As the fastest growing economy in world, the Government of Guyana faces a massive challenge in channeling financing into effective development over the coming years. This project is designed to support the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in developing an Integrated Strategy for Draining and Irrigation (ISDI) for the period 2025-2030, aligning with the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 (LCDS 2030) and enabling inter-ministerial collaboration on Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) and flood management efforts. This project therefore proposes to specifically address the following key challenges:

– Reducing Guyana’s vulnerability to floods through integrated planning.

– Supporting institutional strengthening and improving capacity.

– Enhancing data collection and management to measure impacts.

The project aims to reduce Guyana’s flood vulnerability through integrated planning, institutional strengthening, and enhanced data collection. By developing an Integrated Strategic Drainage and Irrigation Strategy (ISDI), it supports the government with technical assistance and training to improve D&I planning. The project also explores two potential Nature-based solutions (NbS) to complement ongoing hard infrastructure efforts along the 420 km coast, fostering a greener and more inclusive D&I system.

Developing countries like Guyana are particularly vulnerable to climate change and as estimates reveal, will bear most of the costs of the changing climate due to its high sensitivity to climate variability because of its topography. Climate-related disasters and flooding events in 2005 and 2021 have caused floods resulting in serious economic impacts and significant damage to both public and private assets.

Coastal areas, where 90% of the population lives are particularly affected as Guyana has one of the most rapid rates of sea level-rise. The resulting damage during these events has been estimated at USD 50 million. Urban infrastructure has suffered considerably and is expected to further degrade as extreme events are projected to become more frequent.

Against this background, the project represents a continuation of GoG’s effort in operationalizing a comprehensive flood management solution through three major outputs: a) assessments and mechanisms in place for an integrated approach to reduce vulnerability towards flood related risks, b) include nature-based solutions and develop capacity of key technical staff.

Technical studies of the potential for integration of Resilience and NbS into D&I systems in Guyana Conduct desk research and reviews by team of experts supported by expert consultants. These studies will aim to inform stakeholders and writers of the ISDI to ensure a well-informed strategy.

D&I strategic planning for coastal resilience
– Build clarity and agreement around how NDIA can work more broadly to enable effective and socially inclusive flood management and agricultural development.
– Have a wide stakeholder buy-in, to bolster NDIA’s mandate toward effective and sustainable integrated flood and water resource management.

Design a data collection & prioritization system for capital works in D&I

– Build out data collection systems to understand how investment projects impact ecosystems, farmers & communities and allow for data-driven prioritization of investments in alignment with national planning.

Increase NDIA engineering & MEL capacity to design improved data collection systems
– Identify the priority gaps in capacity related to resilience design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), and data collection.

– Capacity building efforts will be focused on resilient design and the integration of data collection systems into MoA’s projects.

Knowledge products
– Develop communication materials for local stakeholders and support project implementation.

Project Outreach and Knowledge Dissemination
– At least 2 webinars for wider dissemination of learnings, outcomes, and impact of the project.