An increasing number of national and regional support programmes and new funding approaches and initiatives are emerging particularly in industrialized countries seeking to strengthen local climate action through financial and capacity building measures. Efforts to improve enabling conditions for local climate actions are being undertaken and important lessons are starting to emerge:  improving planning and implementing capacities in local level governance institutions and initiating and advancing learning exchanges among the institutions. Moreover, the results of such initiatives are increasingly being fed back into national and international climate policy processes in order to promote their replicability.

To contribute to the above global efforts, The Institute for Law and Environmental Governance (ILEG) and adelphi Germany GmbH are partnering in implementing an International Climate Change Initiative (IKI) on “Strengthening national and county capacities to promote climate resilient low carbon development at county level in Kenya: Learning through exchange and networking.”

The project is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). Its overall goal is to contribute to the achievement of national climate-resilient low-carbon targets and priorities. County governments in Kenya are crucial in national climate policy, with decisive roles in the country’s climate-resilient low-carbon development and strong potential to promote efforts towards achieving national and global mitigation goals. The project will be implemented in Siaya and Kwale counties in Kenya.

As one of the activities under the project, ILEG organized for an inception workshop on 24^th June 2015 at Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. The participants to the workshop were key stakeholders drawn from community representatives, civil society, government, private sector and development partners.

The workshop aimed at presenting the project to the stakeholders to seek convergence with the ongoing initiative, while exploring the gaps, barriers, and challenges encountered in achieving low carbon development. It was envisaged that this would  help align the project’s priorities with national and county climate change adaptation and low-carbon development planning priorities in Kenya.