Teaming up with IKI Small Grants, the IKI funding programme for local climate and biodiversity action, Botswana’s National Development Bank offered local grants to help farmers transition to renewable energy solutions. For the bank, cooperating with IKI Small Grants promoted its own standing for further international climate financing.
When Gorata Abotseng Lekau looks out over the fields of her farm in Botswana’s Kgatleng district, she sees more than the crops she grows and harvests. She sees a shift in what farming used to be, and what it can be in future: Predictable, reliable and consistent. “The dream of feeding the nation is becoming a reality,” she says. “That is what Botswana’s agenda is all about today.”
Besides contributing to national climate goals, Gorata sees tangible benefits in shifting her farming business to adopt a greener approach. “In the past, we waited for the rainy season to put seeds in the ground,” explains Lekau. We now have year-round production. “We are pumping water using solar and cutting expenses by about 70% a month,” she smiles.
Small grants for smallholders
For Ketumile Direng, responsible for mobilising resources and project management at the National Development Bank (NDB), this is the sort of shift the bank wanted to promote. “We want to transition the farming community to employ more green farming practices.” In 2022, NDB teamed up with IKI Small Grants in Germany to acquire €850,000 in funding for the bank’s call for proposals of its programme Green Energy Transition for Sustainable Agriculture.
Between June and August 2023, the bank invited farmers, horticultural producers and agribusinesses to apply for grants for introducing climate-smart agriculture. The enterprises each received 65% of the cost they were preparing to invest in replacing diesel generators and other climate friendly solutions as a grant.
Promoting renewable energy in off-grid areas
In Botswana, farms are mainly off-grid. Use of renewable energy is rare. Diesel generators used in farming are both costly and add up in the 11% of total national greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s agricultural sector. NDB’s fund disbursed grants to replace diesel engines or generators with water-efficient irrigation, solar water pumps, or install shade netting for water and energy efficiency, as well as solar photovoltaic systems.
Funding 59 farming businesses for sustainable impact
With funding from Germany, NDB provided funding to 59 smallholder farming businesses. “The number of people funded were just over a hundred.” However, the communities the bank reached numbered “hundreds of thousands” of people, Direng outlines. The bank also effected sustainable change among the businesses. “Beneficiaries experienced a paradigm mind shift. They adopted new and effective and efficient ways of doing business.”
The impact for environment and climate is substantial. On 25 hectares of farmland smallholders now water their plants through drip irrigation. “Replacing diesel pumps has saved about 770 tons of CO2 emissions, and we are saving about 835 litres of diesel use per hectare. With efficient lighting and heating, we have saved 30,000 kilowatt hours of power.”
Funding the funders
The cooperation between NDB and IKI Small Grants shows how funding institutions can achieve impact through ownership of their calls for proposals for local climate and biodiversity action – with financial and technical support from the German programme’s funding line for funding institutions. As Eva Wuttge, responsible for funding institutions at IKI Small Grants explains, “Local institutions appreciate the autonomy. They know best how to achieve national climate and biodiversity targets through local projects, actors and networks.”
The advantage of working with local funding institutions, like banks and foundations, is that they know best what their target group needs. “The calls are in local languages promoted via radio, social media or local newspapers and for a very specific region. That makes it easier for local organisations or businesses to apply for and receive funding than for larger international calls for proposals.” Since 2021, IKI Small Grants has supported six funding institutions with up to €950,000 in financial support each. Their calls have financed some 89 small projects in nine countries.
Boosting reputation, capacity and visibility
The support package from Germany’s IKI Small Grants offers further support to institutions in improving their internal structures and processes and in training their staff. These measures, referred to as capacity building, are “priceless,” as Direng says. “We learnt that capacity development boosts implementation success.” Significantly, National Development Bank now has a standing on the international climate financing stage. Direng concludes by announcing that “NDB is currently in the advanced stages of seeking accreditation from the Adaptation Fund,” the larger United Nations fund that finances projects for adapting to global warming.
Sustainable solutions for sustainable agriculture
In Botswana’s Central District, smallholder farmer Tshenko Kabelano Magapu clearly shows the effect IKI Small Grants can have in introducing sustainable solutions for sustainable agriculture. A doctor who practices horticulture, Magapu proudly explains how she has transitioned to sustainable agriculture and how IKI Small Grants contributed to that success.
The support enabled the installation of a shading net and a drip irrigation system. Besides the consistent shade and water she now has, the grant allowed her to fulfil her life’s purpose. “I do horticulture because I advocate for a healthy lifestyle.” Going green now allows her to contribute “to food security, not only of Makoro community, but the country at large.”
More about the project
Green energy transition for sustainable agriculture | IKI Small Grants
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
The National Development Bank (NDB) was established under an act of parliament in 1963. The Bank is owned by the Government of Botswana and operates under the control of a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning. As a Development Financial Institution, NDB is viable and self-sustaining and continues to contribute immensely to the growth of the local economy. Its mission is to provide sustainable, innovative financial products and services for the development of the entire agricultural value chain through partnerships.
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