Case Study Competition: Investing in Drought Resilience
Case Study Competition: Investing in Drought Resilience
The recent Economics of Drought report painted a clear picture: The global costs of drought damages mount to a hefty US$307 billion per year but can be significantly lowered when systematically employing solutions for proactive drought management. The report issues a strong call that economic and financial viability are key criteria for solutions to be successful for transforming current land and drought systems.
The case study competition seeks to spotlight and scale up real-world solutions that make strong economic and business cases and innovative financing mechanisms to build drought resilience.
We’re calling for practical case studies addressing the above topic with a focus in two areas:
- Economic and business cases that apply economic analyses to inform and guide drought-related land interventions and policies.
- Use of innovative financing mechanisms to support investments in sustainable land and drought management.
With implications for policy at all levels, this competition offers practitioners, experts, and scientists a unique opportunity to showcase the benefits of action versus the cost of inaction and to building drought-resilient communities facing increasing water scarcity and land degradation challenges.
Organized under the UNCCD Communities of Learning and Practice (CLPs), the competition is supported by the UNCCD, GWP, the ELD Initiative, and TNC.
For more information, please contact clp@unccd.int
- Build a Track-Record of Innovative Solutions – we want to harvest case studies that demonstrate how data, tools, and financial mechanisms can be employed to guide and implement more proactive drought resilience initiatives.
- Catalyse Local, National, Regional and Global Collaborations – we aim to foster stronger ties between practitioners, experts, scientists, policymakers, and financiers by highlighting replicable models of preparedness and investments in drought-affected regions across the world.
- Scale up and Replicate Approaches and Strategies – we encourage broader adoption of successful strategies by sharing case studies on the UNCCD CLP platform, thus accelerating global drought resilience.
- Raise the Political Profile of Investing in Drought Resilience – we aspire to increase global awareness of the importance of well-informed and well-financed drought interventions, contributing to achieving land degradation neutrality, climate adaptation, and SDGs.
- Economic Analysis to Build Business Cases: case studies illustrating the use of cost-benefit analyses, situational analyses, market assessments, financial sector assessments, and other economic analysis for decision making.
- Innovative Financing Instruments: case studies featuring diverse innovative financing instruments, including i.a., insurance schemes, microloans, green bonds, PPPs, blended finance, debt-for-nature swaps, etc.
- Winners will have their travel costs covered to participate in UNCCD CRIC 23 in Panama in December 2025, where they will present their case studies at an official side event
- Selected submissions will be featured in official publications and websites, ensuring further reach, visibility and networking opportunities and contributing to assembling and amplifying global knowledge on this critical issue.
- Submissions are open to government agencies, NGOs, local and youth communities, international organizations, research institutes, universities, and private sector actors active on land and drought management issues.
- Submissions may feature projects at any stage of maturity (pilot, ongoing, or completed), provided there is demonstrated relevance to one of the two thematic categories.
- Collaborative and multi-stakeholder initiatives are strongly encouraged, particularly those involving youth, women, or other underrepresented groups.
- How to submit: participants should complete an online submission form.
- Supporting materials: participants are encouraged to upload complementary documents, reports or papers, images, videos, and other media when filling out the form..
- Submissions will be checked for completeness, clarity, and relevance to the competition’s themes.
- An independent panel of drought finance, policy and economic experts from UNCCD, GWP, ELD, and TNC will evaluate submissions based on:
- Relevance: Clear alignment with either thematic category.
- Innovation & Impact: Novelty of the approach or mechanism, demonstrated results, or potential for positive community, policy, economic, finance or ecosystem impact.
- Scalability & Replicability: Feasibility of implementing or adapting the case study in other regions or contexts.
- Stakeholder Inclusion: Level of engagement with local communities, indigenous peoples, women, youth, or other marginalized groups.
- Launch of the call: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought June 17th, 2025
- Deadline for submission: September 17th, 2025
- Finalists announcement: online event will be organized for semi-finalists to present in late October 2025
- Winners’ announcement: Winning case study authors present at UNCCD CRIC, in Panama, December 2025.