Abstract
Government ministries are increasingly mainstreaming climate change adaptation within policies and plans. However, government staff in key implementing ministries need to be empowered to ensure effective delivery of policy goals. Motivation to act on climate change, combined with the capacity to make decisions and apply resources to programmes, is crucial. Informed by theories of motivation and workplace environments from social psychology and organisational theory, this paper reports findings from a questionnaire of government staff (103 respondents) in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. The questionnaire was designed using self-determination theory to investigate the role of external influences, institutional structures and resources and how these, in turn, affect staff motivation and capacities to design and implement new policies and strategies. The study finds that whilst external influences and hierarchical structures are recognised, these do not have a strong direct influence on staff motivation, but they do appear to inhibit capacities to act. The results show that lack of staff and limited government-allocated budget reduce the ability of ministries to be self-determined and set their own agendas. Instead they are dependent on donor-determined projects which may be selective in the aspects of climate change adaptation plans and policies they support and even divert focus away from government priorities.
Highlights
Climate change is increasingly recognised as an issue in southern Africa and many countries are responding by introducing policies and programmes to support adaptation (Reid and Huq, 2014; Ampaire et al, 2017; Nightingale, 2017)
In spite of high agreement that decisions made by their office are interfered with, only 32% of respondents agreed that climate change adaptation was being rolled out because of influence from the international community, 90% agreed that adaptation was important in their activities, and 80% agreed it is a priority compared to other issues (Fig. 1)
The role of motivational factors and the workplace environment are important for this agenda, yet their influence is poorly understood, in developing countries
Summary
Climate change is increasingly recognised as an issue in southern Africa and many countries are responding by introducing policies and programmes to support adaptation (Reid and Huq, 2014; Ampaire et al, 2017; Nightingale, 2017). Since 2009, fourteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) introduced national climate change policies or strategies (Climate Change Laws of the World database, 2018) and more are under development. For these policies and strategies to be implemented effectively, certain conditions need to be met. Those tasked with implementation require the capacity and motivation to prioritise climate change adaptation and take action. Public sector responses to address climate change are incorporated in policies, strategies, plans and programmes in which the formulation stage is often driven by negotiations at the international level. Zambia has a National Climate Change Response Strategy and a National Climate Change Policy that was adopted in 2016 (GoZ, 2010; 2016)
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