What happens when farmers design finance? Lessons from the ShambaShield playbook

The ShambaShield Playbook charts a new path for climate finance in Kenya, showing how farmer-driven design can make financial tools more inclusive, practical, and resilient for smallholders facing a changing climate.

What if the future of farm finance wasn’t about rolling out more products, but about listening more closely? Across rural landscapes, smallholders encounter financial services that feel distant, with their tools designed elsewhere, delivered quickly, and rarely adapted when they fail to take root. Yet behind every farmer’s decision to take a loan, buy insurance, or follow advice lies a careful story of risk, resilience, and calculation.