OVERVIEW

overall objective

specific objectives

expected outcomes

• 100,000 smallholders/pastoralists integrated in various agricultural value chains
• Increased turnover for at least 50 agri-enterprises by at least 25%
• 10,000 jobs created
• 70% increase in smallholder/ pastoralist production
• At least 20,000 hectares under climate-smart land management practices
• 90,000 households with increased dietary diversity and decision-making power of female farmers
• 15 trade associations strengthened
• 600,000 livelihoods transformed

innovative approaches

• Catalytic blended financing

  KILIMO-VC will offer SMEs financing for critical investments so as to ensure greater integration of smallholders/pastoralists into sustainable agriculture value chains. This will be achieved through a combination of own funds, grants and loans from the European Investment Bank’s partner banks. The SMEs will develop business plans financed through a matching grant (50-70%) and own funds (cash, in-kind), and where required, a loan. The grants will be provided to de-risks ventures which are unattractive to typical finance institutions and therefore unlikely to access financing.

• Provision of Technical Assistance

  The program fund managers will provide the selected enterprises with targeted and needs-based technical assistance to improve on their business plans to support overall business growth.
  Further assistance will be accorded to strengthen farmer groups & cooperatives, post harvest management and adaptation to climate smart farming. The TAs will be informed by gaps emanating from capacity assessment exercise for Agri-Enterprises and farmer organization.
  

• Cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder approach

  Diverse actors will be mobilised to ensure seamless cohesion across the value chain and the creation of long lasting and mutually beneficial partnerships. The fund managers will encourage multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral bids with a mix of expertise especially between the private sector, the public sector and civil society.

• Value chain integration

  The program fund managers will provide the selected enterprises with targeted and needs-based technical assistance to improve on their business plans to support overall business growth.
  Further assistance will be accorded to strengthen farmer groups & cooperatives, post harvest management and adaptation to climate smart farming. The TAs will be informed by gaps emanating from capacity assessment exercise for Agri-Enterprises and farmer organization.
  

• Cross Cutting Approaches

  KILIMO-VC will also focus on improving food and nutrition security and ensure that the elected enterprises demonstrate ability and willingness to integrate women and youth in their operations. The project will also focus on solving challenges relating to improved climate-smart agriculture practices by smallholders and environmental sustainability, with a particular focus on ASAL areas.

• Knowledge, learning, adaptive management and research

  KILIMO-VC will adopt a Collaborative, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) approach to incorporate knowledge, experience and learning from smallholders and pastoralists, SMEs and other value chain actors. The continuous learning and review will enable appropriate responses to challenges during the project lifetime. The Collaborative, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) approach will also proactively generate more knowledge about challenge funds, climate resilience and climate-smart agriculture, which will contribute to the body of knowledge.

• Transparent governance, compliance and results-based financing

  The day – to – day running of the challenge fund will be undertaken by the KILIMO-VC Implementation Team who will also screen concept notes for eligibility while the Independent Investment Committee will select the enterprises that will receive the funding. The Management Board will be responsible for the overall strategic direction of the programme. An external compliance partner will provide internal audit to ensure compliance with systems and processes and will sit in as an observer in the Independent Investment Committee meetings. The Programme Steering Committee will have ultimate ratification of funding decisions and will be chaired by Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and include representatives from the European Commission and wider AGRIFI programme.
  Grants will be disbursed through a results-based payment system to ensure grantees execute their business plans according to plan and sustain their commitment.