Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA)

During the reporting period the programme has made important progress in all outcome areas. A midterm review was conducted in June 2024 and the key findings were: - the program has made significant contributions to Kenyas devolved climate finance architecture. Through incentives the program has grown from 9 to 45 the number of counties with climate change funds acts created by law, county climate change units and county climate change ward planning committees. The 45 counties all conducted Participatory Climate Risk Assessments (PCRA) and produced County Climate Change Action Plans to be funded under the program and other county and partner resources.They have received all three annual cycles of County Climate Institutional Grants envisaged under the program and in June 2024 they counties received the first County Climate Resilience Investment (CCRI) grants. - county governments have in the first annual cycle contributed over Ksh 3 billion towards County Climate Change Funds and the ensuing investments. This county contribution is enshrined in county laws for sustainability. - the program is providing a platform to crowd in and coordinate climate finance at both national and county levels. KfW has provided Euros 31 million to the National Treasury in parallel financing managed by the FLLoCA PIU and aligned to FLLoCA processes to support 16 counties. In addition, the mission documented many examples in counties where development partners and civil society organizations had supported the PCRA. In addition following results are reported in the draft SSI4ALL annual progress report 2024 report: - the program has strengthened community oversight of climate investments. FLLoCA strengthened the capacity of the State Department of Devolution so that it now can train counties on the establishment and operationalization of community led Project Management Committees (PMCs). The PMCs are intended to enhance accountability during the implementation of the prioritized climate investments at county level. In total, 45 counties were trained during the year. FLLoCA provided technical assistance to the engagement of CSOs and Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) by developing CSO and IPO engagement frameworks. strengthened environmental and social risk management. The program includes a strong commitment to strengthening Kenyas environmental and social risk management systems at both the national and county levels. The E&S performance of the Program is Moderately Satisfactory. Under the IPF component, the commitments in the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) continues to be implemented, while under the PforR component, its ensured that sub projects are screened for the exclusion list as provided in the Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) Manual. Good progress was noted with the recently completed countrywide environmental, social, health, and safety (ESHS) screening pilot exercise, especially sub projects screening for social risks, in which officers from NEMA, the SRM Unit, DOSH), and CCUs and WCCPCs participated. Key identified risks were selection of sub projects that could have substantial ESHS risks (for example, solid waste management, dam construction, large irrigation projects, etc.), potential elite capture, high turnover of ESHS specialists at the counties, land ownership issues, and poor allocation of resources for ESHS implementation and monitoring, among others. Going forward, the ESHS audit protocol should be reviewed, with TORs that ensure that ESHS aspects are covered in the audit, including implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs). Additionally, there would be a review the ESRM Manual in the FY 2024/25. - development of a Resilience Index. During the previous reporting period, FLLoCA facilitated a kick off stakeholder workshop and followup workshop to develop a Resilience Index for Kenya and its indicators. During this year, FLLoCA hosted a third workshop where data sources for measuring the resilience index were discussed in addition to charting the way forward on the actual data collection process. Next steps were agreed, including the design of a module on climate resilience to be incorporated in the next Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey. The design of the module will be supported by the Banks FLLoCA team in collaboration with the Poverty and Equity Global Practice at the World Bank. - Africa Climate Summit (ACS). The FLLoCA PIU played a key role in organizing the ACS and showcasing the FLLoCA Program to world leaders. The ACS was hosted by the Government of Kenya and took place during September 2023. The ACS focused on the theme Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World and convened leaders and investors over a three day period to share experiences and solutions for a sustainable, resilient Africa. President Ruto presided over a high level event presenting the FLLoCA Program, highlighting the importance of devolved climate finance, and launching the first round of grants to counties. During the event, the generous contributions of donor partners to the Program were acknowledged, and other African countries expressed their interest in replicating the model in their own countries. In addition, the Banks FLLoCA team provided support to IPOs from Africa to organize a PreSummit Forum in support of IPs engagement in the ACS. Indigenous leaders from across Africa advocated for climate policies that respect indigenous rights and traditional ecological knowledge. During the PreSummit, IPOs collectively crafted key messages and the Africa Indigenous Peoples declaration that highlighted their climate priorities and the significance of indigenous knowledge, land stewardship, and adaptive strategies. These key messages were presented to the ACS during the opening ceremony.

The Program seeks to deliver locally-led climate resilience actions and strengthening county and national governments capacity to manage climate risk with the long-term aim of increasing local-level resilience to climate change and other hazards. The PforR component will finance county-level performance grants that will result in a portfolio of climate resilience actions/investments addressing communities priorities (the first project medium-term outcome) and an increased capacity of County Governments (CGs) to manage climate risk (the second project medium-term outcome at the county level). The IPF component will finance national-level capacity building actions and operationalize the Inter-Agency Climate Finance Technical Advisory Committee (CF-TAC - comprising representatives from relevant line ministries, the Chairperson of the Council of Governors (CoG), and representatives from the private sector, civil society, vulnerable and marginalized groups, academia, and development partners], which is the official cross-sectoral climate coordination entity, resulting in an increased capacity of the national government to manage climate risk (the second medium-term outcome at the national level). The Contribution has identified critical assumptions necessary in order to achieve objectives. These include CoGs willingness to participate in the Program; the ability of counties to meet performance conditions to allow them to access grant resources; effective participatory processes and use of climate risk mapping results to select climate resilience investments; national entities willingness to work together; and effective implementation of selected climate resilience investments.