts, a key question emerges: how can governments channel resources, knowledge, and decision-making authority to the local level—and do so at scale?

In January 2026, the World Bank and the Government of Indonesia convened a Global Knowledge Exchange in Jakarta to tackle this question. Over four days, delegations from 13 countries from Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, and Latin America came together to share what works in building climate resilience, creating jobs, and empowering local communities.

"It’s always very important to exchange good practices, so that we can improve our policy approach and the work we are carrying out in Madagascar.” 

- Roy Otieno Odongo, Director for Climate Change and County Chair of the Country Directors of Climate Change Caucus, Kenya

Countries from Central Asia—the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—shared how CDD platforms are embedding climate-smart livelihoods and resilient infrastructure in rural areas where climate risks directly threaten jobs and incomes. Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Somalia, and Thailand each brought approaches ranging from climate-resilient irrigation to inclusive adaptation planning that centers on addressing the needs of the marginalized and most vulnerable, including children, older persons, persons with disabilities, and ethnic minorities.

Four building blocks for locally led action

Across sessions and field visits, five transferable lessons emerged:

1. Public-private partnerships unlock market access and keep value local: Strong community institutions reduce risk for private partners, aggregate local supply and demand, and keep economic gains anchored in the community rather than extracted from it.

2. Community-owned risk assessments connect climate finance to the right problems: Locally led adaptation begins with shared, community-owned diagnostics. These tools are most effective when linked to budgeting and investment decisions, not treated as standalone exercises.

3. Performance-linked finance accelerates resilience: Linking local financing to climate risk and institutional performance improves targeting and strengthens systems. Incentives work best when they are simple, transparent, and paired with capacity-building support.

4. Local institutions are the most durable delivery systems for resilient livelihoods: Climate-smart agriculture, ecosystem restoration, eco-tourism, and improved infrastructure can reduce vulnerability and create jobs, but lasting climate adaptation grows out of strong local institutions, effective governance, and community trust that guide and sustain investments.  

5. Government-to-government learning turns good programs into scalable systems: Structured learning exchanges help scale best practices, building networks of officials who can turn shared insights into concrete policy and implementation commitments, and who create the enabling conditions to crowd in public and private action around solutions with demonstrated traction.

“Through the Locally Led Climate Action Platform, we're building on the World Bank’s strong legacy in Community-Driven Development. We’re turning operational lessons from exchanges like Jakarta into diagnostic tools and practical guidance that help our clients understand how local institutions, citizen engagement, and public‑private partnerships can drive resilience, supporting countries to adapt and scale proven approaches in their own contexts.” 

- Jana El Horr, Global Lead for the Social Dimensions of Climate Change at the World Bank Group

Building a knowledge system for global impact

The message from Jakarta is clear: efforts to build climate adaptation and resilience are most effective when communities and local governments lead—and the Knowledge Bank has a critical role to play in helping countries learn from each other and building the tools to scale what works.

To stay updated on the latest knowledge products and learning events for locally led adaptation, visit the Locally Led Climate Action Platform. You can also learn more about locally led adaptation in our latest results brief here.