Kenya’s County-Led Climate Program Secures KES 3.9 Billion World Bank Boost After Surpassing Targets
The World Bank has approved additional financing of KES 3.9 billion, equivalent to US$30 million, for Kenya’s Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) Program, following stronger-than-expected performance by counties across the country.
The new funding, announced on March 30, will not introduce new activities. Instead, it will deepen and expand climate resilience investments already underway in communities across Kenya’s counties and wards.
The results behind the decision are striking. When FLLoCA launched, fewer than nine counties had established climate finance mechanisms. Today, all 47 counties have enacted County Climate Change Fund legislation — creating permanent institutional frameworks for financing local climate action. The legislation requires each county to allocate at least 1.5% of its development budget to climate resilience investments, embedding the program’s gains into county budgets long after the program ends.
County performance has also significantly exceeded expectations. The average Annual Performance Assessment score across participating counties stands at 87%, well above the program’s 70% target. At the program’s design stage, 32 counties were expected to qualify for the second cycle of County Climate Resilience Investment grants. In practice, 45 counties qualified in the first cycle and 42 in the second.
That uptake has driven disbursements well beyond initial projections. The program was expected to have disbursed KES 11 billion at this stage. Actual disbursements have reached KES 14 billion — KES 3 billion more than anticipated.
On the ground, FLLoCA has supported more than 2,200 locally identified resilience investments across 1,238 wards. The investments span water access, climate-smart agriculture, landscape restoration, renewable energy, and livelihood diversification. Over one million Kenyans are projected to gain improved access to water for drinking and agriculture as a result.
“FLLoCA is showing that when counties and communities are empowered with the right resources and institutions, they can deliver practical solutions that strengthen livelihoods while addressing climate risks,” said Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning FCPA John Mbadi. “This additional financing will allow us to scale these efforts and reach even more communities.”
Principal Secretary for National Treasury Dr. Chris Kiptoo described Kenya’s approach as attracting growing international attention. “Kenya has built one of Africa’s most promising locally led climate finance models,” he said. “By channeling resources directly to counties and communities, FLLoCA is strengthening resilience while ensuring climate investments deliver tangible benefits on the ground.”
The additional financing will be accompanied by a program restructuring aimed at sharpening how results are measured. Updated indicators will track the number of people benefiting from climate-resilient planning systems, the scale of landscapes under sustainable management, the number of rural wards receiving resilience investments, and the strength of county climate institutions.
FLLoCA is administered through Kenya’s National Treasury and operates through the country’s devolved system of government, channeling climate finance directly to counties and enabling local communities to design solutions that respond to their specific climate risks.
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