LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi requires local accredited Green Climate Funds (GCF) for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in climate change sector to access resources on various projects implementation.
This comes as CSOs are grappling to tap resources from GFC due to guidelines’ complexity.
Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC)’s National Coordinator Julius Ng’oma told The Maravi Post in an interview that local accredited GCF entity will be responsible for assessing proposals for climate change intervention projects as a requirement.
Ng’oma was speaking during the sidelines of “Draft Endline Study Report the GCF CSO Project Phase II’ presentation his organisation shared to the public at Mponera, Dowa on September 29, 2022.
He observed that for a long time Malawi’s CSOs have been struggling to access GCF resources despite efforts, coaching and among others.
“This draft study aimed at unpacking methods, technics on how CSOs can use to access GCF resources. Therefore, what Malawi needs now is local accredited entity which will act as middle man between GCF and CSOs to access resources.
“This is so as GCF resources requires has complex formats for individual organization to access resources directly. Currently, Malawi CSOs access GCF resources through consortium particularly UNDP which only a few benefits,” says Ng’oma.
Professor Sosten Chiotha of LEADSEA whose organisation applied for GCF’s Malawi accredited entity observes that the journey has not been easy for the process.
Professor Chiotha therefore disclosed that is engaging University of Malawi (UNIMA) for partnership on GCF’s Malawi accredited agency.
“We are currently engaging University of Malawi (UNIMA) for our proposal to become Malawi’s GCF accredited entity. UNIMA has the manpower, resources while LeadSea is conversant with technicalities.
“With this partnership, we are sure that our proposal will be approved that local CSOs, NGOs are able to access GCF resources directly,” assures Prof Chiotha.
Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) is a membership-based organization for civil society working in climate change, disaster risk and environmental management.
In line with its mission, CISONECC in partnership with CARE German, German Watch and CARE Malawi are implementing the GCF-CSO Readiness Project II in Malawi.
The main goal of the project is to increase CSOs involvement and engagement with Green Climate Fund.
The project aims at strengthening the engagement of civil society actors and organizations in the GCF processes at national, regional and international levels and scale-up existing CSOs’ capacities as well as to ensure accountability of GCF-funded activities by national authorities through a broader societal mobilization for transformation and better impacts.
Through this project, CISONECC has implemented a number of activities including conducting a baseline state of play assessment of GCF processes in Malawi, monitoring activities of GCF projects and has convened a number of national level stakeholders’ workshops on GCF related matters.
As the GCF CSO Readiness Project II is coming to an end, CISONECC partnered with a consultant to conduct an endline study on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) – Civil Society Readiness Project II in Malawi.
CISONECC also partnered SCIAF based in Scotland support the process of reviewing and development of a new CISONECC strategic plan and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the period 2022 to 2026.
