HEREIN ARRIVED AT ON THE SIDELINES OF THE 2021 AFRICAN MINISTERS OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC PLANNING CONFERENCE IN ADDIS ABABA ETHIOPIA

ON THE 22ND DAY OF MARCH 2021

• Introduction

Africa is currently facing the twin challenges of the climate crisis and COVID – 19; all of which the continent is very secondary to their causes. As a result, the continent has become increasingly vulnerable socially, economically and environmentally – with occasional impacts like economic meltdown, increasing temperatures, declining soil potentials, irregular rainfall patterns, declining agricultural yields, unprecedented desertification etc.

The plight of the continent is amplified by the fact that the continent was/is already struggling with other challenges such as drought, floods, malnutrition, water scarcity, energy deficiency which can be attributed to climate change. Given the travel restrictions imposed by government’s world over, African governments have lost significant revenue especially in the hospitality industry and tourism. Consequently, most of the African countries are struggling to fund their budgets and in some cases to service their external debts.

While the continent continues to suffer the challenges alluded to in the first and second paras, there are indications that the Green Climate Fund (GCF); at first set to support African developing countries and continent at large respond to her climate crisis need; have continually sought to support mitigation projects in the continent through loans as opposed to adaptation grants – which are the priority action areas for the continent. Similarly, despite the continent’s limited ability to participate in the ongoing discussions on project approvals by the facility’s board, there has occurred a GCF board meeting thereby raising the question of procedural injustice amongst the African CSOs. 

In addition to the described undoings, the National Designated Authorities; one of the most critical structures in the administration of the GCF at the national levels; and the accredited entities to the facility; despite the participatory principle and nature of the facility; have continually sidestepped the critical role of the African CSOs in the administration of the facility including in monitoring and evaluation. Besides the neglect/omission of the role of the African CSO in the whole process, a huge challenge is increasingly cropping in the continent; administration of cross-boundary or regional GCF projects.

• Response Proposals by the African Civil Society Organizations

With such undoing of the facility (the Green Climate Fund) on one hand and the ability of the fund to help the continent build back and forward better in a zero-carbon development pathway, the African CSOs through the African regional node to the GCF readiness project; the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance; PACJA; therefore seek as follows;

• That the facility must re-think her investment in the continent from mitigation to adaptation especially considering the loss and damage caused by the pandemic to the African continent’s backbone sectors like Agriculture, Energy, and Water etc. 
• That through the African CSO actors, the fund prioritizes ground-level impact through enhanced participation before the issuance of the no objection letter by the NDAs. By so doing, the facility will contribute to a larger extent “locally-led climate action” and the implementation of NDCs at the grassroots level hence reducing emissions and therefore realizing the global 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.
• That given the increasing difficulty in the monitoring and evaluation of the cross border or regional projects, the CSOs suggest that a specific NDA be put as the overall “project coordination point” for enhanced admiration including monitoring and evaluation whenever regional or cross border projects are approved by the board.
• That in approval of the project proposals, the facility must prioritize the implementation of the African Countries Nationally Determined Contribution alongside greener recovery from the prevailing pandemic (COVID – 19).
• That the facility must be aware of the procedural injustice upon the African continent and re-think her convenings given the infrastructural challenges including limited connectivity, energy insufficiency or power outages, smart gadgets etc. in order to ensure the participation of the African constituency representatives; which the facility was meant for in the first place.

• Monitoring and Evaluation of the Proposed Responses

To monitor and evaluate the proposed responses, the African regional node; Pan African Climate Justice (PACJA) alongside partners; Care International and GermanWatch; and the GCF fellows from the project areas shall engage with the board and continually provide updated reports to the African CSO actors.