The African Development Bank (AfDB) is a multilateral development finance institution dedicated to promoting sustainable economic growth and reducing poverty across Africa. Through a range of trust funds and special financing mechanisms, AfDB provides grants, technical assistance, and catalytic funding to governments, regional bodies, civil society organizations, research institutions, and private sector actors working on Africa’s development priorities.
AfDB grantmaking primarily supports climate change adaptation and mitigation, renewable energy, water and sanitation, private sector development, and institutional capacity building. Funding opportunities are generally administered through thematic funds managed by the Bank and released via competitive or rolling calls for proposals.
Grant Programs for Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Natural Resources
1 — African Water Facility (AWF). The AWF supports projects that strengthen water governance, water security, and integrated water resources management across Africa. Applicants for AWF can be central, local, and municipal African governments, river basin organizations, regional economic communities, NGOs, research institutions, and utilities.
Grant size varies by call (often ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million USD).
APPLICATION: The AWF accepts funding requests on a rolling basis and does not operate on fixed annual deadlines; eligible applicants first complete a pre-screening eligibility check and submit a project concept note with supporting documents for review, after which qualifying projects are invited to submit a full funding application using the official template.
2 — Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). SEFA provides early-stage grants and catalytic finance to unlock private investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency markets.
APPLICATION: Potential applicants review SEFA’s application guidelines and fill out a request (questionnaire) for funding. There is no calendar deadline.
The Secretariat reviews the requests and identifies appropriate AfDB staff to take successful requests forward for further review by a Technical Committee.
3 — Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF). The ACCF supports African countries in their transition to a low-carbon path of development.
The scope of funding is broad to support preparation for accessing climate change readiness, adaptation, mitigation planning, and access to climate finance, especially for vulnerable countries.
APPLICATION: Periodic calls for proposals announced by AfDB (not on a fixed annual schedule).
Geographical Distribution of Grant Activities in Developing Countries
Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
Sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Dem Rep of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Eligibility for African Development Bank (AfDB) funding varies by fund, but grants are generally not available to individuals. Priority applicants include African governments and public institutions, regional and intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and civil society groups, research and academic institutions.