SCIAF welcomes funding to support climate change work in Zambia

SCIAF has welcomed £1m funding from the Scottish Government, which will be shared amongst four charities, including SCIAF, to support projects affected by climate change in Africa and Asia. 

SCIAF will receive £250,000 of the Humanitarian Emergency Funding which will support a new Loss and Damage project in Zambia, where communities have suffered both recent flooding and long-term drought resulting from climate change. 

The new project will be implemented in Central and Western Provinces by our sister agencies Caritas Kabwe, Caritas Mongu and Caritas Zambia, with whom we have a long partnership. 

The project will work with households most affected by climatic shocks, those who have lost their crops and livestock, and are experiencing poor food security – all compounded by damaged infrastructure.  

SCIAF Chief Executive Lorraine Currie said:

“SCIAF has a great deal of experience of Loss and Damage programming in Malawi. This new funding will allow us to build on that work, this time in Zambia, to support communities there to build back better from the effects of flooding and drought. 

“The people we serve are being hit hardest by the impact of climate change, despite doing the least to cause it. Communities will be at the heart of the project, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met.” 

The Scottish Government’s Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan said:

“I am pleased to announce that four projects, in Pakistan, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia, have been selected to address loss and damage through Scotland’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund as part of a £1 million programme of work announced at New York Climate Week earlier this year.  

“It is the first time, that we know of, that loss and damage funding has been dispersed through a humanitarian framework in this way.  

“These projects will address the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and marginalised groups, and local communities will be involved in each step of project design and delivery.  

“We hope that this will provide valuable learning and will support a growing evidence- base to inform the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and COP discussions.” 

Also welcoming the news was Rose Waswa of Caritas Kabwe:

“The pain was too hard to bear, the loss and damage of property and lives caused by climate change was huge and we had lost hope until the Scottish Government came to relieve our pain. With their help, through SCIAF, we have emerged strong again, ready to fight. Funding or Loss and Damage will help communities in Zambia recover from their losses and alleviate the suffering caused by climate change. 

“We thank the Scottish Government for standing with us, for restoring our dignity and hope, and for showing us that all is not lost. We will rebuild our lives again.”