GCF mission to support Malawi… as USA, UK, Ireland support LDC funding initiative

The GCF is a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries with climate change adaptation & mitigation practices.

Idriss

Sharm El Sheik, Egypt: A high-level Green Climate Fund (GCF) mission is scheduled to visit Malawi in December to help build the capacity of key technocrats and support the development of the country's multi-sectoral, multi-million-dollar bankable project.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is one of the climate financing entities established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and climate resilience programmes in developing countries. The 194 UNFCCC parties always claim that the GCF money is extremely difficult to obtain due to "prohibitive measures."

Malawi, for example, has struggled to access funds due to 'tedious' qualification requirements and unrealistic procedures that can hardly be met by most vulnerable countries like Malawi, where expertise is scarce.

“The mission will be in this country by mid-December this year and when they arrive in Malawi, we will assemble key technical heads from different sectors to benefit from the training. The most exciting part is by the end of the mission, we also want to have an almost completed bankable proposal defined or completed,’’ said Yamikani Idriss an Environmental Officer who is also an acting lead negotiator at CoP 27.

According to Green Climate Fund (GCF) country reports, South Africa's total GCF has been US$179.2 million since 2010, Zambia's is US$91.2 million, and Malawi's is US435.3 million.

The GCF is a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries with climate change adaptation and mitigation practices.

Malawi Planning Commission Development Planning Manager Sipho Billiat stated that Malawi should identify experts or institutions to assist with negotiations and the writing of funding proposals.

The Global Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) are the UNFCCC's two operating finance entities.

According to Julius Ng'oma, National Coordinator of the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC), accessing GCF funds is difficult because countries are required to submit proposals that require input from various studies, which can take two to three years to complete. He added that even after the funds are accessed, it takes nearly a year for the money to start flowing into the country.

“These are some of the processes that most developing countries are against,” he said.

Idriss, on the other hand, said that, in addition to GCF funds, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have launched their own initiative, known as the Least Developed Countries Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AIR), through which they have been able to mobilise resources that can be accessed without too many strings attached. Malawi is one of the first six countries to benefit from the initiative, and the first project, LIFE-AR, will be launched on November 25th, 2022 in Salima District.

According to Idriss, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland have already contributed more than US$6.8 million to the initiative.

Idriss stated that the process of obtaining funding for the initiative was simple and straightforward because, after establishing the initiative, the LDC extended an invitation to developed countries for their participation.

“We didn’t need to write proposals but it was an initiative which was developed by the LDCs and we invited the developed countries to join and fund it and there are a lot of them who have shown interest. We have the Swedish government and others who want to join as well,” he said.

Idriss stated that the LDC initiative is one of several initiatives that poor countries would like to develop as they try to negotiate with the GCF to modify its financial facility qualification requirements.

He went on to say that such deliberate efforts are required for all developing countries in order to access funding for climate adaptation and resilience projects.

Concerning the GCF, Idriss stated that Malawi has raised its concerns with relevant authorities at high-level meetings such as the UN CoP summit and the General Assembly and that the efforts have been fruitful.

“The GCF has heard our concerns and they are sending a mission to Malawi so that we sit down together with all the relevant sectors to discuss how best they can help us to come up with a strong team and the capacity to develop proposals. They have assured us that when the mission is going back, they should at least have one multisectoral bankable project which should entice the process for us to access the funds. So, after the CoP27, they are going to be in Malawi,” he said.

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