How FLLoCA Is Empowering Kenyan Communities To Lead The Fight Against Climate Change

In order to combat the growing threat of climate change, the Government of Kenya, in partnership with global development partners, rolled out the Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) Program, an ambitious initiative designed to put climate resilience in the hands of communities.

Launched in the 2021/22 fiscal year and set to run for five years, FLLoCA is jointly funded by the Government of Kenya, the World Bank, DANIDA, SIDA, and the German Government.

This groundbreaking program is already being hailed as a model for how climate adaptation can be embedded at the grassroots level, with local ownership at its core.

Unlike traditional top-down climate initiatives, FLLoCA takes a community-first approach. It equips county governments with both the tools and resources to drive climate adaptation measures tailored to their unique environmental and socio-economic contexts.

Central to this program is the recognition that climate challenges, whether droughts, floods, or changing agricultural patterns, are best understood and addressed by those directly affected.

FLLoCA’s design rests on two intergovernmental fiscal grants accessible, in principle, to all county governments in Kenya:

County Climate Institutional Support (CCIS) Grant: This grant is designed to help and incentivise county governments to put in place the legal, institutional, and organisational frameworks necessary to budget, plan, and implement climate change adaptation through County Climate Change Actions (CCCAs).
County Climate Resilience Investment (CCRI) Grant: A performance-based grant that funds actual climate action projects at the county level. Counties can only access this grant by meeting specific performance and governance benchmarks.

Through these performance-based grants, FLLoCA motivates counties to:

Enact climate policies and legislation to enable sustained climate finance flows.
Establish a dedicated County Climate Change Fund and a Climate Change Unit.
Engage communities in climate risk assessments and resilience planning.
Mainstream climate action into county planning and budgeting processes.
Increase investments that promote social resilience outcomes.
Prepare and implement County Climate Action Plans in a participatory and inclusive manner.

The program’s structured approach combines minimum access criteria, which ensure counties have basic governance structures in place, with performance measures that reward well-implemented and impactful climate actions.

A critical focus of FLLoCA is on enhancing the capacity of county governments to plan, budget, implement, and monitor climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Special emphasis is placed on action at the sub-county, ward, and community levels, ensuring that interventions are context-specific and responsive to local needs.

For instance, a county prone to flash floods might channel CCRI grant resources into constructing flood control systems and restoring wetlands, while an arid-region county might invest in water harvesting and drought-resistant crop programs. The flexibility within FLLoCA’s framework ensures that no two county responses need to look alike, because climate change impacts are as varied as Kenya’s landscapes.

As Kenya faces the harsh realities of climate change, FLLoCA represents a forward-thinking, collaborative, and locally-driven solution. By integrating governance reforms with tangible community-level investments, the program not only builds resilience but also fosters a culture of accountability and performance in climate action.

With four years still ahead in its current cycle, FLLoCA’s success could become a model for other nations seeking to merge local leadership with global support in addressing climate change, a reminder that the most powerful climate solutions are often those designed and owned by the communities they aim to protect.