Africa's climate story is changing. For too long, the continent has been cast as the frontline victim of climate change-battered by droughts, floods, cyclones and rising seas. But in Addis Ababa, at the second Africa Climate Change Week, a new narrative took shape. Here, African leaders, institutions and global partners launched Phase Two of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program AAAP, a flagship initiative that is already mobilising 25 billion of adaptation investments across 40 countries. It was a moment that underscored Africa's resolve to move from being a recipient of climate aid to becoming an architect of resilient futures.
Kenya's President William Ruto captured the urgency of the moment. Reaffirming his government's commitment to climate adaptation and resource mobilisation, he called for greater ambition and a wider coalition of actors, including private sector players and financial institutions. For Ruto, climate adaptation is not a peripheral concern but a national and continental priority-one that requires innovation, scale, and speed.
If Ruto brought the urgency, AUDA-NEPAD's chief executive Nardos Bekele-Thomas brought the institutional weight. As the newly appointed member of the AAAP advisory board, she pledged to mobilise the full capabilities of Africa's Union Development Agency. "We will mobilise our networks, leverage our partnerships, and ensure this programme reaches the 600 million Africans whose livelihoods depend on climate-sensitive sectors," she told delegates. For Bekele-Thomas, the AAAP is not simply another climate project. It is Africa's decisive answer to the climate crisis-homegrown solutions designed for global transformation.