Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa (Phase 3)

The development objectives of the Third Phase of the Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa Project for Eastern and Southern Africa, Kenya, Comoros, Malawi, Somalia are to increase resilience of food systems and the Recipient’s preparedness for food insecurity in project areas, and, in case of an eligible crisis or emergency, to respond promptly and effectively to it. The project comprises of six components. The first component, building resilient agricultural production capacity aims to strengthen the productivity and resilience of domestic food production to shocks and stressors by supporting the development and adoption of improved agricultural inputs and services and climate-smart and gender-sensitive farming technologies by producers in the crops, livestock, and fisheries sectors. The second component, supporting the sustainable development of natural resources for resilient agricultural landscapes aims to promote participatory planning and more sustainable natural resources and irrigation infrastructure management by communities, thus helping build resilience and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. The third component, getting to market will promote the inclusion of smallholder farmers and rural communities in food crops, livestock, and fisheries value chains and more efficient food markets. The fourth component, promoting a greater focus on food systems resilience in national and regional policymaking will handle cross-cutting policy efforts supporting food systems resilience at the national and regional levels. The fifth component, contingent emergency response component (CERC) will finance eligible expenditures in the event of a disaster-related emergency. The sixth component, project management will support all aspects of project management. The project supports integrated watershed and landscape planning and management, including agroforestry and mangrove rehabilitation. In Comoros, the project will focus on restoring and protecting
healthy marine habitats, such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs, the cultivation of seaweed
and seagrass, and habitat protection programs. In Kenya, the project will finance the
construction or rehabilitation of small farm ponds, multipurpose water pans, and other interventions
designed to improve water availability and recharge, as well as agroforestry, which will increase soil carbon sequestration. In Malawi, key investments include riverbank embankment rehabilitation, soil
conservation to minimize gully erosion, and tree planting. Lastly, in Somalia, the project will restore degraded rangelands by supporting (a) large-scale
reforestation efforts around pastoral and agropastoral settlements; (b) community-based rangeland
management; (c) sustainable rangeland-based livelihoods, including key activities to mitigate climate
change such as agroforestry.