NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 26— Kenya has unveiled an ambitious five-year Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) Strategy aimed at ending the country’s reliance on emergency funding after disasters and instead investing in preparedness to cushion communities and the economy against increasingly frequent climate shocks.

Launched by the National Treasury with technical support from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Disaster Risk Financing Strategy 2026–2030 establishes a comprehensive framework to strengthen Kenya’s financial resilience by ensuring governments at both national and county levels have the resources and systems needed to anticipate, prepare for and recover from disasters.

The strategy represents a significant policy shift from reactive, crisis-driven financing to proactive, risk-informed investment, reflecting growing recognition that disasters linked to climate change are becoming more frequent and more costly.

“The true test of resilience is not how we respond after a disaster occurs, but how well we prepare before it happens,” said Ronald Inyangala, Director of Financial and Sectoral Affairs at the National Treasury, speaking on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary.

“This Strategy provides Kenya with a robust financial framework to anticipate, absorb and recover from disasters while protecting the most vulnerable members of our society and sustaining our economic progress,” he added.

The strategy comes as Kenya continues to grapple with increasingly severe climate-related disasters, particularly floods and prolonged droughts affecting communities across the country, especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs).

According to the National Treasury, the devastating March-April-May floods of 2024 affected approximately 410,000 people, claimed 315 lives, and caused an estimated Sh187 billion in economic losses, underscoring the need for stronger financial preparedness.

Unlike the previous Disaster Risk Financing Strategy (2018–2022), the new framework broadens its focus beyond emergency financing and insurance mechanisms to include investments that reduce disaster risks before they occur. It adopts a multi-sector and multi-hazard approach while integrating gender equality and social inclusion into disaster planning.

The strategy also complements Kenya’s Disaster Risk Management Strategy 2025–2030, which provides the country’s long-term roadmap for reducing disaster risks and strengthening resilience.

UNDRR supported the National Treasury in designing the strategy by providing technical expertise and introducing disaster risk financing tools developed through its Global Education and Training Institute (GETI).

The agency also assisted Kenya in developing a Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Budget Tagging system to improve how government tracks and allocates resources for resilience-building initiatives.

Throughout its development between 2025 and 2026, the strategy underwent extensive consultations involving government agencies, civil society organisations, development partners, construction professionals and private sector stakeholders to ensure broad national ownership.

Development partners supporting the initiative include the European Union, the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Government of Italy, the World Bank Group and the World Food Programme.

UNDRR Regional Office for Africa Chief Amjad Abbashar said stronger disaster financing must be backed by better data to guide investment decisions.

“We must strengthen risk data and analytics to guide financial planning. Good financing decisions depend on good information, on understanding where risks lie, how they evolve, and what they will cost,” he said.

The launch follows another major milestone in Kenya’s disaster management reforms after President William Ruto signed the National Disaster Risk Management Act, 2026 into law in May.

The legislation establishes the National Disaster Risk Management Authority and County Disaster Risk Management Committees to coordinate disaster preparedness, early warning systems, emergency response and resource allocation.

Together with the Division of Revenue Act, 2026, which provides counties with financing for critical services including disaster risk management, the new strategy is expected to strengthen Kenya’s institutional and fiscal capacity to respond to future emergencies.