A Grant Agreement for World Bank assistance of US$ 8 million for Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) Project has been signed between the Government of India and the World Bank here today. This Agreement was signed by Shri Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Onno Ruhl, Country Director, World Bank, India, on behalf of the World Bank.

 The grant project is funded through the Special Climate Change Fund of US$ 8 million. SLACC project will help community institutions of the rural poor, particularly women farmers, to foster improved resilience in the production system in collaboration with government programs such as MKSP and MGNREGS. Climatic hazards that affect the availability of natural resources, adversely affect the livelihoods of the poor by impacting production, affecting incomes and preventing building up of assets.

 The project aims to improve adaptive capacity of the rural poor engaged in farm-based livelihoods to cope with climate variability and change in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and scale up the demonstrated best practices and lessons into the Government of India’s National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

 National Rural Livelihoods Mission is the implementing agency.

Climate finance grant enables SLACC project to strengthen rural livelihoods and adaptation, scaling practices into national livelihoods mission. A grant agreement between the Government of India and the World Bank, financed from the Special Climate Change Fund, supports the SLACC project to strengthen resilience of rural production systems by building community institutions (with emphasis on women farmers) and aligning interventions with central schemes such as MKSP and MGNREGS. The project focuses on enhancing adaptive capacity of farm-based rural poor in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and scaling demonstrated practices into the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, designated as the implementing agency.