Civil society in Africa gets ready for the Green Climate Fund (GCF)

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has the ambition to become the most important multilateral instrument in climate finance. Africa has become a focus region for the GCF early on. As it is unlikely that the intended paradigm shift towards low-carbon emissions and climate-resilient economies and societies (GCF founding mandate) can be achieved without broad civil society (CS) engagement, it is essential to scale-up existing civil society capacities to advocate for ambitious proposals, bring on-the-ground expertise to the table, help embed GCF-funded activities in a broader societal support for transformation and increase accountability of national authorities.

To support such efforts, a group of civil society organisations including Germanwatch, is currently implementing the project “Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Readiness for the Green Climate Fund” with a primary focus on Africa. With financial support from the International Climate Initiative (IKI), the project complements civil society engagement by many other organisations in relation to the GCF. It aims to support broader African civil society engagement in the critical early implementation phase of the GCF by developing readiness materials which facilitate CSOs engagement; supporting CSOs engagement in key African countries (with a focus on Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, and Senegal), and sharing of experiences at regional and global scales for expanded CSOs engagement in Africa and beyond. The national activities are guided by common approaches and tools, ranging from state of play assessments to national stakeholder engagement and sharing of lessons learned on regional and global levels.

The report summarises key activities and achievements under the project as of February 2018, from national engagement in the five focus countries to regional exchange and global influencing.