GCF’s Empowering Direct Access workshop focused on supporting the Fund’s direct access entities (DAEs) – national and regional entities nominated for accreditation to the GCF by National Designated Authorities – to develop strong project proposals and strengthen their capacity across several programmatic areas.

The aim of the workshop was to enhance peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, strengthen the capacity of entities and countries and build partnerships to address climate change. The workshop welcomed 68 participants, of which 41 were representatives of DAEs, 19 of NDAs and 8 of development partners.

The event offered the opportunity for the accredited DAEs to engage on how to finalize seven funding proposals and in addition 32 project ideas were shared, along with two enhancing direct access ideas. A number of readiness proposals were also advanced, with six coming from countries and one from a DAE. Furthermore, six Project Preparation Facility requests are expected to be submitted in the near term.

The workshop also included sessions where DAEs presented their best practices to other participants as a peer-to-peer learning exercise. Entities have emphasized their need for targeted support based on existing capacity, accreditation scope as well as length of engagement with the GCF. Key needs have emerged around the following issues:

• Offering focused support to countries to build their scientific evidence as a key enabler of transformative projects;
• Building targeted training on project design and implementation;
• Continuing an annual DAEs workshop to promote peer-to-peer learning and South–South exchange; and
• Further expanding the knowledge base on GCF projects, project design and standards.

Building on last year’s success and looking to address the growing demand for support, the GCF will be holding its second Empowering Direct Access workshop in May-June 2018.