This Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters Programme (BRACED) research study explores whether public investments made by government-led climate funds in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Senegal are building climate resilience that responds to locally determined priorities. The climate fund in Ethiopia is a centralised, national fund, whereas in Kenya, Mali and Senegal public funding is delivered through decentralised finance mechanism, which are the same in design.

With a focus on the principles of effectiveness and equity, the evaluation of a small sample of investments in each country has allowed an exploration of three questions:

• How is climate resilience being defined and measured at the national and sub-national levels?
• What outcomes have been achieved from climate finance investments, and what can be learnt?
• To what extent does the level of government involved in the investment decision-making process affect the outcomes of activities that aim to strengthen climate resilience?