Catalytic Sustainable Agribusiness Investment Project (CSAI)

Climate Focus has joined forces with SNV and UNIQUE to implement a two-year USAID-funded initiative that aims to promote climate-smart agricultural development in East Africa.

The project will incubate climate-smart agriculture (CSA) innovations on the one hand and develop scalable investments on the other, supporting these activities through analysis, training, public private dialogue, and strategic partnerships. In doing so, the project aims to identify and grow business models that are explicitly climate-smart, promote the involvement of women and youth, and contribute to the reduction of poverty.

The project’s three specific objectives are: 

(1) creating an enabling environment for investment in climate-smart agriculture; 
(2) incubating innovative, climate-smart and inclusive agriculture businesses in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda that lend themselves to private investment; and
(3) accelerating deployment of private capital into scalable CSA businesses

The project utilizes a strategy that relies on targeted support to promising businesses and active engagement with key public and private actors in the agricultural investment system in alignment with increasing productivity, providing incomes to smallholder farmers, gender equality, climate resilience and food security, while reducing poverty and greenhouse gas emissions.