27 October 2015
Adaptation Fund, AfDB Supporting Climate Finance Readiness
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The Adaptation Fund and the African Development Bank Group (AFDB), through its Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) are supporting initiatives to build the capacity of African countries to attract financing for and implement projects for climate change adaptation.

Adaptation Fund23 October 2015: The Adaptation Fund and the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), through its Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), are supporting initiatives to build the capacity of African countries to attract financing for and implement projects for climate change adaptation.

The Adaptation Fund conducted the ninth workshop of its Readiness Program for Climate Finance in late September 2015, in Abuja, Nigeria, co-organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Heinrich Boll Foundation. A focus of the workshop was best practices on establishing National Implementing Entities (NIE), which enable countries to directly access the Fund’s resources. The workshop allowed participants to review project applications, discuss specific questions regarding NIE accreditation, and share experiences regarding success factors, such as institutional capacity, project management capacity, and mechanisms to safeguard environmental and social impacts.

The ACCF has approved funding for three projects that will support ministries, national agencies, local NGOs, and research institutions in Cape Verde, Kenya and Swaziland in mobilizing climate finance. Specifically, the funding will support the development of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) for the energy and waste sectors in Cape Verde; the prioritization and development of projects on low-carbon, climate-resilient development in the Kenyan forestry, agro-forestry and agriculture sectors; and capacity building of Swaziland’s Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs and key project managers and coordinators in different institutions in mobilizing climate financing and developing and managing adaptation projects.

The ACCF was established in April 2014 to scale up climate-smart development in African countries by increasing the mobilization of international climate finance. To date, five readiness projects have been approved, with another 17 projects under appraisal. [Adaptation Fund Press Release] [AfDB Press Release]