Senegal was one of the first countries to secure accreditation from the Adaptation Fund for its National Implementing Entity (NIE). Here, Déthié Soumaré Ndiaye of  Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE), Senegal’s NIE, discusses Senegal’s journey to acquiring accreditation, and how this has aided future strategies for financing adaptation. Interview by Anna Hickman of CDKN.

How did Senegal prepare for direct access to the Adaptation Fund?

Once the Adaptation Fund became operational, the Government of Senegal appointed a Designated Authority (DA) who is the focal point for the Adaptation Fund (AF). Then, based on a proposal from the National Committee for Adaptation to Climate Change (COMNACC) through the Designated Authority, Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) was nominated by the Ministry of Environment as the National Implementing Entity (NIE) candidate for Senegal. This nomination was preceded by a screening of the national institutions’ readiness with regards to the Adaptation Fund’s requirements (experience in project development and management, transparency rules, audit management, portfolio of partners, etc.)

Right after this nomination, CSE started preparing its application folder, in which it demonstrated its level of compliance with the criteria defined by the Adaptation Fund’s requirements.

The application package went through a preliminary screening by the Adaptation Fund’s Secretariat before its review by the Accreditation Panel (AP).

The accreditation by the Adaptation Fund Board was achieved during the 9th meeting of the Board (Bonn, 23-25 March 2010), based on the Accreditation Panel’s recommendations.

Has Senegal managed to use this experience as a leveraging opportunity to pull in other types of climate finance?

Yes. Building on this experience with the Adaptation Fund, the Senegalese Government has recently endorsed the CSE’s application for accreditation by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

What was most successful in preparing for the fund? What was most challenging?

The most successful was to demonstrate CSE’s strengths in project management and in environmental monitoring, including experience of work with multilateral agencies.

However, CSE’s transparency and anti-fraud policy was not formalised at this time, and this was really challenging for the accreditation process. In addition, CSE’s handbook of procedures needed to be up-graded to meet the requirements for managing big budgets like those that can be accessed with the Adaptation Fund, mainly for procurements. Language was also an issue, since all supporting documents were to be provided in English. CSE had to arrange for all these documents to be translated.

What is Senegal’s future strategy for mobilising financial resources for adaptation? 

Senegal’s future strategy is based on better organisation of its resource mobilisation framework. This includes:

• The establishment of a Nation Climate Fund (FCN).
• The preparation of a READINESS programme to develop national capacities for project development.

Will Senegal be taking advantage of mitigation finance?

Yes. The Government of Senegal considers the Green Climate Fund as a great opportunity for leveraging mitigation finance. The Green Climate Fund is financing adaptation as well as mitigation, and it has an important Climate Facility component.

Image: Flooding in Senegal,  courtesy Martinez Codina, flickr.com