Representatives of the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) direct access Accredited Entities will convene at the Fund’s headquarters next week to boost their capacity in developing strong GCF funding proposals.

The three-day workshop, opening on 23 May, will see GCF’s Direct Access Entities work alongside relevant National Designated Authorities (NDAs), GCF Readiness delivery partners and GCF staff to strengthen entities’ capacity across key areas of engagement with the Fund.

This includes GCF project concept note and funding proposal development, with a focus on refining proposals that have been already submitted to GCF; key elements when formulating proposals, like mainstreaming gender, environmental and social safeguards, risk; and the Fund’s monitoring and reporting policies.

GCF’s direct access Accredited Entities are sub-national, national and regional organizations nominated for accreditation to GCF by NDAs (or focal points). Of the Fund’s 48 Accredited Entities, 23 are direct access. This modality is a key feature of the Green Climate Fund that emphasizes the role of robust and competent entities to enhance country ownership of projects and programmes.

An important aspect of the “Empowering Direct Access workshop” is the opportunity it provides participants to share experiences and knowledge from different perspectives, such as entities that have GCF projects approved, countries with GCF Readiness Support activities underway, as well as the expertise of Readiness delivery partners in helping both countries and entities build their organizational capacities.

Next week’s gathering follows a 2016 week-long workshop that was the first such event organized by GCF focused on direct access entities.

Meeting documentation about the upcoming Direct Access Workshop is available here.