East Africa CSAI Activity: Assessment of Lessons Learned

Funded by USAID's Feed the Future initiative, the CSAI activity aimed to create an enabling environment for investment in CSA, incubate inclusive businesses engaged in CSA, and accelerate capital into scalable businesses. The activity was implemented by a consortium led by SNV, UNIQUE forestry and use GmbH, and Climate Focus. The CSAI activity faced several challenges, including a lack of sufficient capacity and skills among CSA enterprises, inadequate investment policies, and limited market access and value chain integration. Investors often had difficulty accessing CSA benefits and were not willing to take on higher risks. Support service providers and facilitators also faced challenges, including limited CSA-specific expertise. To address these challenges, the CSAI activity pursued three work packages: project management and support of an enabling environment for private sector CSA, incubation of climate-smart and inclusive businesses, and mobilization of public and private finance for CSA enterprises. The activity implemented a range of initiatives, including business incubation, acceleration, and investor matching. The CSAI activity also conducted a midterm evaluation, which revealed a 27% increase in income among program participants compared to the control group. Food security indicators improved across all target areas, with the greatest gains in areas where both agricultural and market interventions were combined. The activity's findings and recommendations are grouped into three implementation work packages: enabling environment and project management, incubation of climate-smart and inclusive businesses, and mobilization of public and private finance for CSA enterprises. The recommendations aim to address the challenges faced by CSA enterprises, investors, and support service providers and facilitators. Key findings from the assessment of lessons learned include the need for a more enabling environment for CSA investments, increased collaboration among stakeholders, and a focus on building capacity and skills among CSA enterprises. The activity also highlighted the importance of addressing the challenges faced by investors and support service providers and facilitators. The CSAI activity's approach to mobilizing capital for CSA investments in East Africa was focused on creating an enabling environment for investment, incubating inclusive businesses, and accelerating capital into scalable businesses. The activity's findings and recommendations aim to inform future initiatives and investments in the region. The activity's geographic focus was on Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, with a specific emphasis on the East Africa region. The timeframes for the activity were from 2015 to 2018, with a focus on the implementation of the CSAI activity and the assessment of lessons learned. The activity's recommendations aim to address the challenges faced by CSA enterprises, investors, and support service providers and facilitators. The recommendations include engaging government to enact incentives for CSA investments, increasing collaboration among stakeholders, and building capacity and skills among CSA enterprises. The activity's recommendations aim to address the challenges faced by CSA enterprises, investors,