African CSOs Discuss the implementation of GCF- Funded projects in Africa

Niamey, Niger, February 25, 2023 

The African Civil society organizations from countries implementing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) projects are sharing experiences on the monitoring outcome of the implementation of projects in Africa and sharing their national-level experiences and results of the M&E activities, and discuss their conclusions and recommendations.

In this workshop taking place on the Sidelines of ninth Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable development (ARFSD) in Niamey Niger, implementing partners are tackling common issues and lessons learned and will be putting together a fact sheet as one of the project output materials of the workshop.

Speaking to participants, Mr. Charles Mwangi, the head of Programs and Research, PACJA said that the implementation of GCF has been slow and that there is disparity between countries in accessing funds especially in Africa. He said that one of the reason of this disparity is not known whether it’s linked to inadequacy or lack of capacity of those countries in need of the funds.

He said that African countries have been facing challenges including floods in countries such as Malawi and Nigeria while the East and Horn of Africa, communities are entering the 6^th season of drought which has seen communities lose their livestock and livelihoods.

Presentations from Madagascar, Namibia and Morocco showcased how the projects are performing and various approaches used in the monitoring and evaluation of GCF funded projects.

However, challenges including lack of communication, access to information and others are among observations shared by representatives from the implementing countries.

Speaking to participants, Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of PACJA said that CSOs have been doing their work but “this is time to go deeper in what they need to do as CSOs more than merely monitoring the implementation of GCF funded projects. “CSOs have been vocal to establish financial climate action. The climate fund is supposed to be quick intervention but bureaucracy has made this very challenging. We need to go deeper our roles as CSO,” urged Mithika Mwenda.

The workshop is taking place in line with the “Civil Society Organizations Readiness for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) – Focus Africa” which is in its second phase. Participants explored various challenges met in the implementation of the monitoring processes including lack of synergy, access to information on funding, communication gap and accountability hindrances.

It is expected that participants of the workshop will develop joint recommendations for improving the quality of GCF-funded activities, as well as the transparency and accountability of these processes and the local buy-in to ensure impact and sustainability.

Under the leadership of  German Watch and  Care Germany, the project is implemented by a consortium of organizations, including the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA); association des Enseignants des Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre (AESVT) in Morocco; Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement (JVE) Cameroon; JVE Côte d’Ivoire; Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) in Malawi; the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF); SAF/FJKM, Madagascar; Kasa Initiative in Ghana and ENDA Energie in Senegal. It also includes CARE offices in Madagascar, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi and the CARE in Egypt Foundation.