Training delivery
Around 40 experts from 17 countries in the Arab region participated in the regional training workshop on Climate Finance Access for Arab States that took place in Tunis, Tunisia from 18 – 20 September 2022. The training, the 3rd of a series of regional workshops under the auspices of the Needs Based Finance (NBF) Project, was aimed at enhancing knowledge about project development processes, including available climate finance sources and instruments, and preparing bankable climate change project concepts based on identified regional priorities.
In addition to the joint staff from the Climate Finance Team of the Means of Implementation division and the UNFCCC-WGEO Regional Collaboration Center (RCC) for MENA and South Asia, based in Dubai, the powerhouse training team included climate finance experts from the following international institutions: Adaptation Fund (AF), African Development Bank, Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), Food and Agriculture organization (FAO), Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), HSBC, Sahel and Sahara Observatory (OSS) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
In his opening remarks, Mr. Muhammad Taimur, Global Team Lead, UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centers, invited participants to take advantage of this opportunity where climate finance experts from various international institutions collaborate in a training to improve the region’s ability in accessing scaled-up climate finance to support its priority mitigation and adaptation needs. Mr. Mohamed Hamouda, of the League of Arab States (LAS), on the other hand, highlighted the importance of the mandate provided by the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) to the UNFCCC secretariat and its partners in the region (LAS and ESCWA) to finalize the Climate Finance Access and Mobilization Strategy for Arab States. The draft strategy is currently being circulated for technical input and has been discussed during the training, ahead of its formal political adoption. Mr. Albara Tawfiq, chair of the Arab group of negotiators stressed the need to close the gap between climate finance needed as outlined in the NDCs and NAPs, and climate finance mobilized, which has to come mainly from international public finance.
At the end of the 3-day workshop, the participants developed regional adaptation project concepts on wastewater treatment, coast zone protection and food security which will be further developed after the training. A regional investment forum is planned to mobilize finance to support these 3 priority regional projects.
During the training, participants availed of tools to address their regional climate finance challenges, which include limited technical and financial resources for developing project proposals, insufficient institutional coordination and lack of direct access entities. Countries noted that pooling resources to address knowledge and data gaps, particularly for responses to adaptation and climate resilience, may be explored at subregional levels among neighboring countries. In addition, participants benefited from numerous engagement sessions, aimed at guiding them to understand the different requirements in applying for funding, and transforming ideas into bankable project proposals. Both the participants and trainers appreciated the opportunity to engage and exchange views on how to enhance climate finance access and mobilization.
In her closing remarks, H.E. Ms. Leila Chikhaoui-Mahdaoui, Minister of Environment of Tunisia reiterated the importance of this training in building regional experts’ capacities to tackle the challenges developing countries face in accessing and mobilizing climate finance, and hoped more workshops will be organized in the future to keep enhancing capacities and exchanging experiences.
