Calls for Proposals: Towards evidence-based decision making and risk investment for disaster risk reduction and early warning in Eastern Africa
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Towards evidence-based decision making and risk investment for disaster risk reduction and early warning in Eastern Africa. UNDRR is the United Nations’ focal point for the coordination of disaster risk reduction, working with countries and a broad range of partners and stakeholders to support the implementation, monitoring and review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in coherence with the 2030 Agenda and other instruments, for the multihazard management of disaster risk in development and the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses.
UNDRR issues grants, in line with UN Financial Regulations and Rules, to apolitical and not profit-making organisations to facilitate, implement, or carry out activities related to UNDRR’s and the partner’s mandates and work programmes.
To this end, UNDRR invites non-profit-making organisations to submit grant proposals that focus on the project described below.
Rationale
In Kenya, the level of exposure varies across counties and sectors and disasters affect population life and assets differently based on the type of hazards, level of vulnerabilities and capacities, without mentioning the limited knowledge available on the risks themselves for adaptation, mitigation and investments. Droughts and floods have caused cumulative losses exceeding KES 1.2 trillion (USD 9.5 billion) over the past two decades. Kenya has a comprehensive view of hazard, risk and uncertainties for floods and droughts in a changing climate that includes projections for the period 2050-2100, which are outlined in a risk profile developed in 2018 by UNDRR; however, this profile now requires upgrading.
Despite notable advances in Kenya’s disaster risk management framework and the development of key policies and strategies, institutional capacity to translate risk information into concrete policy, investment, and budget decisions remains weak. Risk-informed planning is still insufficiently embedded in public financial management (PFM) systems, limiting the effective use of fiscal frameworks. As a result, both the public and private sectors remain exposed to preventable fiscal shocks, financial instability, and increased vulnerability to disasters.
Rising climate and disaster risks — marked by repeated droughts and frequent flooding — underscore the urgent need for Kenya to strengthen early warning systems, anticipatory action and risk informed investment. While institutions such as NDOC, NDMA, NDMU, KMD, and the National Treasury are central to managing these risks, they face gaps in risk-informed analytical tools, coordination, and financing mechanisms. Addressing these challenges is essential to enable a shift from reactive disaster response toward proactive risk reduction and long-term resilience building.
An upgraded national risk profile will quantify disaster risk through Average Annual Loss (AAL) and Probable Maximum Loss (PML), capturing both frequent low-impact and rare high-impact events, including climate change driven extremes events beyond historical records. The upgrade of the national risk profile in Kenya will build on the regional risk profile developed by IGAD and the national risk profile developed by UNDRR . Both risk profiles are concentrated on Meteorological / hydrological hazards, mainly floods and droughts. By accounting for growing uncertainty in future hazard patterns, the analysis will support preparedness for worst‑case scenarios. The revised profile will be widely disseminated in an accessible format to enable national and subnational decision-makers, private sector actors (UNDRR’s ARISE Network), and local governments (UNDRR’s Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) to integrate risk information into planning and investment, fostering an all‑of‑society approach to disaster risk reduction. Complementing this, a cost–benefit analysis will identify priority DRR investments, inform action planning through quantified avoided losses and fiscal benefits of proactive risk reduction, provide financing options, and strengthen the evidence base for embedding risk analytics into the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and implementation of Kenya’s forthcoming Disaster Risk Financing Strategy 2026 - 2030.
Under this grant, the grantee will upgrade the national risk profile using the probabilistic approach and conduct DRR integrated fiscal risk analysis and recommendations. The work will be carried out closely with Kenya’s National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) and the National Treasury to facilitate their appropriation of the process and the methodology. In this regard, they will have a better understanding on the use of risk information, which will inform disaster risk reduction and development planning actions.
Purpose
The Grant will update the national risk profile using a probabilistic approach and AAL/PML analyses and generate evidence-based risk information to inform development planning, budgeting, and DRR investment prioritization, including by providing resilient, cost-effective solutions. This will result in a compelling national need to safeguard economic stability, reduce humanitarian burdens, and catalyse risk-informed investment. The Grant will also identify high-risk areas and exposed populations to enhance impact-based early warning systems, preparedness, and early and anticipatory action, supported through stakeholder engagement at national and subnational levels.
Outcome
The Grant will contribute to the following outcome:
Disaster risk reduction investments and planning at national and sub-national levels are based on the evidence available in the upgraded probabilistic risk profile and the investment priorities proposed by the results of a cost benefit analysis (CBA).
Output
The Grant expects the following outputs:
I. Decision makers in Kenya have an upgraded probabilistic risk profile to inform priority actions for disaster risk reduction, disaster risk investments, impact-based warnings, early and anticipatory actions.
Activity 1 : Contextualize updates to risk profiles for DRR financing and CBA through a national consultation to identify key risks and resilience metrics (AAL and PML), agree on priority metrics for analysis, and develop an implementation plan. Organize a National Consultation workshop in Nairobi with key relevant national authorities and stakeholders.
Activity 2: Upgrade national risk profiles (2018 and more recent profiles developed under CDRI, IGAD and other initiatives), for at least 3 hazards (such as flood, drought, landslides and earthquakes) using a probabilistic approach to estimate direct and indirect economic losses in current and future climate and socio economic scenarios, and integrate the results into an existing online platform to inform DRR policies, DRR investments and anticipatory action. The Grantee will evaluate existing platforms and agree with UNDRR and the Government of Kenya for the most suitable and sustainable solution.
II. National authorities in charge of disaster risk reduction, finance and economic planning in Kenya are equipped with risk-informed fiscal analysis for prioritizing investments for resilience.
Activity 1: Based on national risk profiles, identify and assess fiscal exposure and public expenditures for 2 to 3 hazards causing significant damage and loss nationwide.
Activity 2: Conduct a Cost-Benefit Analyses (CBAs) for 2 to 3 hazards and three Disaster Risk Reduction investments for each hazard. The DRR investments will be selected in consultation with national authorities and UNDRR and can be both national or local investments and aligned with national development priorities. Organize at least one National Consultation workshop in Nairobi with key relevant national authorities and stakeholders for the selection of DRR investments and validation of the CBA outputs.
Activity 3: Quantify avoided losses and reductions in contingent liabilities under different DRR investment scenarios.
Activity 4: Working closely with UNDRR partners, provide fiscal exposure, expenditure data, and CBAs for priority DRR investments to support the development of an optimal risk layering strategy for Kenya under the different investment and DRR scenarios.
III. The Government of Kenya improved its capacities to take risk informed decisions that reduce fiscal vulnerability while safeguarding development gains by using a comprehensive and integrated fiscal risk analysis, a disaster risk financing (DRF) strategy, and a financial resilience assessment to manage disaster- and climate-related shocks.
Activity 1: Conduct a review of PFM, Public Investment Management (PIM), and DRR related fiscal frameworks to develop an evidence‑based diagnostic examining DRR mandates within fiscal rules, level of DRR integration across the budget and planning cycle, application of risk screening across public investments, and analysing institutional roles and capacity for risk-informed fiscal risk analysis.
Activity 2: Develop a policy brief and DRR mainstreaming guidelines on fiscal risk-informed budgeting and investment planning for integrating risk analytics into PFM and PIM tools including the MTEF. Organize a capacity building workshop with fiscal and economic officers, and planners across the National Treasury and private sector associations, including subnational representatives on the use of the DRR mainstreaming guidelines across PFM functions.
IV. National actors involved in disaster risk reduction, finance and economic planning improve their capacity in using risk information for planning, budgeting and investment processes at national and sub-national levels
Activity 1: Carry out a national workshop - to include decision makers at sub-national levels, and private sector - on using risk information for early warning and early actions. The workshop will provide practical tools and guidelines to enable the application of risk information in the above-mentioned sectors.
Activity 2: Organize a workshop with fiscal and economic officers, and planners across the National Treasury and private sector associations, including subnational representatives. The focus will be on integrating disaster risk into the national, sectoral, and subnational budgets. The workshop will also enhance understanding of risk informed budget planning mechanisms and monitoring.
Resources
Disaster Risk Pooling - Disaster Risk Tool
National disaster risk assessment: A guide for national practitioners | UNDRR
UNDRR's Risk Assessment and Planning Guide - Climate Adaptation Platform
Guidance Note on Using the Probabilistic Country Risk Profiles for Disaster Risk Management | UNDRR
Why invest in probabilistic risk assessment? |UNDRR
Deterministic & Probabilistic Risk
Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Guidance Note
UNDRR’s Five-step approach to disaster risk reduction financing
Handbook for implementing the principles for resilient infrastructure
G20 Voluntary High-level Principles for Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction
Guide for Adaptation and Resilience Finance
Elements specific to the project that the grantee should know
All International and non-governmental organizations that wish to be considered for partnership opportunities with UNDRR will need to register and create a profile on the United Nations Partner Portal (UNPP). Following verification of the profile information, partners will be eligible to apply to partnership opportunities with UNDRR as well as the UN Secretariat and all other participating UN Organizations.
We encourage you to start the registration as soon as possible to avoid delays. Only registered organizations whose profile has been successfully verified will be considered eligible partners to apply for grant opportunities with UNDRR.
For more details on registration procedures please visit the UN Section of UNPP ( https://www.unpartnerportal.org/registration )
Furthermore, the United Nations system requires all partners to be assessed regarding their capacity to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse. UNDRR encourages implementing partners to use the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) module in the UNPP. PSEA Module User Guide CSO Partner Members
For this/these Grants, priorities will be given to national and African regional institutions. We strongly encourage partnership with national or regional institutions working in the field of risk analysis, risk profile development, public financial management (PFM), and fiscal risk analysis.
Budget and administrative-related aspects
The duration of the proposed project cannot exceed 10 months. The maximum amount requested from UNDRR for the implementation of this project cannot exceed 275,000 USD . The project proposal must not exceed 10 pages (attachments such as scanned copies of entity’s registration, CVs of staff etc. do not count).
For this purpose, please fill in duly all the sections of the application form , include the required documents (scanned copy of NGO/IGO’s registration certificate, CVs of staff etc.) and budget excel sheets , and send the complete application package (application form, budget excel sheets, entity registration certificate, CVs of staff, etc.) to the following email address: [email protected] ; cc: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Reference 2026/002: Call for Proposals – Bridging the gaps in using risk information for decision making in disaster risk management and early warning in Eastern Africa
Deadline for applications: 10 June 2026, midnight New York, USA EST (Eastern Standard Time) . Incomplete and/or late applications will not be considered .
Projects’ activities can include, amongst others, the following:
- seminars, workshops, trainings;
- capacity building activities;
- institutional strengthening activities and advocacy
The following types of activity will not be covered:
- capital expenditure, e.g. land, buildings, equipment and vehicles;
- individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
- supporting political parties; and
- sub-contracting
Due to the number of applications, only short-listed applicants will be notified.
Please note that the grant payment schedule will be determined with the selected grantee when finalizing the agreement. UNDRR standard practice is: not to exceed 40% of the requested amount upon signature of the grant agreement; remaining payments made
based on a schedule of payments linked to production of project milestones and the final payment, 20%, will be paid after the end of the project, once final documents have been received, verified and approved by UNDRR.
Refund of grants: UNDRR may request organizations to refund, either in part or in whole any amounts paid in respect of a grant when:
- the project was not implemented in full or in part;
- the grant was spent for ineligible expenditures other than those mentioned in the budget proposal submitted to, and approved by UNDRR;
- no narrative, financial or audit report was submitted within the deadline established by the grant agreement;
- a narrative report and/or a financial report submitted was determined to be unsatisfactory;
- a negative evaluation of the project by UNDRR;
- any other valid reason provided by the UNDRR.