Welcoming remarks

Panel Discussion and Q&A on NDC Implementation and Climate Finance Planning in Tajikistan
Panelists from the Government of Tajikistan and development partners will discuss how Tajikistan’s NDC Implementation Plan and Climate Finance Plan can help capture and implement climate investments. The discussion will lead to the peer convening sessions in the afternoon. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Moderator: Ms. Estefania Ardila, Deputy Director of Country Engagement, NDC Partnership
Panelists:
Mr. Bahodur Sheralizoda, Chairman of CEP
Ms. Shanny Campbell, Country Director and Tajikistan Resident Mission, ADB
Mr. Zafar Makhmudov, Executive Director, The Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC)
Mr. Peter Riley, Mission Director in Tajikistan, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Setting the Stage: Planning for NDC Investments – Guidelines from the NDC Partnership
Presenter: Mr. Joaquim Leite, Head of Climate Finance, NDC Partnership

Presentation by the NDC Partnership on the NDC Partnership NDC Investment Planning Guide (10 min, followed by 10 min Q&A).

The presenter will also explain the mechanics of the Peer Convening Sessions (5 mins):
• Two breakout rooms on the two first stages of the NDC Investment Planning Stages, namely Stage 1: Investment planning capacity, Stage 2. Each room will have a scene-setting presentation and a moderated exchange between participants on the topics covered. Each room will have two tables, one English-Tajik and one Russian-English. Each table will have a leader moderating the discussion. After the peer discussion, team leaders will share the outcomes to the room and prepare the messages for the report back to the plenary.
• After the two sessions, the groups will join the plenary room to discuss Stage 3: Investment mobilization. This session will have a roundtable format. The session will be opened with three scene-setting presentations by partners, followed by an open discussion between partners and the audience.

Stage 1: Investment planning capacity
Moderators: Mr. Joaquim Leite, Head of Climate Finance, NDC Partnership
Mr. Michael Lindfield, Senior Climate Finance Specialist, ADB

The first stage is cross-cutting and deals with setting robust and inclusive NDC investment institutional arrangements across government levels, and sectors to facilitate the planning/implementation of NDC priority actions, engage stakeholders, and monitor and report progress. During this stage, clear roles and mandates are set, and stakeholders across the NDC planning process that countries can leverage are mapped to identify NDC investment needs and mobilize resources.
• Scene-setting presentation Lessons from the Climate Finance Center of the Kyrgyz Republic (15 mins)
Presenter: Mr. Dastan Abdyldaev, Climate Policy and Finance Expert at the Climate Finance Centre of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision
• Peer exchange (45 mins)

Stage 2: Investment needs identification and prioritization

Moderators: Mr. Samet Sevket Bulut, Climate Change Specialist, ADB
Mr. Putera Zenata, Regional Program Officer, NDC Partnership

The second stage for NDC investment planning is identifying the country’s investment needs through a participatory and inclusive process. This stage involves identifying financing needs to achieve NDCs goals and other development policies, including NAPs, LTS, and SDGs.
• Scene-setting presentation by Tajikistan CEP (15 mins)
• Peer exchange (45 mins)

Opening session

Opening remarks for the 2nd part of the forum, a climate finance interactive workshop

Introduction

This session will provide an overview and objectives of the training workshop and an opportunity to hear the participants’ expectations.

Moderator

UNFCCC secretariat

Session 1: Understanding needs and a Climate Finance Strategy

This session will discuss the possible areas of collaboration among the countries, hearing from each country about their climate finance needs and challenges.

Moderator

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia

Session 2: Regional Priorities and Programmes

This session will discuss the information on the technical assessment and priorities, with the aim of identifying 3 – 5 regional programme ideas that can be carried through the series of sessions on project development.

*Potential programme ideas identified in this session will be expanded on and further developed in the succeeding sessions through interactive discussions and breakout groups.

Session 3: Overview by climate funds and their project cycles

This session will provide an overview of the project development processes of different funding institutions and the private sector, highlighting the roles, requirements, and key players for each phase of the process, including accreditation of implementing entities.

A case study will be presented on country experiences in going through the project development cycle to further understand the process. An interactive panel discussion with several multilateral climate funds will allow for a back-and-forth dialogue on project development processes to allow for the participants to gain further clarity on how a project can be originated, developed, financed, and implemented.

Ice breaker

Presentations by the funds

Overview including funding windows, access modalities and key aspects of project development cycle)

Country and or accredited entity case studies

Interactive discussion between participants and representatives of funding institutions.

Session 4: Establishing the climate and regional rationale

This session will elucidate the concept of a climate rationale, a crucial component of developing a project/programme seeking to access climate finance. An interactive panel discussion with several multilateral climate funds will allow the audience to gain insight into their respective perspectives on what a climate rationale is and what a robust climate rationale looks like. Participants will then breakout into smaller groups to work on an exercise in developing a climate rationale, with the intention of developing a succinct articulation of the climate rationale for the respective regional programme ideas identified in session 2.

Ice breaker

Perspectives from funds

Perspectives from Accredited entity/project developer

Interactive discussion

Break-out work on Miro Board

Session 5: Understanding programme design and introducing the Theory of Change approach

This session will introduce the Theory of Change (ToC) approach and provide insight into how this relates to how the respective funds utilise this approach with regards to their project development, appraisal, implementation and M&E. This session will provide an important foundation for the working sessions later in the programme in which a draft ToC will be developed for the potential regional programme ideas.

Overview presentation

Perspectives from funds

Interactive discussion

Break-out work on Miro Board

Session 6: Working session

Programme idea teams will begin fleshing out their regional programme idea on Miro Board, including articulating the baseline and context, understanding data availability and gaps, and starting the process of conceptualising the programme idea with a Theory of Change.

Session 7: Social and gender considerations, Environmental and Social Safeguards and risk management

This session will focus on gender and social considerations in designing project proposals, including the importance of multi-stakeholder consultation processes for developing fit-for-purpose and inclusive programmes. In addition, it will also identify and discuss the different risks that a project should consider and how they can be mitigated and managed. Linked to this issue is the environmental and social safeguards that need to be in place to reduce and prevent potential negative project impacts to the environment and the communities.

Overview presentation

Perspectives from Funds

Interactive discussion

Break-out work on Miro Board

Perspectives from funders

Interactive discussion on private sector opportunities as it relates to the respective programme ideas

Session 9: Packaging regional priority programmes – moving from an idea to a well-articulated programme

This session will allow the respective funds and resources persons to provide further insight into how to package the regional programme ideas into a well-articulated regional programme for accessing climate finance. i.e., articulating key components of the programme, delivery mechanisms (including sub-national, national, regional and international entities for delivery), common challenges of programmes seeking to access climate finance and advice on how to address these early in the conceptualisation of programmes (etc).

Moderator: Ameil Harikishun

Insights from the funds and resource persons

Interactive discussion

Session 10: Determining financial feasibility/project viability and establishing the investment framework

The concept of project viability and/or financial feasibility will be addressed, with respective multilateral climate funds providing insight into how they understand and assess if a project/programme is viable, including insight into their investment framework.

Ice breaker

Perspectives from Funds

Interactive discussion

Break-out work on Miro Board

Session 11: Working session - Project concept and programme theory of change development

In this session, participants will continue work with the trainers in developing a simple logical framework for their project/programme idea, including identifying inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts for their projects. The intention is for participants to use the notes, learning and insight from the previous sessions to structure their idea using a logical framework, and flesh out a concept note template.

Session 12: Project concept presentations and next steps

During this session the participants will have an opportunity to present their project concepts they have developed during the workshop. The partners will provide feedback and discuss next steps so that the participants have a list of things they can do after the workshop to move the project concept further.

Session 13: Summary, next steps and closing

Summary of the training workshop and next steps and closing remarks

Nurek HPP is one of the largest and most powerful power plants in Tajikistan and Central Asia. The construction of the Nurek hydroelectric power station began in 1961. The first unit was put into operation ahead of schedule in 1972 and in 1979 the last unit was put into operation to generate green and inexpensive electricity. It is important to note that the Nurek hydroelectric power station has generated 362.7 billion kWh since its commissioning. There are 9 vertical hydraulic units installed in the HPS building, of which 8 have a capacity of 335 MW and one has a capacity of 320 MW.

As a result of the construction of the hydroelectric power station, the Nurek reservoir arose. The filling of the reservoir with water began in 1972. The volume of the reservoir is 98 km, the length is 70 km, the width is 1 km, the average depth is 107 meters, and the height is 300 meters.

Nurek HPP, generating green and relatively inexpensive electricity, paved the way for the development of industry and the economy of Tajikistan.

Nurek HPP is currently being upgraded. After the modernization of the station is completed, its capacity should increase to 3300 MW. The total cost of the work is estimated at $700 million, the project is being implemented through loans and grants from the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank.

It is also worth mentioning that in addition to generating electricity, the station provides flow regulation for irrigation, both in the Vakhsh region and in the Amudarya, allowing for sustainable pre-sowing and leaching irrigation and stabilizing the water supply to large irrigation canals, which favorably affects the productivity of irrigated agriculture . The Nurek reservoir became a source of water for irrigation of the large Dangara massif, for which the Dangara irrigation tunnel 13.8 km long was built in 1968-1986.