Ethiopia Signs $830k Grant With AfDB To Strengthen Climate Resilience

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Ethiopian Government has signed an $830,000 technical assistance grant agreement with the African Development Bank (AfDB), to improve climate resilience for communities and ecosystems.

The funds will help mainstream climate risk management, gender and resilience into economic planning and development in the country’s Ziway-Shallah sub-Basin.
The agreement was signed during the AfDB’s 2022 Annual Meetings, which was rounded off on Friday in Accra, Ghana. The State Minister, Ministry of Finance, Semereta Sewasew signed on behalf of the Ethiopian government, while Kevin Kariuki, AfDB’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate & Green Growth, Kevin Kariuki signed for the Bank.

The funds will come from the Climate Investment Funds’ Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience. The Bank will administer the project aimed at enhancing Ethiopia’s renewable energy and resilience-building programmes.

Launched in 2008, the Climate Investment Funds is a global multilateral climate finance mechanism for developing countries seeking to shift to low carbon and climate-resilient development and to accelerate climate action.

Meanwhile, the Funds have invested $33 million of concessional loans and grants in Ethiopia and leverage d more than twice that amount from public, private, and other sources.

The grant will contribute to the development of a climate-aligned water resources development plan and investment strategy for the Ziway-Shalla sub-Basin in Ethiopia’s central rift valley. It will also fund a water allocation plan.

Minister Sewasew thanked the AfDB for its continued “strategic support” for Ethiopia’s planning and implementation. “I am grateful for the Bank’s leadership and technical team in facilitating this financing”, she said.

In his remarks, Kariuki said the technical assistance grant underscores the Bank’s commitment to delivering the High 5s through innovative solutions including climate and environment finance aimed at addressing climate challenges and harnessing climate finance opportunities to build inclusive climate-resilient development paths.

The project is expected to promote efficiency, long-term water security, and increase biodiversity in the area’s many lakes. It will also strengthen upstream watershed management. The overall goal is to build climate resilience. Beneficiaries include communities that depend on rain-fed agriculture.