Since the inception of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in August 2012, Dutch NGO Both ENDS and its Southern partners have actively participated in the GCF Board Meetings. The GCF is an instrument of the UNFCCC and likely the main future finance channel supporting developing countries to move towards climate resilient development pathways. Both ENDS is one of the few organisations representing country ownership and direct access; it is also one of the even fewer organisations bringing the voice of Southern CSOs to the table, especially those from Africa.

The objective of this project was to ensure that Southern civil society effectively participates in decision-making on the GCF, both at the national and international (GCF Board and Secretariat) level, with the ultimate goal to ensure inclusive and distributive access to finance.

This project followed on from a previous CDKN-funded project ‘Exploring local access to the Green Climate Fund’, the aim of which was to ensure that the GCF is directly accessible to sub-national stakeholders, including local authorities, civil society organisations and knowledge institutions, in order for them to design and implement sustainable adaptation strategies. At the same time, it aimed to increase the voice of Southern practitioners in the negotiations.

These objectives remained relevant for this follow-up project. In addition, this project aimed to encourage national debate in developing countries on the use of GCF funds, where momentum will be increasing over the coming months and years to advocate for inclusive and distributive access to GCF funds. In particular in relation to the National Designated Authorities (NDAs) and National Funding/Implementing Entities (NIEs), which could potentially play a central role in ensuring inclusiveness and distribution to the local level. National debate has been stimulated to ensure that inclusive and distributive Direct Access is part of the national climate change strategies proposed to the GCF.

Both ENDS was working with partners in Indonesia (Aski!) and West Africa (Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement) and the Development Institute to deliver the following activities:

At the country level:
a. Holding workshops in Indonesia and West Africa (to cover Ghana, Benin and Togo) with the aim of creating awareness about the GCF among local actors, explaining current status and dynamics of the GCF negotiations, and discussing the need for inclusive and distributed direct access and how this can be achieved.
b. Supporting the improvement of the NDAs/NIEs through an analysis of their proposed functioning, holding dialogues with national decision makers to influence the level of multi-stakeholder decision making, and promoting projects for the GCF pipeline.

GCF advocacy:
a. The translation of country lessons (about NDA’s/NIE’s, local level priorities and potential projects) into recommendations to the GCF Board, ensuring that these recommendations align well with the timelines and focus of the international GCF meetings.
b. Further disseminating the lessons through regular dialogue with Board members from Indonesia and West Africa prior to each GCF Board meeting, attendance at the Board meetings, and the provision of information to the GCF Secretariat for input into relevant Board documents.

Funding: £100,000

Timeframe: July 2014 to May 2015 (11 months)