In Somalia, communities reliant on rain‑fed and pasture agriculture face increasing climate variability that threatens livelihoods and green job opportunities. We spoke to Principal consultant, Zsofia Kovacs, who worked on the project: Promoting Adaptation to Climate Change through Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Green Jobs and Livelihood Improvement in Rain-fed and Pasture Agricultural Communities in Somalia. This was one of the two approved GEF projects the E Co. team implemented for the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) last December. While we are widely recognised for our GCF expertise, this project highlights our expanding GEF portfolio across the GEF multiple trust funds, such as the GEF Trust Fund (GEFTF) and Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF). By applying systemic, integrated, and whole-of-government approaches that connect local, national, and global priorities, we deliver policy-coherent programmes with lasting socio-economic and ecological impact, as the world gears up for the July 2026 – June 2030 GEF‑9 investment period and accelerating progress toward 2030 environmental goals.
1. How does this project contribute to long-term climate resilience or low-carbon development in the target region?
The project ‘Promoting Adaptation to Climate Change Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Green Jobs and Livelihood Improvement in Rain-fed and Pasture Agricultural Communities in Somalia’ is a vital response to Somalia’s high climate vulnerability, targeting the agricultural sector which employs nearly 80% of the population and contributes significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Focusing on the Southwest State’s ‘sorghum belt,’ it advances a strategic shift from reactive humanitarian assistance to a proactive, market-driven resilience model, addressing the systemic challenges of recurrent droughts and erratic rainfall that have historically resulted in severe crop losses and large-scale displacement. The initiative combines deploying climate-smart technologies and climate adaptation entrepreneurship, and the dissemination of Climate Adaptation Agriculture (CAA) practices.
These practices, which include drought-resistant seed varieties, water-efficient irrigation, and improved soil moisture retention, will be implemented across 15,000 hectares to stabilise food production against increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. Long-term resilience is further anchored by integrating climate risks into the national financial ecosystem, through training 20 Financial Service Institutions (FSIs) to assess adaptation benefits and establishing a risk-mitigation guarantee fund to provide concessional credit to agribusinesses. Additionally, the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to manage shared-use infrastructure, such as cold storage and processing units, ensures that capital-intensive technologies remain maintained and accessible beyond the project’s lifecycle. Ultimately, by reaching 201,000 direct beneficiaries and fostering an environment where at least 40% of supported MSMEs are women-led, the project aligns with Somalia’s National Development Plan (NDP), supporting a transition from humanitarian dependence to sustained socio-economic resilience.
2. What makes this project particularly important for the country’s climate priorities or vulnerabilities?
This project is critical because Somalia is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries – with over 80% arid/semi-arid land – facing increasingly frequent droughts, erratic rainfall and floods that drive food insecurity and displacement. It targets the economy’s primary engines: agricultural and livestock sectors. These sectors employ nearly 80% of the population and contribute over 60% of the country’s GDP. The focus is specifically on the Bay region, known as the ‘sorghum belt,’ which produces 30% of the country’s sesame, but has recently faced yield losses as high as 69% due to the worst drought in four decades.
In line with the number one priority of Somalia’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), the project focuses on reducing the vulnerability of traditional rural livelihoods to climatic variability while directly addressing top national adaptation priorities such as agriculture/food security, water management and disaster risk reduction. By strengthening resilient livelihoods in fragile rural areas, it also contributes to reducing resource-based tensions, social fragility, and climate-induced migration, which are central vulnerabilities for Somalia. This is especially vital for women, who provide 70% of the workforce in sesame production but often face systemic exclusion from land ownership and credit. Accordingly, the project mandates that at least 40% of supported MSMEs be women-led to correct these disparities while promoting social equity.
3. Which part of the project design best showcases our consultancy’s expertise in developing high-quality, GEF-aligned project concepts and CEO-endorsed proposals?
The project’s design showcases E Co.’s expertise in navigating fragile contexts by supporting the transition from aid-dependency to a market-driven, de-risking model, demonstrating a high-level mastery of GEF-8 Programming Directions through the development of complex innovative financial architectures and private sector engagement strategies. The creation of a Climate-Smart MSME Grant Programme, integrating Seed and Scale-Up grants with a specialised business incubation framework, illustrates a sophisticated capacity to design de-risking mechanisms that catalyse private capital while meeting GEF-8 standards for private sector engagement.
Furthermore, bridging the gap between national policy (Component 1) and local execution (Component 2) proves an expertise in creating holistic, ‘bankable’ concepts that link vocational training directly to investor pitch events and market compliance. Combined with a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) revenue model for infrastructure, this integrated approach ensures long-term sustainability and institutional ownership in a fragile context.
