Enabling developing countries to effectively manage climate finance

Officials from six developing countries have completed a five-day training course on managing climate finance. The course is the first in a series of learning events designed to strengthen government capacities to access, manage and deliver national and international climate finance more effectively.

The training course was delivered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by researchers from IIED, the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)in Bangladesh, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and officials from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The training course was designed for officials from developing countries, especially staff from ministries of finance and planning. It was also aimed at representatives of National Designated Authorities for the GCF. 

The course brought together 23 participants from Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh in February 2016. They undertook three days of professional training, a one-day field visit and one day focused on peer-to-peer cross-country learning.

Participants went on a field trip to Dhamrai, an area 40 kilometres northwest of Dhaka, where a local NGO implements climate resilient and low carbon activities. The trip provided an opportunity to learn directly from beneficiaries about issues such as costs, capacity requirements, repayment processes and practical impacts of renewable energy initiatives. 

The training course was sponsored by the Department of International Development (DFID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Further courses are planned on an annual basis.  

IIED has published a detailed report about the course. The training programme is part of IIED's wider programme of work on climate finance which is helping to generate practical evidence on how best to design and deliver climate finance at international, national and local levels.