In September 2026, the Bhutan LIFE-AR team joined their peers in Nepal for a fruitful exchange on implementing LIFE-AR. The Bhutanese team shared with Nepal their own learnings and experience and could also transmit some lessons learned during their own learning visit in Uganda two years ago. A key principle for the initiative is to let countries follow their own pathways, at their own pace, and peer-learning can provide valuable insight for new joiners on what implementation can look like in practice.
During the week of 21 September 2026, planning and awareness-raising meetings in Nepal included a dedicated peer-learning component to bring in technical and operational experiences from the Government of Bhutan, one of the first country to join LIFE-AR. Peer learning is one of the most valued aspects of LIFE-AR according to national teams, enabling countries to build on the learning of others and design solutions together.
The experience provided a valuable opportunity for stakeholders in Nepal to hear directly about Bhutan’s journey: how LIFE-AR was introduced, how governance and financial arrangements were developed, how existing government systems were used. The teams also discussed some of the challenges encountered and solutions found as Bhutan moved towards implementation.
Learning directly from Bhutan’s experience
Mr. Sonam Gyelpo, Senior Environment Officer and LIFE-AR representative from Bhutan, joined the meetings throughout the week, providing both formal and informal insights into Bhutan’s experience of LIFE-AR. Having been closely involved in overseeing LIFE-AR since 2021, Sonam was able to speak not only about the structures and processes that were established, but also about how those arrangements developed over time.
Bhutan signed its LIFE-AR MOU in 2021, but progress was initially slow. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to delays, while Bhutan also took the time to carefully review how LIFE-AR could best fit within its existing government systems, rather than creating a parallel climate finance delivery mechanism.
This was particularly valuable in helping to illustrate how guidance can look in practice in establishing LIFE-AR in a country. That experience provided an important message for discussions in Nepal: establishment is a process, and countries may need time to understand how LIFE-AR can work within their own institutional context, but this is important for ensuring the long-term institutionalisation and sustainability of the work.
Building on existing systems
One of the key areas discussed during the peer-learning sessions was Bhutan’s approach to governance.
Rather than creating a completely new governance structure for LIFE-AR, Bhutan undertook a situational analysis to understand how the initiative could work through existing national systems. This led to the use of existing institutional arrangements, including the National Environment Commission as the country’s highest-level environmental and climate decision-making body, alongside the Climate Change Coordination Committee as a technical coordination mechanism. A wider national task force brings together representatives from relevant government agencies, including local government, finance, planning and budget, climate change, and the National Commission for Women and Children.
For Nepal, Bhutan’s experience provided a practical example of how LIFE-AR’s governance principles can be translated into an existing government structure — and supported discussions about which existing institutions and mechanisms could play similar roles in the Nepali context.
Connecting finance and local government
Bhutan also shared its experience of integrating LIFE-AR into existing government financial and local government planning systems. Rather than establishing a separate financial management structure, Bhutan decided that its existing government financial management rules could provide the basis for managing LIFE-AR resources. Similarly, existing local government planning systems are being used to connect national-level resources with implementation at district level. Bhutan is now working with six pilot districts as it moves into the implementation phase. Funding allocations are linked to factors including individual district workplans, population and levels of climate risk. This provided a concrete example for Nepal of how the principle of locally led adaptation (LLA) can be reflected in decisions about where and how resources are allocated.
From establishment into implementation
Bhutan’s experience also offered an opportunity to discuss the practical transition from establishment into implementation. As Bhutan moves into its second phase, work is continuing on areas including monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), communities of practice, communication, and investment criteria. Elements kicked off during the establishment phase have continued to evolve as Bhutan has moved into implementation. This was an important practical insight for the discussions in Nepal: the establishment phase provides the foundations, but some elements may need to be tested, refined and developed as implementation begins.
The challenge of coordination
Sonam also highlighted some of the challenges Bhutan has encountered.
One of these is the absence of a dedicated Project Management Unit (PMU). LIFE-AR coordination is currently being managed by the relevant department alongside its other responsibilities, with support from representatives across the national task force. While working through existing government structures helps maintain institutional ownership and avoids creating parallel systems, it can also place additional demands on the teams responsible for coordination which can cause delays. This offered another practical consideration for Nepal as it considers the institutional arrangements and capacity required.
Bringing LIFE-AR to life
The value of Bhutan’s contribution during the week was ultimately about more than sharing information, but also practical knowledge and experiential learning from implementation.
Hearing directly from a country that has already gone through much of the process helped make LIFE-AR more tangible for stakeholders involved in Nepal’s planning discussions. Rather than considering governance structures, financial systems, local government engagement and implementation arrangements only as concepts, participants could explore how these issues had been navigated in another country — including where things had taken longer, where adjustments had been needed, and what challenges remained.
The Bhutan experience therefore provided a practical reference point for Nepal as it considers how LIFE-AR could be established within its own national systems and context.
The exchange demonstrated the value of peer-to-peer learning: countries do not need to follow exactly the same pathway, but the experiences of those further ahead in the process can provide useful examples, questions and lessons as others develop their own approaches.
This visit was the fourth peer-learning in country visit undertaken in recent years. Uganda initiated the movement by going to Kenya to learn from their Devolved Climate Finance (DCF) experience, followed by Bhutan who visited Uganda in 2024, and in 2025 the Uganda team visited Malawi. As these lessons are passed on, this demonstrates that knowledge is accumulating and being adapted across LIFE-AR countries, rather than each country starting from scratch. For Nepal, the inputs from Bhutan provided an opportunity to move from discussing what LIFE-AR is towards exploring what LIFE-AR could look like in practice. The 5 days of discussion guided the Nepal team for their budget preparation for the establishment phase.
