Dec 29, 2025Strengthening Loss and Damage Response Capacity in the Global South (STRENGTH)
The Strengthening Loss and Damage Response Capacity in the Global South (STRENGTH) project is an IDRC-supported, multi-country initiative that aims to strengthen how vulnerable countries understand and respond to climate-induced loss and damage (L&D). The project recognizes that climate impacts are increasingly exceeding the limits of adaptation, resulting in significant economic and non-economic losses.
Implemented across four countries, in Nepal, Bangladesh, Senegal, and Vanuatu, STRENGTH generates grounded, country-level evidence on how loss and damage is experienced and governed. Despite growing global attention to L&D, including under the UNFCCC, a persistent gap remains between local lived experiences and national and international policy responses. STRENGTH seeks to bridge this gap by strengthening research capacity, informing policy processes, and amplifying community voices in L&D discourse.
Objectives
The overall objective of STRENGTH is to address knowledge and capacity gaps in vulnerable countries in the Global South, enabling effective national and sub-national loss and damage policy and response mechanisms.
Five specific objectives include:
- Clarify key conceptual and operational challenges related to loss and damage at local, national, and international levels.
- Conduct country-level diagnostic assessments of L&D, including policy, institutional, and governance practices.
- Facilitate learning and cross-country knowledge exchange among research and policy actors on emerging L&D issues.
- Strengthen the capacity of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), and Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) members to engage in loss and damage negotiations within the UNFCCC and related global processes.
- Identify and recommend socially inclusive and gender-equitable loss and damage response options at national and sub-national levels.
Together, these objectives position STRENGTH as a platform for translating local evidence into policy-relevant knowledge and strengthening more just and responsive loss and damage frameworks.
