LESOTHO

Lesotho counts 10 Districts and a population of 2,1 million. LoCAL is engaged in 4 districts in Lesotho.

Climate Vulnerability:

Climate change is affecting Lesotho in several ways: a delayed rainy season, provoking severe droughts and drinking water shortages; heat waves; dry spells during the growing season, reducing food production; and heavy and erratic frost – all resulting in high vulnerability for households. Sectors reported as vulnerable to the projected impacts of climate change include agriculture, forestry, health, culture and historical heritage.

National Response

Lesotho recognizes climate change as a serious threat to its development plan and to the future of both its livelihoods and one of its main sources of revenue: water. The quinquennial 2017 National Climate Change Policy Implementation Strategy (NCCPIS) identifies action guidelines to build a climate resilient society and promote green development pathways and mainstream climate change into key socio-economic sectoral plans and programmes while safeguarding environmental integrity and sustainable development in Lesotho.

The Lesotho Meteorological Service, the country’s national designated authority, cited weak financing for climate change initiatives in the country. Most of the ongoing climate change interventions are donor funded. The Meteorological Service highlighted the need to put in place mechanisms to facilitate direct access to international climate funds to promote resilience across all sectors, particularly at the community level.
The demand for decentralization and resources to act on vulnerability at the community level has led the government to publish a devolution policy to empower both district and community councils to plan and manage their development.

LOCAL - LESOTHO

Brief:

The design of LoCAL-Lesotho started in 2018. Lesotho has been selected by UNCDF and the World Resources Institute as one of three pilot countries to test a framework for assessing climate change adaptation to monitor the extent to which LoCAL country programmes contribute to increased resilience and capacity building for adaptation. Four community councils within the district of Mohale’s Hoek were selected to pilot the approach in Lesotho: Khoelenya, Lithipeng, Qhoasing and Senqunyane.
The African Development Bank, through the Africa Climate Change Fund, approved funding contributing to the implementation of the LoCAL-Lesotho pilot phase and the first PBCRGs were transferred to the LoCAL-Lesotho account at the Central Bank. Bank accounts were created for each one of the four community councils and USD14,000 was transferred to each account to finance investments that promote adaptation to climate change. Implementation commenced in early 2020 and to date nine water supply and range management sub-projects have been completed in the four councils.

4 Councils engaged

10 Adaptation investments

1874 Direct Beneficiaries

Budget: 56,000 USD (Phase 1)

Action on Climate Change:

Owing to its geographic location and topography, and past failure to manage the range, Lesotho is prone to a number of environmental stress factors, the most significant of which is the challenge of land degradation (e.g. soil erosion, deforestation, unsustainable grazing management and loss of critical ecosystem services).

These have intensified through climate change and have started to impact seriously the water resources, affecting people, animals and the productivity of land. Most households in some villages are pastoral farmers, as a result, the communities decided to engage in brush control and planting fodder to improve the rangeland.

Community councils, in close consultation with communities, identified adaptation investment plans to be financed with PBCRGs, covering areas such as improved water-related infrastructure. These interventions will improve water supply and the rangeland and livestock production for communities under LoCAL Facility.

The first PBCRG cycle financed climate proofing of 10 water-related infrastructure in the four pilot community councils in Mohale’s Hoek, providing access to clean water – especially in periods of prolonged drought and the drying up of water springs – to more than 1,800 people.

They include:
• Taba-lia-Tile Water Supply Project (Qhoasing)
• Khaba Water Supply Project (Senqunyane)
• Matelile water supply (Khoelenya)
• Khosi Water Supply (Khoelenya)
• Mokotso water supply (Khoelenya)
• Ralekhaola water Supply project (Lithipeng)
• Phiring Water Supply Project (Lithipeng)
• Kheleli Water Supply Project (Lithipeng)
• Khanya Water Supply Project (Senqunyane)
• Lepekola Range Management Project (Senqunyane)

Programme DETAILS

Objectives

Climate change adaptation falls within the core mandate of community councils, along with land use planning, natural resource management and infrastructure development. Climate change adaptation requires effective coordination of various stakeholders. As a gateway for development facilitation at the local level as well as custodians of all development, community councils are strategically positioned to play this coordination role. However, community councils seldom have sufficient resources to execute these functions.

The overall outcome of LoCAL-Lesotho is to improve the climate change resilience of the communities in the selected councils as a result of climate change adaptation activities funded through the performance-based climate resilience grant (PBCRG) and capacity development support.
By promoting climate change–resilient communities and economies via increasing financing for and investment in climate change adaptation at the local level, LoCAL-Lesotho will directly contribute to one of the country’s development plan pillars – reversing environmental degradation and adapting to climate change. The objectives for LoCAL-Lesotho are (i) increased transfer of climate finance to local governments through national institutions and systems for building verifiable climate change adaptation and resilience, and (ii) a standard and recognized country-based mechanism which supports direct access to international climate finance.

Four outputs are envisaged: (i) inclusive and accountable climate change adaptation is mainstreamed into local council planning; (ii) government, local authority and population awareness of and capacities in adaptation and resilience planning are improved; (iii) an effective country PBCRG finance mechanism is established and operational, providing additional funding to targeted community councils; and (iv) experience and lessons learned are consolidated and shared.

Achievements

  • The PBCRG system has been successfully designed and is fully aligned with the previous Deepening Decentralization Programme (DDP), which had established a performance-based capital grants system combined with capacity development support.

  • The Government of Lesotho and UNCDF have defined modalities for LoCAL-Lesotho, including funding arrangements, eligibility and minimum conditions of access, allocation criteria, and funding flow and reporting. The institutional framework and roles of the parties have been defined. The modalities are described in the memorandum of understanding signed October 2017, which provides the framework for LoCAL-Lesotho and establishes the financing and management of the LoCAL facility.

  • Four community councils within the district of Mohale’s Hoek were selected to pilot the approach in Lesotho: Khoelenya, Lithipeng, Qhoasing and Senqunyane.

  • UNCDF conducted a technical mission in March 2018 to set performance measurement baselines, fine-tune baseline indicators, train key district and community council staff on LoCAL, and elaborate workplans with pilot district and associated community councils for the first round of investments. Local councillors and staff and district staff participated in the training on the LoCAL mechanism and related climate change topics (e.g. adaptation planning).

  • The first PBCRG cycle was delivered to the four pilot community councils in 2020; implementation is ongoing. In view of PBCRG deployment, e-training was conducted for local government staff and other national officials in December 2020 to ensure that participants are able to use LoCAL guidance; have acquired a basic understanding of the framework; and have full understanding of the LoCAL-Lesotho design elements, particularly the performance assessment indicators (i.e. minimum conditions and performance measures).

  • The African Development Bank, through the Africa Climate Change Fund, approved funding contributing to implementation of the LoCAL-Lesotho pilot phase; this will enable the four pilot local governments to continue using the mechanism in 2021 and implement adaptation investments through PBCRGs.

Way Forward

  1. Pilot community councils will be further supported regarding climate risk assessments for identification of sound adaptation measures and investments. LoCAL will provide technical support for implementation of local diagnostics and mapping of climate risks, vulnerability and climate change adaptation options.
  2. LoCAL will rely on the Participatory Initiative for Social Accountability as a dialogue broker to ensure participation by both the public in general and vulnerable populations in needs assessment, planning of adaptation activities and monitoring of their implementation.
  3. A second cycle of PBCRGs will be implemented in 2021, within the framework of collaboration with the Africa Climate Change Fund.

Objectives

Climate change adaptation falls within the core mandate of community councils, along with land use planning, natural resource management and infrastructure development. Climate change adaptation requires effective coordination of various stakeholders. As a gateway for development facilitation at the local level as well as custodians of all development, community councils are strategically positioned to play this coordination role. However, community councils seldom have sufficient resources to execute these functions.

The overall outcome of LoCAL-Lesotho is to improve the climate change resilience of the communities in the selected councils as a result of climate change adaptation activities funded through the performance-based climate resilience grant (PBCRG) and capacity development support. By promoting climate change–resilient communities and economies via increasing financing for and investment in climate change adaptation at the local level, LoCAL-Lesotho will directly contribute to one of the country’s development plan pillars – reversing environmental degradation and adapting to climate change.

The objectives for LoCAL-Lesotho are as follows:

• Increased transfer of climate finance to local governments through national institutions and systems for building verifiable climate change adaptation and resilience

• A standard and recognized country-based mechanism which supports direct access to international climate finance

Four outputs are envisaged:

(i) inclusive and accountable climate change adaptation is mainstreamed into local council planning;

(ii) government, local authority and population awareness of and capacities in adaptation and resilience planning are improved;

(iii) an effective country PBCRG finance mechanism is established and operational, providing additional funding to targeted community councils; and

(iv) experience and lessons learned are consolidated and shared.waiting results of annual performance assessment (APA). Lessons are being drawn from the LoCAL pilot to expand the LoCAL and its PBCRG mechanism to additional community councils in Lesotho and to attract additional finance to be channelled through the LoCAL mechanism to finance locally led adaptation and increase resilience of communities and local economies. This intends to prepare for a fully integrated mechanism into the country systems and a scaling-up country-wide.

Achievements

Achievements

Way Forward

Stories from the Field

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