24 June 2014: The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) 2014 Partnership Forum brought together over 400 participants, representing governments, civil society, indigenous peoples, the private sector, development partners and researchers, to learn and share lessons emerging from the CIF on how to foster partnerships and attract investment to deliver low-carbon and climate-resilient development results.

The Forum, which took place from 23-24 June 2014, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Montego Bay, Jamaica, was co-hosted by the CIF and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). A Stakeholder Day preceded the Partnership Forum on 22 June, and a Knowledge Bazaar enabled attendees to exchange ideas and participate in interactive learning activities.

The Partnership Forum included plenary sessions and a series of smaller parallel sessions, which were intended to address the multiple interests of CIF stakeholders and enable open discussions to explore ways to maximize CIF effectiveness. More specifically, sessions addressed issues related to, inter alia: unlocking climate finance for the private sector; programmatic approach to climate resilience; engaging stakeholders for climate-smart development; mini-grids; geothermal; adaptation champions in SIDS; and REDD+ investment. In addition, a scientific panel discussion discussed how rising global temperatures threaten health and livelihoods worldwide.

The Stakeholder Day explored stakeholder engagement (both private sector and civic engagement) principles, modalities, practices and promises in climate finance at the government, programme and project levels, as well as provide suggestions on how to further enhance stakeholder engagement in climate finance at the country level.

The Climate Investment Funds Stakeholder Day, which convened on 22 June 2014, featured two sessions. The first addressed ‘Reaching into the Roots of Partnership: Experiences from the Ground,’ and the second ‘Stakeholder Engagement in the CIF: Advances, Challenges and Promises.’ Following these sessions, three breakout groups convened on stakeholder engagement in the: Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR); the Forest Investment Program (FIP); and the Climate Technology Fund and the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP). The results of the sessions were presented to the CIF Partnership Forum on 24 June.

The CIF, a collaboration among the five multilateral development banks, are comprised of two Trust Funds, each with a specific scope and objective and its own governance structure: the Clean Technology Fund (CTF); and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF). The SCF involves three targeted programs: the PPCR; the Forest Investment Program (FIP); and the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP). Since the foundation of the CIF in 2008, the Partnership Forum has been the CIF’s flagship learning event. The Partnership Forums provide an opportunity for governments, civil society, indigenous peoples, the private sector and others to contribute to a deepening of understanding the linkages between climate change and development as they have been addressed within the context of the CIF. [IISD RS Coverage] [IDB Press Release] [CIF 2014 Partnership Forum Website]