From pilot to paradigm: a community-driven model for building water-energy-food-climate-health resilience

The compounding effects of climate change and resource scarcity on human health require locally led, action-oriented solutions. Pressures on water, energy, and food systems are intensified by resource limitations, population growth, and migration. The Arab region faces some of the highest recorded temperatures and acute water stress, making locally driven climate-health solutions critical. Despite increasing global climate finance, significant gaps remain in mobilizing funds and building capacity among community organizations addressing these issues. The Global Center on Climate Change, Water, Energy, Food, and Health Systems (GC3WEFH), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), launched an innovative Pilot Grants Program in 2023. This paper explains the unique design and approach of the pilot program, which combines NIH review standards with grassroots empowerment and capacity building. The program operates as a “project/policy laboratory” utilizing a rigorous merit review process, a novel dual-tiered metrics framework, and dedicated capacity-building efforts, to produce actionable knowledge across its portfolio. By the conclusion of its third call, the program had received 20 total proposals and awarded 9 grants in Jordan, achieving an overall sanction rate of 45.0% and successfully turning broad climate, resource, and health services usage goals into concrete on-the-ground actions. Evaluation results demonstrate that this small-grant approach can achieve systemic results, such as a 60% reduction in agricultural water consumption and statistically significant improvements in clinical health outcomes among vulnerable populations. The findings suggest the program successfully encourages community participation, cultivates unique solutions to grassroots challenges, connects local efforts to national policies, and strengthens long-term organizational capacity of community organizations.