Nov 14, 2022
As COP27 marks ACE (Action for Climate Empowerment) and Civil Society Day, showcasing the role and contribution of civil society in climate finance, CIF values contributions from civil society partners including Indigenous Peoples and local communities, private sector and business development organizations and youth, who inspire and guide its programs.
Investing in meaningful climate action requires the involvement of communities and their representatives. Civil society organization’s (CSOs) stakeholders – including think tanks, nongovernment, unions, research institutions, academia, activists, practitioners; business and development organizations; and IPLCs – have observer status on all of the Climate Investment Funds’ (CIF) Trust Fund Committees. They provide valuable inputs in the design and implementation of its investment programs. CIF's governing bodies include a total of 43 civil society representatives who participate as active observers in steering committee meetings.
“CIF has been unique in including observers in their steering committees. Observers have a clear voice in those meetings.” says Aaron Leopold of Practical Action, a member of CIF’s Trust Fund Committees.
These observers have a meaningful role in CIF’s work; enabling broad input and transparent communication promotes trust, ownership, and more effective action on the ground. “It's not just a matter of sitting on CIF’s trust fund committees,” explains Dora Cudjoe, Senior Operations Officer and coordinator for Stakeholder Engagement, “but ensuring that they collate thoughts, ideas, issues, and, from across their constituencies, bring these issues to the committees, and then carry back any decisions that are made as a result.”
CSOs help inform CIF’s country-level programmatic approach. “Stakeholder input enhances climate investment plans and helps ensure that each country’s plan is transparent, technically sound, based on national priorities, and draws on the strengths of diverse stakeholders to affect nationwide or sector-wide transformation,” says Dora.
CIF also benefits greatly from the input of the Stakeholder Advisory Network on Climate Finance (SAN), a platform which brings together observers from across major climate and environment funds. It works to promote governance that is inclusive, transparent, and accountable at all levels of decision-making. The network facilitates knowledge sharing and coordination among climate fund observers from civil society, indigenous peoples, and the private sector.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities also play an important role in defining and driving CIF’s agenda. For example, the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) under CIF’s Forest Investment Program is an $80 million fund that takes a socially inclusive, gender-responsive approach to delivering climate finance for sustainable forest management and was established on the initiative of representatives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities on the CIF’s governing bodies. Through the DGM, sustainable forest-use practices led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities are supported, shared, and elevated to the global policy arena.
“CIF prioritizes support for Indigenous People and local communities,” says Dora. “But more importantly, we are keen on further learning from these groups in areas like practicing effective forest conservation, forest management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable land and water management, and enhancing integrated solutions in an inclusive manner to climate.”
In most of the countries in which CIF focuses, youth form around 25 percent of the population. Because of their readiness for climate action, they've been a source of innovation; accordingly, CIF has an internship program, working with youth to help frame the context of partnering and providing resources to enhance their ability to inform and policies and interventions in climate. This has championed engagement with youth and support for various youth-led entrepreneurial climate initiatives globally, in partnership with the World Y2Y Global Youth Climate Network Climate Smart Entrepreneurship Competition; in Africa, in partnership with organizations like the YouthADAPT program of the African Development Bank, and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA).
“The critical point is that we recognize that we are not the repository for all of the innovative solutions to climate change,” says Dora. “But we are able to provide the platforms and resources for those, like these young people, who have great ideas.”
Communities in the developing world are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The civil society organizations that represent them understand the challenges of the moment and are uniquely positioned to help meet these challenges and unlock the opportunities they represent for a more sustainable and resilient future.
