Climate finance workshop for OECS member states
27 – 31 March 2023, Radisson Grenada Beach Resort
Programme
The Climate finance workshop comprises 2 parts. Readiness, and Access& Mobilization. The first 2 days will be focused on Readiness project closing. The remaining 3 days of the workshop will address access to finance and will be conducted with the operating entities of the financial mechanism (GEF, GCF) and others (e.g. AF accredited entities, financial instructions) jointly. It aims to provide an understanding of project development, structuring and submission as required by each Fund or Institution in further developing a pipeline of projects draft concepts as agreed by OECS member states. Skills learned in the workshop will enable participants to access finance for priority project proposals for the region. Skills learned in this workshop will enable participants to develop project proposals to mobilize finance from both public and private sources at the international, regional, and national level. The workshop also serves as an opportunity for national experts to engage with each other, exchange information on their priority needs and deliberate on ways to address common challenges as a group. Participants are invited to come prepared to engage actively in the workshop to both share and agree on outcome recommendations.
The Organization of Caribbean States, as facilitated by the UN Climate change (UNFCCC) secretariat has supported the 6 OECS member states to determine their regional climate finance needs and priorities resulting the development of a Climate Finance Access and Mobilization Strategy. The Needs-based finance project, was developed in response to decisions of the Conference of the Parties under Long-term finance1.
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Time
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Description
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Interventions
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08:30 – 09:00
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Registration
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09:00 – 09:30
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Opening session
Host country opening remarks
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Shanna Emmanuel, Programme Officer, Climate and Disaster Resilience, OECS
Merina Jessamy, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Climate Resilience, Environment and Renewable Energy, Grenada
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09:30 – 09:45
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Coffee break and group photo
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9:45 – 10:00
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Introduction
This provided an overview and objectives of the training workshop and an opportunity to hear the participants’ expectations.
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Ameil Harikishun, Finance Thematic Lead, CKDN
Shanna Emmanuel, Programme Officer, Climate and Disaster Resilience, OECS
Grant Kirkman, Programme Officer, Means of Implementation – Climate Finance, UNFCCC
NBF Status 2023
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10:00 – 13:00
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Session 1: Enhancing Collaboration through the OECS Climate Finance Strategy
This session discussed the possible areas of collaboration among the countries in providing an overview of the OECS Climate Finance Access and Mobilization strategy.
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Paula Buendia, Consultant, MEXICO2
Expectations of the Workshop
Climate Finance Access Strategy
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13:00 – 14:00
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Lunch break
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14:00 – 15:30
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Session 2: Regional Priority Programmes of OECS
This session discussed 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.
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Presentation by UNFCCC
Interventions by OECS
Q&A
Group exercise to identify 3 – 5 regional programme ideas (45 mins):
Mentimeter for gathering high-level suggested topics from country teams.
Mentimeter for plenary voting on ranking priority topics to be considered for potential regional programmes.
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15:30 – 17:00
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Session 3: Overview by climate funds and their project cycles
This session provided 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 was 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 allowed 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.
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Mentimeter icebreaker – Ameil Harikishun (5min)
Presentations by funds (3 x 10mins = 30mins) GEF, GCF, AF
Interactive discussion – Ameil Harikishun (40min)
Breakout discussions amongst programme teams (20mins)
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Time
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Description
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Interventions
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8:30 – 9:00
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Registration
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09:00 – 09:15
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Recap of Day 3 and overview of day 4
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OECS /UNFCCC
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09:15 – 11:00
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Session 4: Establishing the climate and regional rationale
This session elucidated 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 allowed the audience to gain insight into their respective perspectives on what a climate rationale is and what a robust climate rationale looks like. Participants then broke 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.
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Ice breaker and walkthrough of the process for the peer-to-peer learning process – Ameil Harikishun (10min)
Priming interventions (3 x 5mins): GEF, GCF, AF
Interactive plenary discussion (30min)
Break out work on Miro Board (45min)
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11:00 – 11:15
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Tea/Coffee break
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11:15 – 13:00
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Session 5: Understanding programme design and introducing the Theory of Change approach
This session introduced 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 provided 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.
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Overview presentation (15mins)
Presentations by funds (3 x 7mins)
GEF, GCF, AF
Interactive discussion – Ameil Harikishun (25min)
Breakout work on Miro Board (30mins)
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13:00 – 14:00
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Lunch break
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14:00 – 15:30
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Session 6: Social and gender considerations, Environmental and Social Safeguards and risk management
This session was focused 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 also identified and discussed the different risks that a project should consider and how can they 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.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
Interventions:
Ameil Harikishun (10min) - Introduction to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), and safeguard policies (interactive)
GCF, Adaptation Fund, GEF (3 x 5min)
Interactive Plenary Discussion (25min)
Break out work on Miro Board (40min)
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15:30 – 17:00
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Session 7: Concrete solutions and addressing the challenges in accessing climate finance
Participants went into in-depth discussions on the challenges that their respective regional programmes seek to address; exploring concrete solutions that can be included in the respective regional programmes.
In addition, sub-national, national and regional mechanisms and approaches were discussed; furthering the discussions started during the first two days of the workshop.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
Presentation of case studies by respective funds. Case studies from GEF, AF
Interactive discussion
Breakout work on Miro Board, to continue into working session 8
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15:30 – 17:00
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Session 8: Working session on regional programme ideas – Miro Board
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Day 5 – Access & Mobilization
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Time
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Description
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Interventions
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8:30 - 9:00
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Registration
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09:00 – 09:15
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Recap of Day 4 and overview of day 5
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09:15 – 11:00
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Working session
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11:00 – 11:15
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Tea/Coffee break
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| 11:15 – 11:45 |
Session 9: Determining financial feasibility/project viability and establishing the investment framework.
The concept of project viability and/or financial feasibility was 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.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
Intervention:
GCF, AF, GEF (3 x 5min)
Interactive discussion (35min)
Breakout work on Miro Board (45min)
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| 11:45 – 12:15 |
Session 10: Mobilising private sector climate finance: instruments of climate finance and the role of blended finance
This session aimed to deepen the conversations started on the first two days on mobilising private sector climate finance and engagement on climate action.
The session explained the role of private sector, building upon discussions from the first two days of the workshop. In particular, the role of SMEs in the mobilization and delivery of climate finance was touched upon, and conducting investor mapping and the private sector windows of the operating entities.
In addition, the session explained climate finance instruments such as concessional loans, grants, equity, export credits, guarantees, bonds and carbon pricing, as well as how public and private finance can be effectively blended or structured using different instruments to maximize financial viability as well as climate objectives.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
Presentation by GCF on the Private Sector Facility
Presentation by GEF on Blended Finance
Presentation of case studies
Interactive discussion on private sector opportunities as it relates to the respective programme ideas
Breakout work on Miro Board
Additional: GCF Private Sector Strategy
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12:15 – 13:00
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Working session
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13:00 – 14:00
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Lunch break
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14:00 – 15:00
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Session 10: Working session - Project concept and programme theory of change development
In this session, participants continued to 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.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
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15:00 – 15:15
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Tea/Coffee break
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15:15 – 16:30
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Session 11: Project concept presentations and next steps
During this session the participants had the opportunity of presenting 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.
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Moderated by: Ameil Harikishun
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16:30 – 17:15
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Closing session
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Host
UNFCCC
OECS
Next steps
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