Thank you for your interest in our recent GCF Unpacked webinar, ‘GCF B.35 Unpacked with GCF insight #22’. Welcome to your replay kit.
This webinar, held on Tuesday 28 March, at 12:00 UK time, was our independent analysis of the latest updates of the world’s largest climate fund – the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In this latest dynamic breakdown of events, Dr Grant Ballard-Tremeer and Jamal Gore discussed and unpacked the recent 35th Meeting of the GCF Board (B.35), held on 13 March 2023 in South Korea. They explored the approved projects, accreditations, policy updates, replenishment, the Work plan and pipeline, updates to the Strategic Plan and other relevant insights.
This insightful session also delved deeper into the importance of gender in GCF project design, as Senior analyst, Marcus Arcanjo, Comms specialist, Jack Cribb and two of E Co’s gender specialists, Debasmita Boral Rolland and Roberta Piacci (who recently conducted a specific training on gender considerations in project design which you can watch here) discussed findings from our recently published 22nd GCF insight report, ‘The importance of Gender in GCF project development.‘ They focused on the findings from 78 project developer respondents to our survey.
If you missed this event, don’t worry! This webinar replay kit includes valuable information and a full recording of the webinar as it happened.
- Session content and downloads
- Watch the ‘GCF B.35 Unpacked with GCF insight #22’ webinar
- Questions & answers
- Training & updates from E Co. institute
Session content and downloads
GCF insight #22
In the first half of the webinar, Senior analyst Marcus Arcanjo, Comms specialist Jack Cribb, and Consultants Roberta Piacci and Debasmita Boral Rolland illustrated the key insights to be had from our recent GCF insight report, which explores the importance and integration of gender considerations within Green Climate Fund project development.
Download the GCF insight #22 report here.
Download the slides for this half of the presentation here.
GCF B.35
The second half of this webinar was concerned with the proceedings of the 35th Meeting of the GCF Board, held in Incheon. Jamal Gore was present at the meeting, and so utilised this time to explore the happenings at B.35 and their potential impact. Of particular interest were Jamal’s comments on the second round of replenishment set to occur for the GCF, and on specific projects that received approval, such as FP202, the GCF’s first project in Bolivia, and one that E Co. supported in the design of.
Download the slides for this half of the presentation here.
Watch the ‘GCF B.35 Unpacked with GCF insight #22’ webinar
Questions & answers
During the webinar, our engaged audience asked some very pertinent questions. Here’s what they said, and our answers.
“Was anything discussed on Readiness Projects?”
Yes, there was an entire session on Day 1 about proposals to revamp and enhance the GCF approach to readiness.
“Has there been any discussion of the inadequacy of the AE fee structure? Private sector AEs are very unlikely to assist executing entities to implement needed programmes/projects on the basis of cost coverage.”
This was mentioned by Board Members in the context of the IEU’s Africa report. The Board Member commented that the current one-size-fits-all approach to fees does not reflect the needs of diverse AEs.
“The NOL process was discussed and vis-a-vis a market lead facility sub-projects will obviously be unknown in advance (as determined by DD) – how was this issue resolved at the board?”
GCF is trying to facilitate Enhanced Direct Access, including via programmes that allow on-granting/on-lending to unidentified sub-projects. We are not sure if it was discussed by the Board at B.35, or else Jamal Gore did not attend that session.
“Was it WMO who hasn’t sought re-accreditation with GCF?”
WMO and KfW.
“Often gender is correlated with women and in the project implementation, the participation of women looks like a direct parameter. How can we expand the scope to cover the gender dimensions and not just the presence of women in projects?”
This is an excellent point and it is important to remember that representation does not automatically imply meaningful representation. Also, that alone cannot guarantee an advance of gender outcomes in a given context, that’s why it is so important to start from the gender assessment and analyse norms, attitudes, beliefs and legislation to really understand how to tailor our activities to ensure our fight against climate change is intertwined with that against gender inequality.
“Can we integrate gender policies from other funds e.g. GEF, Adaptation fund, and CIF?”
Indeed we can – each of the multilateral climate funds has its own policies. In the case of the GCF, this is the latest policy: https://www.greenclimate.fund/document/gender-policy, which informs gender mainstreaming work that the Fund does and expects from accredited entities.
“Under my experience in working in a SID, the gender imbalances are less pronounced. Girls were better educated, completed university studies, and a majority of the public sector employees were female, whilst the main problem were boys who lacked male mentors and role models, and they seem to fall behind, and a huge number of them were incarcerated due to drug use. How would you advise the development of a GCF project under these activities that focus on activities focused on women?”
Generally what we want at the end of a GAP is to ensure all genders have equitable access and equitably benefit from the project’s activities and outcomes. This often means giving more space and tailoring activities more on women and girls, because they usually start from a disadvantaged point compared with men.
If your gender assessment indicates that boys and men are in a disadvantaged position, and the project can shift the needle on these dimensions, then it is absolutely okay to tune your indicators accordingly, with justification from your assessment findings. The only recommendation would be to ensure the challenges encountered are linked with the climate hazard your project focuses on, as GCF primarily focuses on adaptation and mitigation investments.
Training and updates from E Co. institute
E Co. institute is the training division of E Co. and is run by our project formulation experts. E Co. institute builds on our experience developing low-carbon, climate-resilient projects & programmes and the specialist training workshops we’ve conducted across the globe. Our trainings, coaching, and courses are intended for mid-level professionals working in UN agencies, NGOs, bilateral organisations, development banks, and local or country government officials. For more information, see here for how we can help you and your team.
- If you’re interested in learning more about E Co. institute‘s bespoke training services for you and your team, you can email Dr Grant Ballard-Tremeer at: grant@ecoltdgroup.com and we’ll be happy to arrange a 30-minute call with our consultants to discuss this further.
- To receive an invitation to future training sessions with E Co. institute, please sign up to our newsletter here. If you had registered for this workshop, you won’t need to sign up – we have your details and you can opt at any time.
About these resources
These resources are an initiative of E Co., emerging from work we are doing to develop low-carbon, climate-resilient projects. E Co. has produced the resources independently.