CSO Conversations: Engaging Communities for Effective Climate Solutions
12 November 2025

Philippines


 

At the “CSO Conversations: Engaging Communities for Effective Climate Solutions” webinar on 12 November, civil society representatives highlighted innovative strategies for how civil society organizations (CSOs) can connect governments and communities in planning and implementing climate projects.  

 

With 220 participants in attendance, speakers from CSOs Kota Kita (Indonesia), Centre for Environment Education (India), and PRIA (India) shared insights from successful country experiences of citizen engagement. Discussions focused on how early community engagement fosters strong ownership and leads to fit-for-purpose solutions that extend benefits beyond the project cycle. 

 

People Powered, a global CSO union, organized and delivered the session, and ADB NGO and Civil Society Center hosted the webinar. This marks a first in this kind of collaboration for the CSO Conversations knowledge-sharing series. 

 

Watch the full webinar:

Program and Learning Materials
Session / Activity Title Speaker(s)
Preliminaries Welcome and Introductions
Goals and agenda, speaker lineup, and introduction to People Powered
Maria Lucien
Preliminaries
Lightning talk Closing the loop: Community insights for learning and resilience
Integrated strategies, ensuring water security in informal settlements, and critical areas of intervention, and impacts
Anshuman Karol
Lightning talk From information-sharing to co-creation: Why early engagement pays off
The importance of engaging CSOs, lessons learned, and results and impact
Silvania Utami
Q&A Maria Lucien
Lightning talk Participation as partnership: CSOs as co-implementers and accountability partners
Green and socially sound recovery and climate actions for rural economy, and impact of the lack of CSO buy-in
Navneet Wadkar
Moderation discussion and Q&A, and presentation of climate engagement tools
People Powered accelerators and mentorship, Participation Playbook, online courses, and membership
Maria Lucien
Q&A Maria Lucien
Closing Maria Lucien

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

Event Coordinator/s

  • Michelle Ann Ramirez

ADB Organizer/s

  • Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Partner Organization/s

Topics

  • Civil Society
  • Climate Change
  • Social Development and Protection