The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)Readiness and Preparatory support programme was officially launched yesterday in Accra.
The two years programme is said to strengthen institutional capacities, governance mechanism, planning and programming frameworks towards a transformational long-term climate action agenda.
The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realise their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) ambitions towards low-emissions climate-resilient pathways.
Launching the programme, the Head of Climate Change Unit, Ministry of Finance, Mrs Adwoa Fraikue, stated that support fund from GCF to CSOs, would help them effectively respond and integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into relevant existing future programmes and projects.
The Programme she said would mobilise climate finance and catalyse the development of climate change solutions in Ghana.
Mrs Fraikue explained that, Ghana as a member of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had two primary objectives, thus to eradicate extreme poverty and hold global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels making the programme very timely.
“We are looking forward CSOs make the most out of this programme, to bring a new change into the issues of climate in the country, I will also urge stakeholders to engage in frank discussions as we look forward to their participations in the capacity building programme,” she said.
On the part of the Chief Executive Officer of HATOF Foundation, Dr Samuel Dotseexpressed his excitements towards GCF’sapproval to its readiness proposal amounting to$442,968, as that,would strengthen the capacities of ten Ghanaian CSOs networks to contribute efficiently in the NDCs planning and implementation processes.
“The programme will also build on and maximise the efforts of previous, existing support in climate change capacity building related initiatives to ensure that CSOs in Ghana have access to relevant, up-to-date information about climate change trends and risks,” he said.
Dr Dotse added that over time, the readiness support would enhance CSOs technical and institutional expertise to develop and effectively implement low carbon development climate compatible projects and programmes to contribute to the country’s long-term sustainable development.
HATOF Foundation is a National Environment Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and the first NGO in Africa to have a readiness proposal approved by the GCF.
HATOF promotes and fosters collaboration among government, private sector, researchers, and CSOs to regulate human access and impact on the environment.
The organisation supports its beneficiaries and stakeholders in planning, accessing, delivering, and scaling up various multilateral finds to develop capacity, increase resilience, and promote low emission climate resilience development.
BY ANITA ANKRAH
