New US$150 Million Program to Strengthen Kenya’s Resilience to Climate Change

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The World Bank Board of Directors today approved a US$150 million International Development Association (IDA*) credit to support community identified and locally-led climate resilience projects in all rural wards in Kenya.

These resources will be channeled through the new Financing Locally–Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) Program. The program’s development objective is to deliver locally-led climate resilience actions and strengthen county and national governments' capacity to manage climate risks.

“Kenya has demonstrated leadership in establishing a policy framework to manage climate risk though climate action is still underfunded.” said Keith Hansen, World Bank Country Director for Kenya. “This financing will support the Government of Kenya meet its climate commitments to increase financing for climate action, and particularly ensure climate financing and actions reach local communities”

At the national level, the program will strengthen the national government’s capacity to support county government actions, enhance the collaboration between national entities on climate change, and facilitate national oversight of the program.

At the county level, the FLLoCA program will be implemented under the Program for Results (PforR) instrument in which counties will receive their annual disbursements based on their performance against a specified results-based criterion. Notably, 87.5% of the program resources will be spent at the county and community level, demonstrating the commitment to ensure climate finance reaches the lowest levels and those most vulnerable to climate risks. The PforR instrument will support community-level climate resilience investments while at the same time incentivizing system changes and strengthening county governments’ climate finance and governance systems.

“Communities in rural areas, especially those in arid and semi-arid regions which have been affected by the impacts of climate change such as droughts and floods, outbreaks of climate-related diseases, low farmland productivity, and declining livestock, will be the primary beneficiaries of the program,” said Nicholas Soikan, World Bank Senior Social Development Specialist and Task Team Leader.

The program will also address gender and other equity dimensions by ensuring that women, youth, marginalized and vulnerable groups, minorities, senior citizens, poor households, and persons with disabilities will benefit.

In addition, the program will accelerate the use of participatory planning processes, innovation, and climate science. To build sustainability, the program will incentivize counties to create and contribute to county climate change funds.

This support comes in a context where the coronavirus pandemic has strained livelihoods and community wellbeing. The roll out of community-level investments is expected to support local economies and create jobs.

The IDA financing will be supplemented by a grant of $21.4 million from the Social Sustainability Initiative for All Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund with resources from the Governments of Denmark and Sweden, making a total of $171.4 million.

*The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 76 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.6 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $21 billion over the last three years, with about 61 percent going to Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The World Bank Group.