Capacity building to raise finance for climate resilience in Africa
Submitted by esther.lake@undp.org on 25 September 2018
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UNDP and UN Environment are building endogenous capacity for climate change adaptation financing in African developing countries. Climate change financing is key to adaptation planning and implementation.
24 September 2018, Kigali, Rwanda: Representatives from Ministries of Environment, Planning and Finance from over 50 countries across Africa are meeting this week in Kigali to attend consecutive workshops on adaptation financing, held in English from 25-28 September 2018, and in French from 1-4 October 2018.
The overarching goals of this initiative are to strengthen technical capacity to prepare and review climate change adaptation projects, and to promote understanding of the financial landscape which will make these projects possible.
Climate change exacerbates existing threats to water resources, food security, natural ecosystems and livelihoods. Many African developing countries are already facing urgent pressures to adapt to the impacts of climate change. with limited resources.
For many African developing countries, climate change adaptation is a priority in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. But they still face a shortfall in accessing financing which will enable them to work towards building long term resilience.
These workshops provide an opportunity for planners and policy-makers to enhance their knowledge of the various sources of adaptation financing options which exist, to deepen their understanding of their mechanisms and conditions, and to develop skills in how to access them effectively.
Financing climate change adaptation effectively requires an understanding of the specific national adaptation landscape, knowledge of key conditions for access to various sources of finance, and the ability to prepare and present fundable adaptation projects. Potential funding sources include the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Adaptation Fund (AF) as well as private sector financing.
African developing countries have requested for more support to access adaptation financing and for adaptation project development. These training workshops are designed to include knowledge exchange on the adaptation financial landscape, exercises on developing bankable proposals, and discussion on best practices to facilitate South-South collaboration.
‘There is an urgent need for us to strengthen our immediate and longer-term ability to access adaptation financing, so we can plan our adaptation activities and build resilience,’ said Faustin Munyazi Kwiye, Deputy Director General of Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) at the opening of the training workshop.
‘Key to this is our ability to design, prepare and submit adaptation project proposals which will align with the requirements of various funders.’
The training is an activity under the joint UNDP-UN Environment National Adaptation Plan Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP), funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It is facilitated by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and experts from other organisations and the African region, including World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Regional Agricultural and Environment Initiatives Network Africa (RAEIN-AFRICA), Fund for Environment and Climate Change in Rwanda (FONERWA) and United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). This training is part of a series of targeted training workshops on adaptation planning, held in response to needs and gaps identified by developing countries globally. For this training, the NAP GSP team collaborated also with the UNDP Strengthening of Governance of Climate Finance team on sessions related to gender and climate finance.
'UNDP, together with UN Environment and our programme partners, are responding to an expressed need from African developing countries for support to advance adaptation financing,’ said Jessica Troni, Senior Programme Officer: Adaptation Portfolio, UN Environment ‘Our support will strengthen the adaptation actions and plans initiated in the region, support the mobilisation of financial resources, and enhance regional resilience.’