This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of community–based adaptation (CBA) efforts. To start, it develops and describes a framework on adaptation to climate change used as the basis for this research. The paper then defines the characteristics or principles of CBA and describes why it is an essential part of the adaptation process. Following this, it identifies the limitations of or constraints to CBA in practice, including the need to link CBA to the larger adaptation and development processes and discusses institutional arrangements for CBA. The paper also explores institutional barriers to successful adaptation at the community level in more detail, focusing on issues of participation in group–based approaches to adaptation and the extent to which men and women have different priorities or needs for adaptation. The paper concludes with observations on effective types of group–based approaches to CBA and recommendations on how to promote equal participation in community responses to climate change in order to ensure that both men and women increase their resilience to climate change and to maximize the effectiveness of adaptation efforts.