81315500-Consulting services for strengthening capacities of EAC Secretariat and its partners to manage nature-based solutions in East Africa

The East African Community (EAC), with its eight Partner States, is particularly affected by climate change due to the cumulative effects of various risk factors. EAC Citizens, predominantly the smallholder rural population, are feeling the consequences of temperature increases and more frequent extreme climatic events. In this regard, all Partner States of the EAC have agreed in their 6th Development Strategy to prioritise transboundary collaboration for nature-based solutions to utilise the social and economic values for the benefit of citizens while jointly mitigating the risks of climate change. With a mandate to coordinate regional climate change policies, the EAC Secretariat has established river basin organisations in the Victoria and Tanganyika basins. Facilitated by the secretariat, all Partner States negotiate as a bloc during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations to imprint the international agreements and benefit from climate financing. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union, the regional programme advises the EAC and its river basin organisations to further regional cooperation for climate resilience and provide tailor-made capacity development measures to relevant stakeholders in both basins.