Strengthening Sri Lanka’s National Adaptation Plan: Aligning Policy, Technology, and Finance for Climate-Smart Agriculture

Success was driven by strong institutional coordination and ownership under the NDA’s leadership, which ensured a nationally-led process. Focal Points from the sector leads of the 16 NDC priority sectors were nominated to enhance the institutional coordination mechanism. Technical consistency was achieved by building on past readiness efforts and a core expert team to update both the TNA/TAP and the NDC 3.0, enabling seamless integration and alignment. A major achievement was the direct use of the TNA and TAP updated by the project to revise NDC 3.0, grounding national commitments in robust evidence.

The project also prioritized broad stakeholder engagement through over 40 workshops, and established a Private Sector Working Group to incorporate private sector perspectives into national strategies and plans

Finally, continuous capacity strengthening of the NDA further enhanced its role as the national coordinating authority and positioned it to better identify priorities, mobilize finance, and oversee the implementation of climate-smart solutions.

The Readiness programme provided Sri Lanka with unique value by acting as a catalytic enabler for national climate action and finance mobilization. Rather than focusing on discrete sectoral investments, the Readiness addressed foundational capacity gaps, strengthened institutional frameworks, and fostered multi-stakeholder collaboration to create an enabling environment for effective climate finance access and long-term resilience.

A pivotal contribution has been its role in enhancing national policy coherence. By updating the TNA and TAP for all NDC sectors, the project established a robust, evidence-based foundation for identifying priority technologies and investment pathways. Crucially, these technical outputs were directly integrated into revision of Sri Lanka’s NDCs (NDC 3.0), ensuring technical consistency with national commitments and avoiding duplication. This alignment also demonstrated how Readiness effectively bridges the gap between analytical outputs and high-level policy commitments, enhancing the quality and practicality of climate planning and strategies – as evinced in the NDCs. The Readiness project strengthened institutional capacity, particularly of the National Designated Authority (NDA). Through continuous engagement, it reinforced the NDA’s central role in coordinating climate finance, elevating its ability to lead consultations, mobilize resources, and facilitate inter-agency coordination. This effectively positioned the NDA to assume ownership and guide TNA/TAP updates and the NDC 3.0 revision process, creating institutional capacity aligned with its core mandate that will endure beyond the project’s lifespan.

The Readiness project strengthened institutional capacity, particularly of the National Designated Authority (NDA). Through continuous engagement, it reinforced the NDA’s central role in coordinating climate finance, elevating its ability to lead consultations, mobilize resources, and facilitate inter-agency coordination. This effectively positioned the NDA to assume ownership and guide TNA/TAP updates and the NDC 3.0 revision process, creating institutional capacity aligned with its core mandate that will endure beyond the project’s lifespan.