India extends $840,000 climate risk protection grant to Tanzania

India has announced a $840,000 grant to Tanzania under the India-UN Development Fund to strengthen climate risk financing and disaster preparedness. The project aims to improve financial resilience, protect vulnerable communities and support Tanzania's long-term climate adaptation strategy.

United Nations: India is providing Tanzania with $840,000 in aid for a programme to offer financial protection against climate change-related risks, according to India’s Permanent Mission to the UN.

“India fully supports the Tanzanian Government’s commitment to the proposed project, which shall serve as an effective vehicle in dealing with the climate-related hazards threatening lives and livelihoods,” the mission said on Friday.

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The grant, requested by the Tanzanian government, will be routed through the India-UN Development Fund, which New Delhi set up with $150 million in 2017 in association with the UN to provide development assistance to the Global South.

The grant will be covered under the Fund’s Commonwealth Window, which provides grants to fellow , .

The unique feature of the India-UN Development Fund is that recipient countries themselves decide what they need the grants for and how they will use them.

This is in contrast to most development assistance programmes, where donors decide how the funds are to be used.

In this case, Tanzania’s “national ownership is assured as the Disaster Management Department under the (Tanzanian) Prime Minister’s Office leads the project, ensuring alignment with the country’s priorities and strategic plans”, the mission pointed out.

The mission said it was partnering with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on the project, which aims to support Tanzania’s National Disaster Risk Financing Framework and Implementation Plan 2031 (NDRFFIP).

The mission said the five-year plan seeks to strengthen the financial preparedness and climate resilience of vulnerable communities, including women, people with disabilities and low-income groups.

The proposal, formally known as “Enhancing Financial Resilience Through the Climate Insurance and Resilience Programme (CIRP)”, will focus on the Disaster Risk Resilience financing framework to plug existing gaps, the mission said.

According to the Tanzanian Prime Minister’s Office, the NDRFFIP’s “National Disaster Risk Financing Framework (DRFF) 2025/26-2030/31 aims to enhance response capacity, ensure fiscal stability, and protect citizens”.

Its core principles include timely funding, risk layering, efficient disbursement, adaptive capacity building and multi-stakeholder engagement, according to the Tanzanian Prime Minister’s Office.

“The framework signals a paradigm shift from reactive disaster management to proactive financial preparedness, integrating disaster risk financing into national and sector development planning and budgeting,” it said.

It seeks to help the nation achieve its development goals by safeguarding lives and livelihoods through ensuring adequate, timely and sustainable financing for disaster preparedness, response and recovery, the Tanzanian Prime Minister’s Office added.