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The document reflects on seven years of CDKN's work to integrate climate action with poverty reduction, highlighting its influence on policies in 33 countries and its support for the Paris Agreement. It identifies critical gaps in current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the need for diversified climate finance beyond the Green Climate Fund, and the slow pace of sustainable transport and smart city adoption in developing nations compared to the rapid energy transition to renewables.

The report examines the 'art' of market facilitation through the experience of the FSD Network in Sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that effective facilitation requires a shift from traditional project-based delivery to a systemic approach that addresses root causes of market failure. Key success factors identified include the use of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for operational flexibility, the maintenance of technical credibility and neutrality, and the use of results chains for adaptive management. The document highlights the critical importance of understanding political economy and partner incentives, noting that technical solutions often fail when they ignore underlying social or political dynamics.

The document argues that while climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can enhance food security and climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa, its adoption is hindered by physical input shortages and institutional failures. It recommends improving tenure security, expanding financial instruments like crop insurance, and strengthening local governance and scientific research to scale these practices.

The document explores the multifaceted meaning of 'bankability' in climate finance, arguing that it extends beyond traditional financial returns to include socioeconomic and environmental impacts. It provides lessons from CDKN's work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, highlighting how bankability requirements differ between public and private funders and between mitigation and adaptation projects. The paper concludes with a guiding checklist for project developers to improve the success rate of proposals submitted to multilateral funds like the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The paper examines the governance of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, arguing that while integrated approaches are essential for climate compatible development, they are often hindered by siloed government structures, political contestation over mandates, and limited local capacity. Using evidence from Indonesia, Kenya, and the Amazon basin, it highlights that horizontal and vertical coordination are critical but can be undermined by power imbalances between central and local governments. The author suggests a pragmatic approach to nexus governance, focusing on strengthening the technical and administrative capacities of local government institutions rather than striving for an impractical ideal of total comprehensiveness.

The report outlines strategies to expand green finance by improving climate risk disclosure, streamlining international finance architecture to better support national and subnational levels, and utilizing innovative financial instruments to mobilize private capital. It emphasizes the critical need for bankable project pipelines, particularly for cities and conservation projects, and the importance of standardized data to align investment with the Paris Agreement and NDCs.

The Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania and Kenya have lost approximately 70% of their original forest cover due to deforestation and degradation. Despite a comprehensive legislative framework and significant donor funding—including $75 million for REDD+ activities in Tanzania between 2009 and 2014—governance remains ineffective. Key drivers include high population growth and a heavy reliance on biomass for energy, with Dar es Salaam residents using over 1,900 tonnes of charcoal daily. The document argues that while participatory forest management through Local Authority and Village Land Forest Reserves shows promise, success is hindered by poor land tenure, lack of economic alternatives to charcoal, and insufficient state capacity. It recommends strengthening the science-policy interface, promoting climate-smart agriculture, and increasing resource allocation for state forestry agencies.

The document outlines a series of recommendations to strengthen the draft 2017 Environmental Regulations in Kenya, focusing on expanding definitions of cumulative impacts, enhancing public participation, and ensuring more rigorous oversight of environmental audits and licenses.

The report inventories over 125 submissions of digital technologies designed to build resilience, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region. It categorizes these tools by technology type, scale of impact, supported systems, and primary focus (preparedness, recurring event response, or catastrophic event response). The inventory details specific projects, such as the use of satellite data for flood risk in India, mobile health programs in India, and 3D printing for medical supplies in Nepal, highlighting a strong trend toward pro-poor focus and the use of mobile-based communication (SMS, IVR) and geospatial data (GIS, remote sensing) to support vulnerable populations.

The document assesses the threat of violent extremism in South Africa, concluding that while the overall risk of a major attack is low, the country remains vulnerable to 'lone wolf' incidents and the use of its infrastructure as a base for international extremists. It details the history of far-right groups like the AWB and Boeremag, the militant activities of Pagad in the 1990s, and recent concerns regarding South Africans joining ISIS. The brief highlights systemic vulnerabilities such as government corruption and porous borders, while recommending a focus on youth engagement, social cohesion, and improved intelligence capabilities.

The document examines the governance of marine and coastal resources in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), emphasizing the need for integrated coastal management (ICM) and coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) to balance economic growth with biodiversity conservation. It highlights the role of marine protected areas (MPAs) and locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in securing ecosystem services and supporting livelihoods. The author argues that for the 'Blue Economy' to be sustainable, conservation must be integrated into development agendas through economic valuations of natural capital and inclusive, community-based management to avoid 'ocean grabbing' and ensure equitable benefit-sharing.

The document examines the gap between the high potential of 'civic tech' and its disappointing results in Africa. It identifies key failures, such as the tendency of non-technical organisations to build custom tools from scratch and a lack of understanding of the social and political contexts of users. Based on research in Kenya and South Africa, the author argues that innovation should be treated as an iterative process rather than a one-time product delivery, recommending that funders and practitioners move away from short-term pilots toward building long-term institutional capabilities and learning networks.

The document assesses the financial links between natural resource extraction and violent extremism in Africa, finding that while the LRA relies heavily on ivory and the Janjaweed on gold, al-Shabaab primarily funds itself through charcoal taxation, and Boko Haram derives little to no revenue from resource extraction.

The document examines the prevalence and impact of illegal blast fishing in Tanzania, noting it is the only African country where the practice occurs on a large scale. It details the ecological destruction of coral reefs, the link between blast fishing and organised crime, and the failures of current legal enforcement. The author proposes a comprehensive strategy involving community co-management, stricter judicial penalties, and the integration of reef conservation into national development and climate adaptation plans.

The document outlines 14 key lessons for boosting low-carbon and climate-resilient investment. It highlights the role of fiscal policy in sustainable land use, the importance of government-backed assurances in Power Purchase Agreements to unlock debt finance, and the utility of public-private partnerships like the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance to develop bespoke financial instruments. Specific solutions mentioned include currency hedging to reduce renewable energy costs and guarantees for energy efficiency savings.

The report analyzes Ethiopia's trajectory toward lower-middle-income status, highlighting significant progress in GDP growth and health indicators alongside persistent challenges in food security, education quality, and political inclusion. It uses scenario modeling to demonstrate that integrated investments in agriculture, human capital, and governance are essential to harness a looming demographic dividend and avoid instability driven by a large youth bulge.

The report evaluates how to communicate the link between anthropogenic climate change and extreme weather events, testing various phrasings for probability, frequency, intensity, and uncertainty. Findings indicate that while high-level decision makers often prefer technical percentages and 'probability' terms, the general public finds these confusing, preferring simpler terms like 'worse' or 'more often'. The study highlights significant translation challenges in Swahili and Hindi and recommends that attribution information be downscaled to high spatial resolutions and co-developed with local communication experts and trusted sources, such as national meteorological agencies.

The document provides guidance on communicating extreme weather event attribution to different stakeholder groups in Kenya and India, focusing on phrasing for probability, frequency, intensity, and uncertainty, as well as the use of visual aids.

The study finds that while agricultural leasing is a preferred asset financing method in developed markets, it remains nascent in sub-Saharan Africa due to systemic market failures. Key barriers include high down payment requirements (20-40%), a lack of secondary markets for used equipment, and informational asymmetries that lead financial service providers to perceive agriculture as high-risk. Demand is limited by the predominance of smallholder subsistence farmers and low financial literacy. The report identifies Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia as high-potential markets and recommends targeted technical assistance for banks, awareness campaigns for farmers, and the creation of risk-sharing funds to reduce down payment barriers.

FSD Tanzania (FSDT) provided approximately USD 1.36 million in grants to the Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) to establish the Enterprise Growth Market (EGM). The EGM aims to provide long-term equity capital for growth-oriented SMEs in sectors such as agribusiness, mining, and manufacturing. Since its launch, five companies have listed, raising approximately TZS 46 billion from 242,518 investors. While the initiative has successfully increased the number of investors and improved the capacity of regulators, challenges remain regarding low liquidity, limited managerial skills among MSMEs, and the sustainability of funding for awareness and capacity-building activities.