Earth Today | Adaptation Fund country exchange yields learning and sharing in Tanzania

THE ADAPTATION Fund’s (AF) annual country exchange, held this May in Tanzania on the theme of locally led adaptation (LLA), brought together nearly 30 of the fund’s accredited national implementing entities (NIEs) to learn and share best practices in adaptation.

Through the fund’s pioneering Direct Access modality, NIEs are building country ownership in adaptation across the globe. The five-day exchange included two days of visits to AF-funded projects aimed at enhancing water security and sustainable farming against drought and temperature rise. The projects are implemented by the fund’s NIE in Tanzania, the National Environment Management Council (NEMC), which co-hosted the exchange.

The country exchange also featured discussion of AF’s regular country projects and new LLA grant funding windows, and a knowledge fair that gave NIEs the opportunity to share experiences, successes and lessons from their own AF-funded projects.

The fund welcomed a new participant to the country exchange in Ms Stellar James Millya, head of microfinance at the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) in Arusha, Tanzania.

PWC was among just four local adaptation champions selected from a group of 500 applicants by the Global Center on Adaptation last year at COP28 in Dubai. AF contributed to the winners’ prizes by sponsoring their attendance in learning events such as the country exchange.

Millya was inspired by the experience.

“Thank you so much, Adaptation Fund, for inviting us for this useful exchange event. We are very grateful for this. I learned a lot on the NEMC project, especially the irrigation project (at the school) because we do a similar project. We train the community, but also the students on the planting of the vegetables. I can see the opportunities that we can synergise with NEMC,” she said.