The Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) recently approved $4.7 million for seven new project proposals that will build climate-resilience and low-carbon development across African countries.
Housed under the Climate Change and Green Growth Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB), these proposed projects will be carried out in African countries such as Mozambique, Sudan, Senegal, Benin, Lesotho, Uganda, and Kenya amongst others.
The approval of these projects increases ACCF’s overall portfolio to 15 projects while expanding its geographical reach and diversifying its field of intervention. Also, the seven new projects are aligned with AfDB’s Strategy (2013-2022) and it’s (Climate Change Action Plan 2016-2020).
Below are the new projects:
Building climate resilience: This project will be carried out in Sudan through a local NGO (ZWD) that would make use of youth and women farmers. It will contribute to the building of an inclusive and climate-resilient ecosystem which will aid food security and sustainable growth in Sudan. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 4.6 million people were food insecure in Sudan by the end of 2014. Similarly, an estimated 80 percent of the country’s rural population relies on agriculture-based production for their food and income. The project will also centre on strengthening the collective entrepreneurial capacity of farmer associations.
Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL): This proposed project will scale up the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s LoCAL Mechanism and will be executed in Benin and Lesotho. The project will be implemented by UNCDF and seeks to support local governments in the execution of climate-resilient projects using performance-based grants. With the recent incidence of flooding, drought, coastal erosion in Benin, the country’s government sought the expertise of UNCDP to help enlighten and foster climate change with the National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
Syntrophic Agriculture: As part of the strategy to foster resilience and climate adaptation, this project will aid syntropic agriculture in Mozambique. To be implemented by ICEI, a non-profit organization and ORAM, a local NGO, the project will take place in Zambezia Province. Syntrophic Agriculture which was tested for the first time in Brazil has slowly been implemented in Mozambique’s Zambezia province. This project will improve the environmental resilience and economic sustainability of smallholder families in using a scaled-up “gender-oriented eco-governance productive model.”
Removing barriers to climate finance access: The project aims at removing barriers that hinder the local government’s access to international climate finance in Senegal. Access to international funding can be restricted due to a weak enabling environment to attract climate investment; limited institutional capacity to access and manage finance and to develop bankable climate projects. In conjunction with CSE, Senegal’s Ministry of Territorial Governance, Development, and Management of the Territory will seek out new ways to access climate finance funding from the international body.
The Africa NDC Hub: The project will support African countries to accelerate access to climate finance and effective utilization of funds for the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It will assist the pipeline development of eight project proposals, strengthening institutions in Namibia, Uganda, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cameroon. This NDC hub project will be executed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Cocoa Livelihoods Resilience: This project will be carried out in Cote d’Ivoire to help enhance the resilience of smallholder cocoa farmers. Cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire are vulnerable to an array of climate-related risks such as harmattan winds, droughts, storms, flooding. Through the piloting of Adaptation Benefits Mechanism (ABM), the project will introduce a set of sustainable climate-resilient agro-forestry measures to enhance the resilience of cocoa farmers to climate shocks in Soubre and Sinfra districts.
Green energy for women and youth resilience: This project will support the transition to low carbon development and scale-up access to climate finance by boosting the development of the Sustainable Energy Value Chain in Uganda and Kenya. With women and youth as the focus of the green energy engagement, a consortium of CSOs led by AVSI Foundation and Pamiga will ensure the transition from fossil fuel energy to renewable energy.
With these new funds in place, ACCF will help the mentioned African countries in building their resilience to the negative impacts of climate change and transitioning to sustainable low-carbon growth.
