Green Climate Fund - Civil Society Readiness: Focus Africa

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the most important multilateral instrument for climate financing and focuses its support on the least developed countries, small island states, and African states. The project enhances existing capacities of African civil society to improve the quality of the GCF project proposals submitted, bringing in on-the-ground expertise and enabling the participatory monitoring of GCF projects. Project activities include, among other things, the organisation of webinars and workshops as well as the preparation of handouts. The project further promotes networking to strengthen the high-level involvement of civil society stakeholders in key African countries. Moreover, the expansion of civil society engagement is encouraged through an exchange of experience at the regional and global levels. The project thus helps embedding GCF-funded activities in a broader societal support for a transformation towards a low-emission and climate-resilient society.

Project data

Countries: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal
IKI funding: 2,896,663.15 €
Duration: 05/2016 till 03/2023
Status: open
Implementing organisation: Germanwatch e.V.
Political Partner: Diverse climate change relevant institutions in the respective partner countries/Diverse klimarelevante Institutionen in den entsprechenden Partnerländern
Implementing Partner: CARE

CARE Germany e.V.
Online: https://www.germanwatch.org/en/16694

https://www.gcfwatch.org/

https://germanwatch.org/en/home

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State of implementation/results

After a first
After a first project phase 2016-2019, the GCF CSO Readiness project has been extended for a second phase until October 2022. The number of partner countries will be expanded from five to ten (Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal).
The GCF-CSO toolkit produced during the first phase of the project (germanwatch. org/en/16694) was translated into French (germanwatch.org/…).
Two English-language and two French-language online seminars were organized with other civil society organizations and government representatives to introduce the toolkit. Speakers included GCF board members from Senegal and Liberia, civil society organizations from partner countries and other regions, and representatives from the African Development Bank (AfDB), with nearly 1,000 people attending the four seminars.
All new partner countries have begun implementing activities at the national level. These include meetings and online seminars with stakeholders to build a national platform for civil society organizations, national web seminars on the GCF, and other relevant national-level activities, including participation in meetings to review project proposals for the GCF in their respective countries. In addition, Morocco, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal have begun conducting site visits and community consultations on GCF-funded activities, while other countries have initiated the process by reaching out to National Designated Authorities and Accredited Entities to identify relevant projects and project sites for conducting these site visits and related M&E activities led by CSOs.
Project partners are in the process of finalizing two additional thematic brief reports, on the challenges of GCF multi-country projects in Africa and an assessment of the GCF portfolio of projects and programs in Africa from the perspective of locally-driven adaptation principles.
The project consortium actively participated in the international ZGO work at all GCF Board meetings from B.26 (August 2020) to B.34 (July 2022).
Eight regional webinars with francophone partners were organized on "The Role of Civil Society in the GCF" and on the follow-up of these GCF Board meetings. More than 900 people participated in these eight regional webinars, which included contributions from civil society partner organizations, active observers, and the GCF's Independent Redress Mechanism (IRM).
A Training of Trainers (ToT) on the GCF was held in Senegal in February 2022. All project partners participated in the event, which was also attended by representatives from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Module materials, presentations and practical exercises were prepared in both French and English and are available to trainers. The project partners are now in the process of establishing a Community of Practice to continue the work started through the ToT and to support trainers in disseminating knowledge about the GCF.
A regional Francophone workshop on GCF was also organized in Senegal. It was attended by all Francophone partners as well as other civil society organizations from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal. The workshop served to share experiences and knowledge on the implementation of the different roles played by civil society organizations in the context of GCF processes.
The project co-organized a five-day African conference on Loss and Damage and Climate Finance in Malawi in April 2022, attended by African civil society organizations, regional and international cooperation agencies and development banks, African negotiators, and government representatives.
Other international activities included:
- A French-language regional webinar. on "Enhancing the mobilization of funding and encouraging the participation of national entities in the Green Climate Fund processes (GCF): the role of African regional institutions - Focus on ECOWAS, AfDB and SSO," on May 5, 2021.
- A side event during the African Ministers’ of Finance and Economic Planning 2021 Conference in Ethiopia on March 23, 2021. A statement by African CSOs on GCF investments on the continent was released.
- A side event at the Climate Change and Development in Africa 2021 (CCDA) conference in Cabo Verde on September 15, 2021. The event focused on the role of the GCF in Africa's Just Transition Framework.
- A side event during COP26 at the Moroccan Pavilion to share preliminary results of ZGO-led monitoring activities of GCF projects, with contributions from partners in Morocco, Senegal, and Cameroon.
- A side event during African Climate Week 2022 in Gabon, on August 30, on "African CSOs Engagement on Climate Finance for Enhancing Community Resilience."
- All partners have begun implementing activities at the national level, including establishing a national platform for CSOs and conducting site visits and community consultations on GCF-funded activities.