The project supports the government to reduce its vulnerability to climate change and to increase the adaptive capacity and resilience of rural communities in Osh, Batken and Naryn provinces, which are increasingly affected by climate change impacts and suffer from low adaptive capacity.

Climate impacts, highlighted in the TNC of Kyrgyz Republic and the Sectorial Adaptation Action Plan on Agriculture 2015-2017, are progressively seen as major challenges to livelihoods in the project areas. Rural communities in Batken, Osh and Naryn, are experiencing increasing weather unpredictability. For example, due to unexpected hail storms during summer, delayed vegetation, early and late seasonal frosts and snow in early summer, agricultural based livelihoods in the project areas have negatively been impacted. With an increase in variability, ensuring sufficient water during critical growing seasons have been made more difficult. Heavy rains resulting in flash floods are another cause of devastation to these livelihoods. As rural communities grow a very limited range of crops and do not engage in a diversified set of activities, there is also a high concentration of risk to their income base, especially when faced with recurrent climatic shocks.

To achieve this objective, the project will adopt an integrated approach to strengthen the resilience of climate vulnerable, poor and food insecure communities in selected districts. This will be achieved through the implementation of the following three components:

• Climate services to support vulnerable rural communities to plan for and manage climate risks and increased weather variability
• Livelihood strengthening and diversification to increase the adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups and build community resilience
• Capacity building and decision-making support to enhance climate action using a multi-sectoral approach.

Through the diversification of income and creation of less climate-vulnerable businesses and improved local infrastructure, communities will be socio-economical stabilized, which will support peace and stability in border areas of Osh and Batken Province. The project directly contributes to the GCF’s strategic results areas for adaptation, particularly: i) increased resilience of food security, health, and water ; ii) increased resilience of livelihoods of people and communities, iii) strengthening of institutional and regulatory systems for climate-responsive planning and development, and iv) increase in generation and use of climate information in decision making and strengthening of awareness on climate risks, adaptive capacity and reduced exposure to climate threats. The project will benefit 20,400 households, consisting of 102,000 direct beneficiaries living under national poverty levels, and more than 700,000 indirect beneficiaries who live in proposed project locations

The project will respect and reinforce human rights, especially with regard to those related to access and equity, right to food, prioritization of marginalized and vulnerable groups, gender equity and women’s empowerment. The project specifically emphasises disadvantaged and most vulnerable communities, who are affected disproportionately by the impacts of climate change and will take into account issues/ challenges related to gender relations to ensure that the design of activities is gender sensitive.

Contact person and email:

Andrea Bagnoli, Country Director UN World Food Program: andrea.bagnoli@wfp.org

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