KENYA – Kenya-based Adaptation Consortium has won an inaugural Local Champions Award, financial governance category at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
The awards recognize locally-led efforts to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change across four categories: financial governance, inclusive leadership, capacity and knowledge, and local innovation.
Adaptation Consortium supports communities to create, access, and use climate finance from varied sources to reduce their vulnerability to climate change while strengthening public participation in the management and use of funds.
In winning the award, the Consortium takes home US$15647.17 (KES1.9 million) in funds to further the work they are doing in the spirit of the locally-led adaptation principles. It will also have access to a global network of changemakers.
“Our winners show that community-centric and locally led solutions to the climate crisis exist, but they require support and recognition to be scaled up, and to achieve the most impact,” said Professor Patrick Verkooijen, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Center on Adaptation.
“The GCA is working with international financial institutions and governments to introduce these best practices into bigger funding streams, while maintaining what is at the heart of these impactful solutions and of successful adaptation – local leadership.”
The Consortium has also designed a County Climate Change Fund to attract climate finance from public, private, local, and international sources, providing subnational governments and communities with a predictable and sustained source of finance for adaptation and resilience-building efforts.
“We noticed that while a lot was happening in climate finance, but it was not happening in a coordinated manner,” said Victor Orindi, National Coordinator of the Adaptation Consortium.
“Vulnerable communities were not able to access funds and we noticed a barrier in sustained funding streams; and that communities could not have a say in the work to be implemented. So, we started bringing people together towards a shared vision empowering the community.”
Orindi further explained that the only way to respond to climate change is by ensuring that those who are impacted have a say in terms of how and where things are done.
“So, enabling them to be involved in the planning process ensures that their voices count at the end of the day,” Orindi added.
Other winners of the award include Rangamati Hill District Council from Bangladesh (inclusive leadership category), Swayam Shikshan Prayog of India (capacity and knowledge category) and Community Development & Advocacy Forum Nepal (local innovation category).
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