Global Water Partnership facilitates South-South GCF Direct Access Learning Exchange

“The exchange will facilitate understanding of the strategic approach to GCF pipeline development and programming & utilising GCF’s concessionary finance to enable a fundamental change in climate mitigation and adaptation investments at scale. GWP is working with several countries and partners on GCF funded projects and there have been a lot of learnings which we will continue to share,” explained Anjali Lohani, GWP Senior Water and Climate Resilience Specialist. 

Direct access is a distinctive feature of the Green Climate Fund, designed to support national or regional entities to channel GCF’s climate finance to the country. This South-to-South Direct Access Learning Exchange brought together DAEs at different stages of GCF programming and accreditation to share knowledge and lessons learned on direct access to the GCF, both in strategic and operational domains. Exchanges took place across and among both experienced and nascent DAEs – so that best practices and strategies of success can be grounded in the context of practical challenges and barriers to harness actionable learning.  

As one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world, Sri Lanka is looking to rapidly ramp up its direct access to the GCF. The Climate Change Secretariat at the Ministry of Environment in Sri Lanka – the country’s GCF NDA – has establishedan NDA Direct Access Helpdesk to support and accelerate accreditation of suitable national entities that would help Sri Lanka in realising its climate ambitions. The South-to-South Direct Access Learning Exchange is part of Sri Lanka’s NDA Direct Access Helpdesk, organized under its GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, with GWP as a delivery partner. 

“This learning platform is very important for us because countries can exchange their knowledge on climate change financing. We are particularly interested in learning more about the mechanism of accessing financing from the GCF. We also hope that because of this learning exchange, Sri Lanka can have more DAEs as currently we only have one,” explained Mr. Kamal Rohitha Uduwawala, Secretary, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Environment, GCF NDA.

The learning exchange supported NDAs and DAEs understandbest practices for successful GCF pipeline development and programming, technical and financial structuring of GCF concessional finance to develop bankable investments, concept note development andutilising Project Preparation Facilities. Participants also discussed fit-for-purpose accreditation and lessons from accreditation processes thatconsider GCF Country Programme Priorities and characteristics of specific DAEs. The exchange has fostered and established a longer-term South-to-South Learning Partnership among participating entities. 

As a GCF accredited readiness delivery partner, the Global Water Partnership Organization has recently supported five countries in implementing Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness Projects aimed at enhancing the countries’ capacity to access and manage climate finance, develop GCF Country Programmes, and develop investment concept notes. These countries include Zambia, Eswatini, Somalia, Central African Republic, and Sri Lanka, whose project completes in March 2025.

Through this support, 16 Technical & Institutional Assessments were conducted, 18 Policies & Strategic Frameworks developed, 10 GCF Concept Notes developed, 10 Gender Mainstreaming Frameworks & Tools developed, 15 Capacity Building Initiatives conducted, and 9 Knowledge Platforms & Accompanying Tools established. 

The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa, which is also a GCF accredited delivery partner, has also been working with DAEs such as the DBSA, regional organisations such as the African Union Commission and the Southern African Development Community as well as National Designated Authorities on improving capacity on access to climate finance for climate-resilient water investments.  

GWPSA is currently supporting the African Union Commission to implement a multicounty GCF Readiness Support initiative in fifteen AU Member States to accelerate water and climate resilient gender-transformative investments through the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP).   

Tunisia, which attended the learning exchange, is among the fifteen AU Member States implementing the multicounty GCF Readiness Support Initiative under which it requires capacity development support for its existing nominated Direct Access Entities among others. It was represented at the learning exchange workshop by its nominated Direct Access Entity, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC Tunisia), a long-term public investor, which serves public interest in all its interventions. 

“The main challenge that CDC is facing is the accreditation process itself. We started our accreditation back in 2016 and are still working on it. The preparation of a GCF project proposal is also a challenging process so this learning experience is important for us. There is a lot of potential for the CDC if we get support for the two processes: accreditation and project preparation,” explained Eng. Dora Fadhloun from CDC Tunisia. 

In collaboration with the SADC Secretariat, DBSA and GWPSA are working together with thirteen SADC Member States to develop a coordinated regional approach to climate-resilient water investment as part of the SADC Regional Climate Resilient Water Investment Programme (SADC -AIP): Climate Resilient Hydrological Cycle Observation System, whose development is funded by the GCF. This project preparation process was one among the many case studies showcased during the learning exchange.

Almost all the participants were able to identify tangible actions based on the knowledge gained from the exchange. To further facilitate this process, each entity prepared a direct access roadmap to translate the learnings from the exchange into specific action items. Some of the actions identified were steps to enhance coordination with GCF, developing partnerships, exchanging with accredited entities, establishing dedicated GCF units, and setting deadlines and milestones moving forward.