The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has signed an $830,000 technical assistance grant agreement for Ethiopia. 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 signing took place on Thursday 26 May during the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings, which are taking place in Accra. Semereta Sewasew, State Minister, Ministry of Finance, signed on behalf of the Ethiopian government.  Kevin Kariuki, African Development Bank Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate & Green Growth, signed for the Bank.

The funds will come from the Climate Investment Funds’ Pilot Program for Climate Resilience.  The African Development Bank will administer the project.

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 African Development Bank 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.  

Kariuki said: “This technical assistance grant underscores the African Development 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 rainfed agriculture. 

The African Development Bank has supported Ethiopia in implementing Climate Investment Funds in renewable energy and resilience-building programs.

The Climate Investment Funds have invested $33 million of concessional loans and grants in Ethiopia and leveraged more than twice that amount from public, private, and other sources.

The Climate Investment Funds, launched in 2008, 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.