ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, October 29, 2025/APO Group: The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a $6 million grant designed to support the African Risk Capacity (ARC) in boosting disaster preparedness and risk financing across Africa over the 2025-2026 period.
Approved on October 29, the grant—provided through the Bank’s African Disaster Risk Financing Initiative (ADRiFi)- aims to help the ARC maintain its core capacity-building and disaster risk financing services for the Bank’s regional member countries.
The project objective is to support African governments, making the shift from reactive disaster response to proactive preparedness. It will also help strengthen national institutions’ technical expertise and operational capacities in disaster risk management, including evidence-based risk assessment, early warning systems, and training for policymakers and technical experts.
A key component of the project will help enhance countries’ ability to plan and allocate resources for emergencies more efficiently. It will also support the development of stronger institutional frameworks to coordinate rapid and effective responses to natural disasters.
The ARC will work to expand country participation in its sovereign insurance risk pool through increased engagement and new climate risk insurance products offered to its member states. Planned activities include high-level advocacy for the ratification of the ARC Treaty, finalisation of its work programmes with participating countries, and the facilitation of insurance premium support.
Implementation will cover all ARC member states, with a focus on regions most exposed to droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, and epidemics. Beneficiaries will include policymakers, technical working groups, and civil servants, who will receive targeted assistance in disaster risk quantification, contingency planning, risk financing, women’s inclusion, and monitoring and evaluation.
