CDKN's podcast series, Finance for resilience: Unlocking climate action, focuses on emerging themes within the climate finance field, and highlights innovative solutions from practitioners and experts.

Episode 1: Building climate resilience through microfinance

The first episode unpacks the role of microfinance as a financial instrument to build resilience in communities which are vulnerable to climate change. CDKN's climate finance lead, Kamleshan Pillay, is joined by guests Tineyi Mawocha - CEO of Opportunity Bank Uganda, Lydia Baffour Awuah - Senior Programme Manager at Opportunity International and Puneet Chopra - partner at Microsave Consulting in India. The discussion revolves around the concept and impact of microfinancing, as well as the very real possibilities that microfinancing affords in the betterment of the social well-being of some of the most vulnerable communities to climate change.  

Episode 2: Demystifying adaptation finance

The second episode unpacks the topic of adaptation finance. CDKN's climate finance lead, Kamleshan Pillay, is joined by distinguished guests Malango Mughogho and Kathryn Bakos. Kathryn Bakos is the Director of Climate Finance and Science at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo in Canada and Malango Mughogho is the Director of ZeniZeni Sustainable Finance based in South Africa. Listen in as they share some of their insights and experiences from their work, including challenges, solutions, as well as important lessons that are being learned in the process.  

Episode 3: The Green Climate Fund: what it is and why it matters in Southern Africa

The third episode focuses on the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and explores the challenges and successes of becoming accredited to receive GCF funds and implementing GCF projects in the Southern Africa region. CDKN climate finance lead, Kamleshan Pillay, chats to three guests about their work with the GCF: Karl Mutani Aribeb, the Chief Operations Officer at the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia; Muhammed Sayed, a Climate Change Specialist for the Climate and Environmental Finance Unit at the Development Bank of Southern Africa; and Charlotte Ellis, a project manager on the Southern Africa Climate Finance Partnership programme.  

Episode 4: What are green bonds and how to encourage their growth in developing markets

The fourth episode unpacks the topic of green bonds and the challenges and benefits associated with this financing mechanism. Considering the significant climate finance gap, green bonds are likely to play a crucial role in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, the growth of the market in the global South has lagged in comparison to the rest of the world. Join CDKN’s climate finance lead, Kamleshan Pillay, as he hosts an in-depth discussion on green bonds and how to encourage their growth in developing markets. Kamlesh is joined by guests Megan Sager, Director of Sustainable Solutions in Cape Town, Robert Bunyi, Managing Director of Kenya Pooled Water Fund and Sandeep Bhattacharya, India project manager at the Climate Bonds Initiative.