The African Development Fund (ADF) has approved a $14.64 million grant to scale up climate resilience initiatives across the Sahel, the African Development Bank Group announced following the Board’s decision in Abidjan on 21 November 2025.
The funding, drawn from the Fund’s Climate Action Window, will support the second phase of the Programme to Strengthen Resilience to Food and Nutrition Insecurity in the Sahel (P2-P2RS). The initiative aims to bolster the ability of vulnerable communities to cope with increasingly frequent and severe climate shocks.
Under the programme, the project will expand the “climate-smart villages” model—an approach that integrates hydro-agricultural infrastructure, climate-resilient farming practices, and access to climate information. The new financing will help create 60 such villages across 30 municipalities in Sahelian countries.
A major component of the grant focuses on strengthening the region’s seed systems. This includes disseminating high-yield, climate-resilient seed varieties; updating the Regional Catalogue of Species and Varieties; and launching a business-to-business networking platform. National agricultural research systems and seed companies will receive support to expand seed multiplication and ensure availability for farmers in climate-smart villages. Women and youth will also benefit from targeted capacity-building efforts aimed at increasing their participation in climate-resilient agriculture.
The project further seeks to reinforce the Sahel’s climate data and impact monitoring infrastructure. Planned investments include upgraded observation networks, an integrated digital platform for real-time data management, and a regional loss-and-damage monitoring system. The initiative will also promote standardised reporting across countries and develop a multi-scale digital platform for centralised climate data.
According to the African Development Fund, the newly approved grant will play a pivotal role in strengthening community preparedness and long-term resilience as the region confronts worsening climate pressures.
