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: 20,000,000.00 €
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/en/projects/implementing-regional-and-national-adaptation-priorities-central-and-west-africa-paco

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State of implementation/results

To capitalise on the rich diversity of PACO partners, stakeholders and consortium members, a professional partner in education and sustainable development, the Francophone Institute for Sustainable Development (IFDD) joined forces with the PACO programme and is now responsible for conducting webinars to promote the lessons learnt on adaptation to climate change related matters. So far in the first trimester of 2026, 2 webinars were held.
Main activities in Senegal:
- The Center for Ecological Monitoring (CSE), responsible to organise the call for proposal of five small scale projects on adaptation to climate change, selected four agriculture and one biodiversity projects.
- 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. Therefore, PACO is working with local NGOs and first measures like radio broadcasts, village workshops, training courses on gender inequality, biopesticides, etc. were implemented.
- On the national level, PACO's support to strengthen Senegal's National Committee on Climate Change on questions of gender led to capacity building workshops on the aforementioned topic.
Main activities in Côte d'Ivoire:
- The Interprofessional Fund for Agriculture Research and Advisory (FIRCA), chose five adaptation projects out of 125 nationwide submitted proposals, three in agriculture, one in water management and one in coastal zone management.
- At the local level, the climate vulnerability analysis to better support the implementation of techniques on adaptation to climate change is finished.
- 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 NGOs which will assist the municipality in implementing techniques on adaptation to climate change, entered the implementation phase. 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, was developed together with the municipality and awaits implementation.
- The AfDB organised a session presenting their Adaptation Benefit Mechanism for the five adaptation projects selected in Benin.
- Benin's National Climate Fund (FNEC) officially launched the five selected adaptation projects in December 2025 which started implementation right away.
Main Activities in Congo:
- Call for proposals was launched.
The Climate Commission for the Sahel Region (CCRS) is implementing 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).