help Them help Themselves: A Toolkit to Facilitate Transformative Community‐Based Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

Inclusive, co‐created strategies are crucial for climate adaptation in vulnerable communities, as they empower local stakeholders to actively participate in decision‐making, tailoring responses to specific needs. However, tools that facilitate this collaborative approach are scarce and often inaccessible to under‐resourced groups. This article introduces help Them help Themselves (hThT), a web‐based tool designed for transformative community‐based climate change adaptation (TCbA), which enhances co‐creation in adaptation planning. Derived through a combined literature review and key informant interviews, hThT integrates local climate data to offer community‐specific, actionable adaptation recommendations. A novel voting feature within the tool allows community members to evaluate proposed measures directly via mobile devices, ensuring broader participation - particularly among women and marginalised groups, who are often restricted by socio‐cultural norms and existing power relations. Further, hThT incorporates a reflexive questionnaire that supports facilitators in maintaining inclusive, transparent, and accountable adaptation processes, offering a structured approach to co‐creation. Serving as a boundary object, hThT enables shared understanding and collaborative decision‐making across diverse groups, bridging governance gaps that commonly impede adaptive planning. Leveraging advances in ICT, hThT aims to enhance the accessibility and usability of climate information, fostering representative decision‐making in adaptation planning. By embedding hThT into broader adaptation frameworks, these efforts become more effective and scalable across varied communities, offering a realistic, participatory model for adapting to the uncertainties of climate change.