In this paper, we use an inductive approach and longitudinal analysis to explore political influences on the emergence and evolution of climate change adaptation policy and planning at national level, as well as the institutions within which it is embedded, for three countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia). Data collection involved quantitative and qualitative methods applied over a 6-year period from 2012 to 2017. This included a survey of 103 government staff (20 in Malawi, 29 in Tanzania and 54 in Zambia) and 242 interviews (106 in Malawi, 86 in Tanzania and 50 in Zambia) with a wide range of stakeholders, many of whom were interviewed multiple times over the study period, together with content analysis of relevant policy and programme documents. Whilst the climate adaptation agenda emerged in all three countries around 2007–2009, associated with multilateral funding initiatives, the rate and nature of progress has varied—until roughly 2015 when, for different reasons, momentum slowed. We find differences between the countries in terms of specifics of how they operated, but roles of two factors in common emerge in the evolution of the climate change adaptation agendas: national leadership and allied political priorities, and the role of additional funding provided by donors. These influences lead to changes in the policy and institutional frameworks for addressing climate change, as well as in the emphasis placed on climate change adaptation. By examining the different ways through which ideas, power and resources converge and by learning from the specific configurations in the country examples, we identify opportunities to address existing barriers to action and thus present implications that enable more effective adaptation planning in other countries. We show that more socially just and inclusive national climate adaptation planning requires a critical approach to understanding these configurations of power and politics.

在本文中，我们使用归纳法和纵向分析来探索对撒哈拉以南三个国家在国家层面以及气候变化适应政策和规划以及其中所包含的机构的出现和演变的政治影响。非洲（马拉维，坦桑尼亚和赞比亚）。数据收集涉及从2012年到2017年的6年中应用的定量和定性方法。这包括对103名政府工作人员（马拉维20名，坦桑尼亚29名和赞比亚54名）的调查和242次访谈（马拉维106名，印度86名）。坦桑尼亚和赞比亚的50个州）与广泛的利益相关者进行了研究，其中许多人在研究期内接受了多次访谈，并对相关政策和计划文件进行了内容分析。尽管这三个国家在2007年至2009年间都提出了气候适应议程，并与多边供资倡议相关，但进展的速度和性质各不相同-直到2015年左右，由于各种原因，势头有所放缓。我们发现各国之间在运作方式方面存在差异，但是在气候变化适应议程的演变中出现了两个共同的作用：国家领导和相关的政治优先事项，以及捐助者提供的额外资金的作用。这些影响导致应对气候变化的政策和体制框架发生变化，并导致对适应气候变化的重视。通过研究想法的不同方式，力量和资源融合在一起，并且通过学习国家示例中的特定配置，我们发现了解决现有行动障碍的机会，从而提出了可以在其他国家进行更有效的适应计划的影响。我们表明，更加社会公正和更具包容性的国家气候适应计划需要一种关键的方法来理解这些权力和政​​治配置。