Project profile — Scaling Urban NbS for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA)

• Ethiopia (35.30%)
• Rwanda (32.40%)
• South Africa (32.30%)

• Water sector policy and administrative management:
Water sector policy and administrative management (14010) (3.00%)
Water resources conservation (including data collection) (14015) (40.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (4.00%)
• Agriculture: Agricultural land resources (31130) (22.00%)
• General Environmental Protection: Bio-diversity (41030) (18.00%)
• Other Multisector: Urban development and management (43030) (13.00%)

• Climate Change Adaptation (principal objective)
• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Biodiversity (significant objective)

The project aims to enhance climate adaptation, gender equality, and biodiversity protection in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Africa’s urban communities. The project contributes to increasing the capacity of women’s organizations and underrepresented groups to plan, implement, and monitor gender-responsive Nature-based Solutions for climate change adaptation. It also seeks to increase the capacity of women, women’s organizations, and underrepresented groups to participate in local government decision-making processes to advance gender-responsive Nature-based Solutions. Project activities include: (1) conducting dialogues and training on gender-based barriers to Nature-based Solutions, addressing social norms and local power dynamics for community members, especially men and local leaders; (2) restoring watershed lands with agroforestry, afforestation, and reforestation practices in upstream farmlands, bare lands, and degraded forests with local landowners and women cooperatives; and (3) providing training programs for women’s organizations and underrepresented groups to influence municipal policy on gender-responsive Nature-based Solutions.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) reduced barriers to women and other underrepresented groups to participate in planning, implementing, and monitoring of Nature-based Solutions for climate change adaptation in urban communities; (2) increased adoption of gender-responsive Nature-based Solutions using watershed conservation and restoration practices to support flood control, upstream and downstream water security, gender equality, and biodiversity protection in urban communities; and (3) enhanced inclusive and gender-responsive governance in implementing of Nature-based Solutions for climate adaptation and biodiversity protection by municipal officials and local stakeholders in urban communities.

Results achieved as of September 2025 include: (1) delivered 21 communication campaigns to date on climate-adapted, gender-responsive nature-based solutions through the implementation of a joint communication strategy by all partners; (2) engaged 777 people, including 452 women, in trainings and dialogues on social norms and power dynamics, contributing to the reduction of barriers to the participation of women and underrepresented groups across the three cities; (3) trained 175 participants on gender-responsive nature-based solutions in Dire Dawa and Johannesburg, strengthening local capacity to plan and implement these approaches, with additional sessions planned in Kigali in the next quarter; (4) achieved significant progress in ecological restoration, including 405 hectares restored in Dire Dawa and 451 hectares in Kigali through agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation, as well as 331 hectares of riparian corridors rehabilitated across the 3 cities, with the involvement of 1,202 people from women’s groups; (5) planted an additional 10,892 urban trees in vulnerable areas of Dire Dawa and Johannesburg, building on more than 134,000 urban and fruit trees already planted in Kigali since the start of the project; (6) trained 69 participants on integrated economic assessment of nature-based solutions, disseminated the findings of 3 completed cost-benefit analyses, and supported the development of a first draft environmental monitoring plan following a biophysical workshop in Dire Dawa; and (7) finalized monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks in the 3 cities and established steering groups to support the design of digital dashboards.

• Proactive disclosure