The Country-Led Financing Strategies For Climate And Development Workshop

The Country-Led Financing Strategies for Climate and Development Workshop convened by the State Department for Economic Planning in collaboration with the World Resource Institute (WRI) officially kicked off today Monday, 18th August, 2025 in Naivasha.

The workshop brings together representatives from national and county governments, development finance institutions, development partners and other key stakeholders in order to develop a unified agenda for expanding country-led financing strategies in the Kenya.

While officiating the workshop, the Economic Planning Principal Secretary, Dr. Bonface Makokha highlighted that climate change is no longer a sector-specific issue but it affects all areas of development from agriculture and infrastructure to health and education.

PS Makokha reiterated that while progress has been made in integrating climate action into public systems, efforts remain largely grant-dependent with limited private sector involvement and financial innovation. Kenya’s response is hindered by fragmented projects that lack scale and long-term impact.

The PS emphasized that Kenya is already facing severe climate impacts, including droughts and floods which threaten lives and the economic progress. This has driven a shift toward a more resilient and sustainable development path, he added.

Kenya’s Climate Change Act (2016) requires a National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) every 5 years aligned with the National Determined Contributions (NDC) in order to guide climate policy by identifying and costing key actions for integration into national and county plans.

Despite advancement, climate efforts face challenges: reliance on grants, limited private sector involvement, and fragmented projects lacking scale and sustainability.

The State Department is strategically placed to lead climate efforts given its national planning, budgeting, and donor coordination role. Therefore, to do so effectively, it requires targeted support to build capacity in project development, financial management as well as monitoring and evaluation.

The two-day workshop aims to map capacity needs across the financing lifecycle, share programmes successes and challenges, identify scalable financing opportunities and develop a joint action plan to inform Kenya’s climate strategies.

The State Department for Economic Planning is committed to supporting this transition by anchoring climate resilience at the core of national planning.

In attendance during the opening were; the WRI Senior Advisor, Dr. Crispian Oliver, the Economic Planning Secretaries Timothy Gakuu, James Maina and Leah Chirchir among other Senior Officials.