25 March 2010: The Adaptation Fund Board held its ninth meeting from 23-25 March 2010, in Bonn, Germany, during which it decided to start financing concrete climate change adaptation projects and issued a call to parties to submit project proposals.

During the meeting, the Board decided to accredit the first three agencies to manage grants from the Adaptation Fund. These accredited Implementing Entities include the “Centre de Suivi Ecologique” from Senegal, a national organization that will directly propose adaptation projects in Senegal to the Board, and directly receive funds from it. This direct access modality is a new feature in international development finance, designed by the Board to provide the countries a simplified and accelerated way to access and manage funds. The accreditation decision was supported by a stringent analysis of the fiduciary standards of the accredited organization, carried out by an expert panel. Several other developing countries are expected to have their representative entities accredited during the year. In addition to the Senegalese entity, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank were accredited as Implementing Entities. They provide an alternative path for developing countries to access finance from the Adaptation Fund.
The Adaptation Fund Board also made progress in defining its approach to results-based management and evaluation, which enables it to ensure the coherence and quality of the Adaptation Fund portfolio of projects in developing countries. The Board further outlined a Memorandum of Understanding between the Board and the implementing entities. In addition, the Fund elected Farrukh Iqbal Khan (Pakistan) as its Chair, following the completion of term of Jan Cedergren (Sweden), and Hiroshi Ono (Japan) as its Vice-Chair. [Adaptation Fund Press Release]