Photo: UNCDF.

New climate finance package reaches eight districts, strengthens local economies, and accelerates Tanzania's journey toward climate resilience and Vision 2050 ambitions

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today marked a major milestone in the localization of climate finance, with the first allocation from a US$12 million budget designed to strengthen Tanzanian communities’ ability to respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

A symbolic handover of a performance-based grant worth $ 2,035,705 took place at the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) in Dodoma. Honourable Professor Riziki Sailas Shemdoe, Minister of State responsible for Regional Administration and Local Government represented the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Also in attendance were Shigeki Komatsubara, UN Development Programme Resident Representative and Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), among other senior government officials, development partners, diplomatic representatives, local government leaders and climate finance stakeholders.

“This is an important milestone in building local resilience to the impact of climate change and fostering sustainable local economies. Not so that communities can live – but so they can thrive,” said Mr Kurukulasuriya. “The UN Capital Development Fund has a unique role in the development finance ecosystem, absorbing risk in early stage and last mile markets to advance development where it is most needed. Like here, in Tanzania.”

The funds will be channelled to eight local government authorities using UNCDF’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, or LoCAL, which has realized thousands of investments for communities across Africa, Asia and the Pacific since its global launch in 2014. Projects in Tanzania are expected to include agricultural resilience investments, improved and climate-proof infrastructure as well as activities that strengthen livelihoods and local economies.

LoCAL in Tanzania is funded by the European Union, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Embassy of Belgium, the Embassy of Ireland, and the United Nations Joint SDG Fund. A previous LoCAL pilot, funded by the EU and Sweden, realized resilience-building projects and strengthened local government capacities in climate adaptation planning, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring, benefitting some 800,000 people in the Dodoma Region.

This latest LoCAL investment represents one of the largest decentralized climate finance allocations currently being delivered through local government systems in Tanzania and demonstrates the country's commitment to advancing locally led adaptation and climate-resilient development. The first tranche of funds arrived with local governments last week for implementation of 42 selected climate resilient investments and interventions over the course of the year.

As Tanzania continues implementing its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Climate Change Response Strategy, and Vision 2050 aspirations, scalable mechanisms such as LoCAL provide a practical pathway for ensuring climate finance reaches communities on the frontlines of climate change. Event participants stressed the importance of working together to achieve impact and results.