Sub-component 2. 2: Employment promotion. The Project will contribute (i) to create jobs (including self-employment) for the ultra-poor and poor households having limited access to land, with a specific focus on youth (50%) and women (25%), and (ii) to facilitate the employability and the active integration in the economy of newly graduated students. The Project will provide start up grants for this two objectives.
Sub-component 2. 3: Job market integration / induction. Each student will have the possibility to do two (2) internships of six (6) months each. The recruiting enterprise will be allowed to keep the same student for a second period of six (6) months only if it provides a formal offer of employment to the student. In case of non-compliance, the enterprise will no longer be eligible to participate in the programme. Each enterprise will have a maximum of two (2) students at the same time. Around one hundred and forty five (145) interns per district and per year will be eligible to this programme. Priority will be given to those coming from the poorest families.
Sub-component 2. 2. Mitigation of social risks. Households and communities will be assisted to effectively manage the social risks that might result from the rapid economic development generated by oil palm investment, including intra- household vulnerabilities, high- risk sexual behaviour, pressure on land tenure systems and social fragmentation.
Sub-component 2. 2: Green Financing Facility (GFF) will support the innovative and sustainable transformation of Kenya’s rural economy. It is to be established with RK- FINFA’s supported amount of USD 15 million by IFAD and the Government of Kenya. The GFF will contribute to the sustainable rural transformation, growth, and income generation through alleviating the liquidity constraints of non-bank financial institutions and Micro-Finance Banks that are the main financial service providers to smallholders and rural micro-enterprises, and by encouraging small-scale farmers and micro-firms to invest in climate-smart and environmentally friendly activities.
Sub-component 2. 3 – Access to finance and financial inclusion. The sub- component objective is to facilitate access to appropriate and affordably priced resources to smallholder farmer groups, small scale processors and other beneficiary enterprises supported by the Programme. Expected outcome: smallholder farmer groups, processors, traders and community-based service providers access adapted and affordable formal financial services to sustain their agri-enterprises, including for green investments.
Sub-component 2. 2: Access to rural financial services aims to promote a savings culture among beneficiaries, facilitate the implementation of business plans and ensure enduring access to affordable financial resources. Through rural institutions and related MSMEs, farmers will be integrated into expanding value chains and have lasting access to affordable financial services for developing agribusinesses – including green investments – to stimulate rapid sectoral development. Financial services supported by the project will be structured around three instruments tailored to the capacities of beneficiary groups.
(i) The first, savings and loans, will aim to spark greater savings within target communities.
(ii) The second, a matching grants fund, will facilitate emerging rural institutions’ engagement in commercial agriculture and smaller MSMEs’ participation in selected value chains through support to business plans referred to in 7.2.1 (iii), developed by the poorest groups and smaller enterprises. It will also support the promotion of food and nutrition security among the most vulnerable groups.
(iii) The third, a blended finance facility (BFF), will operate to ensure sustainable access to financial services for growing rural institutions and MSMEs while crowding in private capital. The BFF will include inter-alia lines of credit from the GCF/Inclusive Green Finance Initiative (IGREENFIN). The BFF will be established and managed by the ARB-APEX Bank and disbursed through Participating Financial Institutions.
Sub-component 2. 1
(i) guide and oversee the production of the Community Action Plans (CAPs);
(ii) facilitate the participatory selection of priority investments with the VDCs; and (iii) deliver tailor-made community training and capacity building programmes to enable the beneficiaries to design and implement the planned activities, including facilitating access to financial services for the implementation of the CAP priority investments. For the preparation of the CAPs, the Programme shall contract technical assistance (TA) to: (i) lead the production of the baseline, including vulnerability assessment at the cluster level; (ii) undertake participatory mapping of the natural resource base of rural communities, identify risk, hot spots and investment gaps to inform the preparation of each CAP;
(iii) support the SDATs in the delivery of technical training; (iv) provide backstopping and technical support for the assessment and implementation of the CAPs; and (v) ensure that climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction are solidly embedded in the plans and priority investments. The TA will be made available through service providers (NGOs, CBOs, partner organisations, etc) who will make sure that the CAPs are produced and finalised within the first 12 months of implementation. The procurement of these service providers shall be done based on specific terms of reference and include expertise on: (i) climate change modelling;
Sub-component 2. 2
(c) Component 3.
Sub-component 2. 2: Develop market linkages and business partnerships. The sub-component aims at developing practices to improve cultured fish handling, collection as well as marketing and distribution based on the results of a market study carried out beforehand to determine the demand for aquaculture produce. Support will be provided to the establishment of business partnerships between small and commercial fish producers in order inter alia to allow smallholder producers to access to relevant aquaculture technologies. A particular attention will be given to the development of youth aqua-preneurs, providing tailored support package to youth, to facilitate their engagement in small businesses in the aquaculture value chain.
Sub-component 2. 3: Access to financial services. This sub-component will aim at addressing access to finance constraints across the aquaculture value chain, by facilitating the provision of appropriate, affordable and sustainable financial and business support services. Financial services for beneficiaries will be provided through (i) the ongoing REFP implemented by the National Investment Bank (BNI) in partnership with participating micro-finance institutions, (ii) the development of financial products such as Crowding-In Fund (CIF) or Line of Credit (LoC), and (iii) the development of synergies with other private sector financing models.
