In partnership with the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF), ECOWAS Commission is holding a three-Day capacity building workshop for accessing the Green Climate Fund.

The Green Climate Fund was established by the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun in 2010,

The fund is a unique global platform to respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development. GCF was established by 194 governments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries, and to help vulnerable societies adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. The Fund is mandated to make an ambitious contribution to the united global response to climate change including Paris Agreement.

The training Workshop which will take place at the ECOWAS Commission, Abuja is geared towards assisting Member States to develop and implement development projects and programmes taking in to account climate change concerns.

Besides, the training is meant to strengthening the engagement of the countries in the region with the GCF with a view of better harnessing the range of opportunities offered by the GCF.

In furtherance of the drive to enhance the capacity of ECOWAS Member States and ECOWAS Commission to access international sources of climate finance, the current effort will bring together the GCF’s National Designated Authorities (NDA) in ECOWAS Members States and other national or regional institutions as well as experts from GCF Board.

Specifically, the Workshop will:

*Sensitize participants on the readiness process for Direct Access to GCF funds;

*Endow participants with practical tools to accelerate the readiness process with regard to the GCF in their respective countries.

*Share experiences and lessons and facilitate peer-to-peer learning among the Member State representatives on processes of Readiness and project proposals to GCF;

*Facilitate a forum where GCF’s Experts will go through all the templates for both Readiness and full projects or programme proposals in order to help participants understand all the processes;

*Create a platform for direct interaction between GCF experts and NDAs of ECOWAS sub-region for overcoming the obstacles faced during the process to submit proposal to GCF Board, as well as the accreditation of National Implementing Entities and;

*Do a practical exercise on filling template for readiness and project proposal submissions.

The GCF is expected to provide simplified and improved access to funding through multiple of access modalities, including the private sector.

The Green Climate Fund is the only stand-alone multilateral financing entity whose sole mandate is to serve the Convention and that aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation.

With a country-driven approach, it encourages the involvement of relevant stakeholders, including vulnerable groups while also addressing gender aspects.