The African Flooding Resilience Fund (AFRF)

The African Flooding Resilience Fund (AFRF) is a proposed climate adaptation fund designed to help mid-size African cities protect their most vulnerable communities from climate-intensified flooding. It responds to a major financing gap: across Africa, adaptation funding falls hundreds of billions of dollars short of what's needed each year, and mid-size cities are especially underserved because climate finance tends to flow to national governments and large-scale projects.

The AFRF takes a different approach, combining catalytic grants with blended finance to unlock private investment and government co-financing. A defining feature is its devolved governance model, which puts funding decisions directly in the hands of local communities while maintaining strong oversight, accountability, and independent evaluation.

Drawing on proven devolved climate finance models from across the continent, the AFRF is built to be more than a project-funding vehicle: it aims to establish a long-term, African-led resilience financing ecosystem.