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The report identifies a significant financing gap in Kenya's climate response, noting that while renewable energy is well-funded, adaptation sectors like water, forestry, and food security are underserved. To address this, it proposes three market-based instruments: the African Conservancies Fund (ACF) for wildlife and tourism, the Chyulu Hills Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) for watershed protection, and the Green Village Savings and Loans Association (GVSLA) for community-level resilience. The document emphasizes the role of blended finance and concessional funding in the early stages of these projects to mitigate risk and attract private investors.

The paper assesses how the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the sustainability movement shape the industrialisation trajectory of the SADC region. It argues that while 4IR technologies offer opportunities for leapfrogging legacy industries and formalising the informal sector, they also risk creating high-tech enclaves, global monopolies, and 'gig-economy sweatshops'. The authors propose a reimagined strategy that integrates 4IR and green economy goals to achieve broad economic wellbeing rather than focusing solely on job creation.

The report examines the alignment between DFI funding and national strategic priorities in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya. It finds that while national plans are generally aligned with SDGs, DFIs often operate based on internal strategies rather than national plans. The analysis identifies specific sectoral gaps where DFIs could provide financial additionality, particularly in ICT and healthcare, and proposes a four-step framework for DFIs to better align investments with country-level strategic sectors.

The report finds that while updated NDCs show increased country ownership, better alignment with national planning processes like National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and a higher number of prioritized actions, most of these actions remain implementation-unready due to a lack of clear indicators, costs, and time frames. It highlights a general lack of understanding and explicit planning for transformative adaptation and a limited operationalization of 'Loss and Damage' concepts within national contexts.

The document examines the Forest Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which seeks to remove the requirement for the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to recommend petitions for the variation of public forest boundaries before they are forwarded to the National Assembly. While proponents argue that KFS has used its power to block legitimate petitions and that the Constitution does not require such recommendations, Natural Justice and other opponents warn that this change would politicize the process and remove mandatory safeguards, including Independent Environmental Impact Assessments and public consultation. The document asserts that such changes could exacerbate climate challenges like prolonged droughts and extreme heat by compromising forest integrity.

Climate change is intensifying risks of violent conflict across Africa by aggravating food and water insecurity, driving human displacement, and increasing competition over natural resources. The document highlights specific crises, such as the shrinking of Lake Chad and farmer-herder conflicts in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, to illustrate how environmental stressors exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. It calls for the integration of climate-sensitive planning into peacekeeping, reconstruction, and development efforts, emphasizing nature-based solutions and climate-resilient agriculture as key to strengthening resilience and security.

The document examines the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, highlighting increased job losses, food insecurity, and health vulnerabilities. Through case studies in Zimbabwe, Peru, and the Philippines, it demonstrates how pandemic-related restrictions and market disruptions reinforced gender pay gaps and marginalization. The brief argues for the adoption of rapid gender assessments, gender-disaggregated data analysis, and gender-responsive budgeting to ensure inclusive recovery and structural reform in the ASM sector.

The document argues that COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing gender inequalities in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, disproportionately affecting women through job losses, reduced incomes, and increased vulnerability to gender-based violence. Using case studies from Zimbabwe, Peru, and the Philippines, it highlights how women's roles—often considered 'peripheral' or informal—left them without government support and increased their domestic burdens. The brief recommends the adoption of rapid gender analyses, sex-disaggregated data collection, and gender-responsive budgeting to create emergency and long-term structural reforms that protect marginalized women in the mining sector.

The report argues that African states must transition from being 'junior partners' in global cyber diplomacy to active participants by developing common continental positions and leveraging their demographic position as a future technology market. It highlights the risks of 'norm colonisation' from cyber superpowers and the vulnerability of fragile democracies to information warfare. The author recommends that the African Union recruit 'cyber champions' from digitally mature states and uncouple trade negotiations from cyber diplomacy to ensure a unified approach to digital governance and security.

The briefing analyzes the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya and the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail (HSR) in Indonesia, finding that both projects suffered from poor environmental mitigation, problematic land acquisition, and governance failures. It argues that weak recipient institutions in the Global South compound the reputational and material risks for Chinese contractors.

The report identifies a lack of coherence between the coding systems used for procurement (such as UNSPSC and CPV) and those used for reporting (such as OECD DAC CRS and IATI). This fragmentation creates barriers for innovators attempting to enter the humanitarian and development markets, as it is difficult to track what products are being procured and how they are reported. The authors recommend harmonizing reporting formats, clarifying stakeholder responsibilities, and developing user-friendly platforms to match solution providers with donor needs.

The document examines the 'digital divide' and the rise of 'surveillance capitalism,' arguing that digital technologies often reinforce existing social, racial, and gender inequalities. It calls for the creation of 'democratic public communication spaces' that prioritize human dignity over corporate profit and proposes global regulations to ensure digital justice and the protection of communication as a basic human right.

The document introduces social accountability (SA) as a preventive anti-corruption strategy for conservation and natural resource management (NRM). It defines SA as a set of citizen-based methods—emphasizing transparency, voice, and dialogue—designed to hold authorities to account and improve public service delivery. While SA is effective at changing the enabling environment for corruption by increasing detection risks and shifting social norms, the briefing notes its limitations in addressing high-level political corruption or criminal networks. The text provides a framework for practitioners to assess contextual risks, power differentials, and the necessity of 'vertical integration' to link local efforts with higher-level reform.

The document examines how corruption and elite capture undermine the equitable distribution of conservation benefits in Kenya. It analyzes three primary conservation approaches—protected wildlife areas, community conservancies, and community forest associations—identifying systemic issues such as revenue leakages, lack of transparency in tourism operator accounts, and the failure to operationalize legal benefit-sharing requirements. The report argues that while legal reforms since 2010 have created a framework for equity, the absence of subsidiary regulations and the persistence of institutional silos allow corruption to thrive. It recommends the adoption of integrated revenue systems, the enforcement of subsidiary guidelines, and the use of multi-stakeholder platforms to improve accountability and ensure that local communities receive fair compensation and benefits.

The document examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa, highlighting a tension between the continent's role as a provider of raw materials and labour and its dependence on foreign AI technologies from the Global North and China. It identifies significant risks associated with AI adoption, including the misuse of biometric digital IDs in Namibia and South Africa, the deployment of facial recognition for surveillance in Uganda and South Africa, and the exploitation of vulnerable populations through 'click work' in Kenyan refugee camps. The author analyses emerging national AI strategies in Egypt, Mauritius, and Rwanda, as well as the SMARTAfrica Blueprint, noting that while these frameworks address infrastructure and talent, they often overlook the labour rights of gig workers and the specific impact of automation on women. The brief evaluates the potential for policy transfer from the EU, specifically the AI Act and GDPR, warning that such frameworks may not account for African socio-economic rights or the technical constraints of local start-ups. It concludes by recommending that African policymakers focus on building inclusive digital infrastructure, fostering regional cooperation for data sharing, and implementing beneficiation frameworks to ensure local communities profit from the data used to train AI systems.

The document examines the intersection of debt, capitalism, and patriarchy in Africa, arguing that neoliberal debt architectures and austerity measures externalise the costs of social reproduction onto women. It highlights how sovereign debt crises lead to cuts in public services, which in turn drives households toward predatory private lending and microfinance. The author calls for a systemic reform of the global financial architecture, including debt relief without conditionalities, progressive domestic resource mobilisation, and stricter regulation of predatory lending to protect vulnerable populations.

The document details how East Africa has experienced warming exceeding the global average, leading to increased drought frequency, glacier loss, and significant economic losses. Future projections indicate severe risks to human health, food security, and biodiversity, particularly if warming exceeds 1.5°C. It emphasizes the need for transformative adaptation, increased climate finance, and improved climate services to build regional resilience.

The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) is implementing a five-year programme (2022–27) focused on accelerating locally-led, equitable, and ecosystem-based climate action. The initiative targets disadvantaged groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, and migrants, across Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. CDKN's strategy centers on three priority areas: integrating gender equality and social inclusion into climate policies, enabling inclusive finance for local action, and implementing effective ecosystem-based adaptation. The approach emphasizes 'knowledge-into-action' by combining local, Indigenous, and scientific knowledge to strengthen Southern leadership and institutional capacity.

The report analyzes the 2020-2021 outputs of seven UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (HRTBs), noting a significant increase in climate-related references despite COVID-19 disruptions. It highlights a shift toward questioning developed nations on mitigation and fossil fuel extraction, alongside a consistent focus on adaptation and the participation of vulnerable groups. The document also examines key individual communications, such as Teitiota v. New Zealand and Sacchi et al. v. Argentina et al., which establish precedents for climate-induced human rights violations and extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The Human Rights Committee (CCPR) has increased its focus on climate change, issuing more recommendations and questions to states between 2019 and 2021. While early outputs primarily targeted Small Island Developing States and developing countries, the Committee has expanded its scope to include developed nations like Germany and Canada. Key areas of inquiry include mitigation, adaptation, procedural rights, and the regulation of private actors, with specific concerns raised regarding fossil fuel extraction in Guyana, Tanzania, and São Tomé and Príncipe. In the case of Teitiota v. New Zealand, the CCPR recognized that climate change could trigger non-refoulment obligations if it creates real threats to the right to life, though it found no breach in that specific instance. Additionally, the Pereira Benega v. Paraguay ruling established a precedent for state obligations to prevent environmental threats to private, family, and cultural life.