Initiative:

Climate Resilience

Kenya

In Kenya, the impacts of climate change are felt with an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, ranging from flooding to droughts and high temperatures. The government is working to address these challenges, including through a National Climate Change Action Plan. The CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience will partner with national stakeholders to assess crop management and yields, land and water use, and nutrition outcomes to help develop an assessment of the risks associated with food system policy decisions. An early warning, early action, and early finance platform (called AWARE) designed to be used across ministries will help trigger action and investment ahead of extreme climate events. Researchers and partners will also work together to develop bundled insurance products targeted toward ensuring gender and social equity outcomes.

The Initiative aligns with the nation’s priorities on social equity, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands, and the need for better coordination between the various actors who are working to improve food systems and food security in the country. There is a special focus on access to finance for women farmers, access to arable land for youth, and increased deployment of available technologies to achieve impact at scale through climate information services.

Here are some key highlights of ClimBeR’s work in Kenya from 2022-2024:

    • ClimBeR’s bundled climate information services (forecasts and agro-advisories) reached 1.2 million farmers in Kenya (41% women) through the Shamba Shape Up TV show.
    • ClimBeR’s social equity framework, developed in collaboration with the Nordic Africa Institute and Climate  can be used both within CGIAR and beyond to embed social equity within activities and build synergies.
    • Approximately 4500 farmers (39% of whom were women) trained to use risk-contingent credit (RCC) in Kenya and Ethiopia.
    • Seasonal climate risk profiles developed for Kenya, Zambia, and Senegal that were enhanced to cater to country-specific applications and better address the needs of agricultural stakeholders and policymakers.
    • ClimBeR’s partnership with the Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) in Kenya enhanced Indigenous peoples’ engagement in international climate policies through the Voices of Change video series, and together with the Initiative’s Disruptive Seeds coalition, contributed to the 2024 Livestock Bill which aims to secure pastoralists’ rights to Indigenous livestock breeds.
    • In 2022, ClimBeR collaborated with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the African Group of Experts Negotiator Support (AGNES), and the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and the Kenya Meteorological Department, and led the development of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) proposal titled Enhancing Climate Resilience and Risk Preparedness Among Vulnerable Communities in West Pokot and Turkana Counties. Valued at USD 49 million, this proposal aims to strengthen climate resilience for food security, sustainable development, and poverty reduction.
    • ClimBeR increased the capacity of key partners to understand the importance of the climate-conflict nexus in building sustainable resilience. Collaborations with CSA-MSP  have been key to raising awareness at the country level on the climate security nexus through tailored capacity-building exercises.
    • ClimBeR’s Work Package 2 – Climate Security informed Kenya’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan and contributed to the enactment of this policy through the co-design and implementation of action plans and investments on climate security.
    • ClimBeR’s work on climate security contributed to the Kenya National Climate Change Action Plan III.
    • ClimBeR collaborated with Equity Bank Kenya to scale risk-contingent credit (RCC).
    • Between 2022 and 2024, ClimBeR’s technical assistance helped partners secure USD 754 million in climate finance, surpassing the USD 30 million target. This included USD 35 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for Kenya.

Social Equity and Inclusion

ClimBeR’s collaboration with the CGIAR Initiative on Livestock and Climate between November 2022 – April 2024 led to the design and testing of methodological social equity tools to understand how equity
impacts the adaptive capacity of smallholder and livestock communities in Kenya and the Philippines, and the development of a social equity framework. The methodology draws upon theories of social equity and justice rooted in participatory parity—values and norms that encourage people to interact with one another as equals and synergistically nurture recognitional, distributional, representational and intergenerational equities.

ClimBeR’s social equity research focused on multiple scales. Community-level Voices of Change from Baringo, Kenya, showcased audio-visual Indigenous community stories of climate adaptation, culminating in a ClimBeR-led side event and developing and disseminating a policy note at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai. These stories have also been used for advocacy and to help judges from the Kenyan Environment and Land Court recognize the importance of protecting the land rights of Indigenous peoples.

Climate Finance

ClimBeR developed and tested a range of innovative microfinance mechanisms that combine credit, insurance, and savings. In 2022, ClimBeR collaborated with Financial Access, Agora Microfinance (Zambia), and ECLOF (Kenya) to develop climate-smart credit scoring tools designed for SMEs and microfinance institutions to give smallholder farmers access to finance. In Kenya, ClimBeR’s Risk Continent Credit product combined micro-credit and index insurance into a product deployed by commercial banks. The Initiative also worked to support capacity building of financial literacy on insurance, credit and savings through the Shamba Shape Up TV show in Kenya.

In 2023, a situational analysis to support climate finance investments in the Karamoja cluster identified gaps in national and local strategies for climate adaptation, strengthening alignment with financial commitments under frameworks like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Findings informed evidence-based recommendations used to support Kenya and Uganda in the development of a GCF concept note and proposal that supported the Kenyan and Ugandan governments in accessing USD 84 million in climate finance through the Participatory Green Climate Fund Intervention Design.

Partnerships

A partnership with the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the Climate-Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform, and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) facilitated the co-development of a training manual on inclusive approaches to climate change, agriculture, and peace, which will be used to train trainers within JKUAT.

Collaboration with Equity Bank and Financial Access in Kenya enabled the piloting and enhancement of climate resilience financial tools such as Risk Contingent Credit and iSHAMBA, which help smallholder farmers access financing to strengthen climate resilience.

Further collaboration with the African Group of Negotiators and Expert Support (AGNES), IUCN, and the Ministry of Agriculture supported participatory processes and climate analyses to assist African countries like Kenya and Uganda in accessing the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

A partnership with the Centre for Minority Rights and Development (CEMIRIDE) enhanced social equity and the engagement of Indigenous peoples in climate policies and action through advocacy tools such as the Voices of Change video series. Further collaboration with CEMIRIDE and the Disruptive Seeds Coalition expects to shape the 2024 Livestock Bill, which aims to secure the rights of pastoralists in Kenya to Indigenous livestock breeds.

ClimBeR has also worked with various CGIAR Initiatives and bilaterial projects in Kenya, demonstrating what the CGIAR research portfolio’s integration strategy looks like in practice. These collaborations have helped align activities with complementary research areas, foster synergies, and enhance coordination to maximize CGIAR’s impact while ensuring efficient resource use and minimizing duplication.

The Initiative has extended climate resilience agro-advisories and nutrition advice in Kenya through collaborations with AICCRA, AVENIR, AgriLAC Resiliente, Ukama Ustawi, and Livestock and Climate.

ClimBeR also collaborated with the “Promoting Resilience and Food Security through Risk-Contingent Credit in Africa” project, funded by BMZ, to expand access to risk-contingent credit for farmers in Kenya.

Together with Livestock and Climate, ClimBeR developed Shamba Shield, an integrated platform that combines climate-smart agricultural practices, financial services, and risk assessments to support smallholder farmers build climate resilience in Kenya.

2025 and beyond…

The diverse interventions that the Initiative has implemented in partnership in Kenya demonstrates a critical yet unconventional pathway to smallholder resilience. Strong partnerships with varying levels of government demonstrated by ClimBeR are key to the long-term viability and sustainability of such interventions and activities as the Initiative comes to an end and continues its work to build smallholder resilience through the CGIAR Science Programs that begin in 2025.

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