Implementing regional and national adaptation priorities in Central and West Africa (PACO)

Countries in Western and Central Africa are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. At the same time, they often lack capacities, approaches and tools for higher resilience and better adaptation. Therefore, the project will improve abilities to adapt to climate change in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and the Republic of Congo. The project will work to build capacity within governments, civil society, municipalities and small and medium enterprises. In all four countries, small scale projects addressing specific adaptation needs will be implemented. The project will also work with the regional climate commissions in the Sahel and the Congo Basin, strengthening their organizational and institutional capacities. Good examples showcasing effective strategies can be taken up by national stakeholders for scaling up through national and international funding. Regional commissions can replicate best practices and proven approaches in other member countries, thus fostering south-south exchange and mutual learning.

Project data

Countries: Benin, Congo, Ivory Coast, Senegal
IKI funding: 19,632,346.91 €
Included preparation phase: 367,653.09 €
Duration: 01/2023 till 12/2027
Status: open
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: Ministry for Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition MEDDTE

Ministry for Environment Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition (MINEDDTE)

Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin

Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development (MCVDD) - Benin
Implementing Partner: African Development Bank Group

Ecological Monitoring Centre (CSE)

Interprofessional Fund for Agricultural Research and Advice (FIRCA)

Islamic Development Bank(IsDB)

National Fund for Environment and Climate (FNEC)

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung e.V. - PIK) - Germany

Sahel Region Climate Commission (CCRS)
Online: https://www.giz.de/de/weltweit/139191.html

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State of implementation/results

For a safe steering of project activities, the five consortium members of the PACO project meet quarterly during their Project Management Committee. For the year 2025 the meetings took place as scheduled and discussions focused on: Assessment of project activities with reflection on the political situations in the countries of intervention; Planning of the first steering committee for the strategic orientation of the project.
Main activities in Senegal: The Center for Ecological Monitoring (CSE), responsible to organize the selection and implementation of five small scale projects on adaptation to climate change, launched their call for project proposals. On the local level, PACO aims to strengthen municipal efforts to integrate techniques on adaptation to climate change in local development planning and help implementing them (like integrated water management, agroforestry, etc.). Therefore, local NGOs to receive funding to implement adaptation techniques are preselected and financing is under preparation. On the national level, PACO's intervention strategy to strengthen Senegal's National Committee on Climate Change on questions of gender and climate governance was validated.
Main activities in Côte d'Ivoire: The Interprofessional Fund for Agriculture Research and Advisory (FIRCA), working on the selection of five small scale projects on adaptation to climate change, closed the call for project proposals after the official deadline passed, receiving 121 applications. At the local level, the preselection of NGOs to receive financial support to implement techniques on adaptation to climate change at municipal-level is ongoing. At the national level, a cooperation with the National Climate Change Programme on tracking projects on adaptation to climate change started. The goal is to provide tracking of activities and projects working on adaptation to climate change, facilitating the national reporting efforts.
Main activities in Benin: At the local level, the financial supports of NGOs which will assist the municipality in implementing techniques on adaptation to climate change, are under preparation. Part of this support is the elaboration and implementation of a "Canopy Plan", a plan that describes the steps necessary to accomplish regreening of the urban areas with local tree species to improve urban resilience to climate change. At the national level, capacity development training for 50 municipal officials and ministerial stakeholders on gender-sensitive budget tagging was conducted. The final selection of small-scale projects on adaptation to climate change was completed by Benin's National Climate Fund (FNEC).
The Climate Commission for the Sahel Region (CCRS) receives financial support to conduct activities at regional level such as training measures on climate finance and strengthening of adaptation indicators for nine member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Tchad).

Latest Update:
12/2025