A new paper "How do staff motivation and workplace environment affect capacity of governments to adapt to climate change in developing countries?" has just been made available online in the journal Environmental Science and Policy. The paper, led by Joanna Pardoe with Katharine Vincent and Declan Conway, is an output of the UMFULA (Future Climate for Africa) project, and is based on self-determination theory surveys that were conducted with government officials in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. The study finds that whilst external influences and hierarchical structures are recognised, these do not have a strong direct influence on staff motivation to respond to climate change, but they do appear to inhibit capacities to act. Lack of staff and limited government-allocated budget reduce the ability of ministries to be self-determined and set their own agendas, as they create a dependence on donor-determined projects.
