From Activities to Impacts: Accessible M&E Framework for Climate Adaptation Across Regions

Climate adaptation increasingly relies on transferring proven solutions between regions, yet measuring progress from implementation activities to actual resilience outcomes remains methodologically challenging. This contribution presents a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework developed within the EU Horizon project RESIST, designed to track the transfer of adaptation solutions and innovations across twelve climate-vulnerable European regions.

The framework employs a Theory of Change (ToC) approach structured across four hierarchical levels: Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts. This structure enables systematic tracking from process indicators (e.g., stakeholder workshops conducted, training sessions delivered) through output indicators (e.g., green infrastructure projects implemented, decision-support tools adopted) to outcome and impact indicators (e.g., reduction in flood-prone areas, enhanced institutional adaptive capacity). Each indicator follows SMART criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—ensuring both scientific rigour and practical applicability for regional authorities.

A key innovation lies in the framework's explicit consideration of solution customisation during transfer. As adaptation solutions move between providing and receiving regions, indicators must capture both implementation progress and context-specific adaptations that influence effectiveness. The methodology addresses this through collaborative baseline setting and iterative indicator.

The framework also prioritises accessibility. Recognising that many regional actors lack prior monitoring and evaluation experience, the system is designed to be straightforward and easy to implement from the very start of a project. By keeping the approach simple yet robust, it lowers entry barriers and enables diverse project teams to establish effective M&E practices without specialised expertise.

The framework offers transferable insights for practitioners and policymakers designing monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems for adaptation programmes, particularly those involving inter-regional knowledge and solutions transfer. We conclude with recommendations for linking project-level monitoring to broader adaptation tracking initiatives.