Enhancing Direct Access
A dedicated access window to channel climate financing to homegrown organisations in developing countries.Overview
The Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) pilot channels climate financing to homegrown organisations in developing countries. USD 200 million have been approved for this pilot programme.
The objective of this pilot is to enhance country ownership of projects and programmes through a dedicated access window for GCF’s Direct Access Entities (DAEs). The EDA pilot is characterised by an enhanced devolution of decision making whereby both funding decisions and project oversight take place at the national or regional level. This can be achieved by, for example, establishing a dedicated facility to fund small-scale community projects.
The EDA pilot has been designed to provide DAEs with opportunities to move beyond the financing of individual projects towards a more comprehensive and stakeholder-driven programmatic approach. The EDA pilot differs from other GCF access windows because individual sub-projects neither have to be presented in the funding proposal nor subsequently submitted to GCF for approval. Instead, the decision-making mechanism for such sub-projects is devolved at the country level through preapproved selection criteria. The composition of decision-making body as well as other features of the EDA pilot should be captured in the funding proposal. Furthermore, the EDA pilot provides flexibility to accommodate a broad range of country conditions and circumstances while the AE maintains the oversight mechanism to ensure effective delivery of funding.
Key advantages of EDA include:
- Enhanced level of country ownership;
- More effective use of financial resources;
- Stronger involvement of local organisations and other stakeholders; and
- Flexible and context-specific approach.
More information can be found in the guidelines:
Enhancing Direct Access Guidelines
02 Nov 2021
The Green Climate Fund (GCF), Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) pilot intends to boost access by sub-national, national and regional, public, and private entities to GCF climate finance. EDA promotes country ownership of projects and programmes and devolves decision-making to local actors.
Eligibility
Eligible activities
- EDA pilot proposals can include both adaptation and mitigation activities, under one or more of GCF’s result areas.
- EDA pilot proposals should directly support communities or small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) through, for example, small grants or extended lines of credit.
- Activities should target local actors, addressing gender aspects and the needs of vulnerable communities.
Eligible entities
Accredited DAEs can submit funding proposals under the EDA pilot. DAEs that are not yet accredited can submit an EDA concept note. However, they should be accredited before the GCF Board considers their funding proposal. The EDA pilot structure allows the grant-awarding and on-lending of funds to a subset of sub-national organisations, small communities and grassroot organisations. Therefore, only DAEs accredited for the grant-award function or other allocation mechanisms, such as on-lending and/or blending functions, are eligible to apply for the EDA pilot.
Webinars
DCP Webinar - Consultations on the second phase of the Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) Pilot
July 2021
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) pilot aims to increase access to climate finance by sub-national, national and regional, public and private entities and devolve decision-making to institutions, organizations and other actors in the front-line of mitigation and adaptation actions, especially at the local level. The GCF EDA was launched as a pilot in June 2016, and it is currently being reviewed. To further expand its access, efficiency and usage, the GCF Secretariat...
Locally-led climate action with the GCF: the Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) Pilot
January 2021
The session is organized by the International Center for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) as part of the Gobeshona Global Conference, in partnership with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on 21 January 2021 at 12:00 BST / 15:00 KST. This session aims to engage partners involved in locally led climate action in an open discussion about the GCF’s Enhancing Direct Access (EDA) pilot and its recently released EDA guidelines, and to draw from partners’ insights and practical experience to help...
Open dialogue on the development of the GCF Enhancing Direct Access Guidelines
December 2020
The webinar is organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in partnership with the GCF. This webinar aims to engage partners involved in locally led climate action, including GCF’s accredited entities and NDAs/Focal Points, in an open discussion that will ensure that their views, insights and practical experience from the implementation of locally led climate projects are reflected in the development of the EDA Guidelines currently under development by the GCF Secretariat. The...
Projects
Two funding proposals have been approved to date, with several others in the pipeline. We encourage DAEs to submit more concept notes and funding proposals to the pilot programme.
