Delivering Money Where It Matters: Both ENDS' co-organised side event in Bonn

From 6 to 17 November, the Climate Change COP23 takes place in Bonn, Morrocco. This '23nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)' as it is called officially, is the annual meeting of the 195 countries which have signed and ratified the convention.

On Monday 13 November, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Both ENDS organise a joint side event:  

Delivering Money Where It Matters: effective climate action through predictable local climate finance

Priorities of local people first

Subnational governments and non-state actors in both the global North and South are delivering climate action at pace and scale. These subnational actors are well-positioned to engage citizens at the frontline of climate change. By responding to the priorities of local communities and helping them achieve sustainable, climate-resilient and low-carbon growth, these governments play an essential part in delivering ambitious national climate objectives.

First-hand experiences 

During this side event, you will hear from governments, NGOs and small grants funds from across the globe sharing first-hand experiences of driving effective, equitable and efficient climate action at the local level. They will explore what needs to happen next for climate finance to evolve and enable developing countries to deliver their own contributions to the Paris Agreement. The panel will bring fresh insights to achieving sustained, predictable and regular flows of climate finance to where it is most needed.

Panel members

The chairs, keynote speaker and panel members are as follows:

• Event chair: Gebru Jember Endalew, Chair of the Least Developed Countries Climate Negotiation Group
• Key Note: Shaping Climate Finance to Leave No One Behind: Eva Svedling, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden.
• Panel speaker I: Californian Senator
• Panel speaker II: Pa Ousman, Director of Country Programming, Green Climate Fund
• Panel speaker III: Kenyan representatives of the Devolved Climate Finance Alliance: H.E Josphat Koli Nanok, Governor Turkana County Kenya and Chairman Council of Governors; and Peter Odhengo, The National Treasury, The Government of Kenya
• Panel speaker IIII. William Kostka, Director, Micronesia Conservation Trust

Both ENDS is a strong supporter of 'delivering money where it matters': we believe in the power of small grants funds, which can be the link between 'big money' from large donors and financial institutions, and local groups and organisations. For more information about this, see our 4-pager 'Small Grants, Big Impacts'. 

In this context of increased local access to climate finance, the following articles and publications are also of interest:

Seven lessons for the Green Climate Fund, on devolving Climate Action a blog, written by Anju Sharma of Oxford Climate Policy. This article lists important lessons for the Green Climate Fund from the Local Adaptation Plans for Actions (LAPAs) in Nepal, and this country’s commitment to ensure that at least 80% of the financial resources available for climate change are channeled to the local level. This blog was based on an extensive study: 

Devolving Adaptation Finance and Action: Lessons from Nepal's Local Adaptation Plans for Action which Sharma wrote together with Prakriti Resources Centre (PRC) and Helvetas Nepal, with support from Both ENDS and the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA).

Indicators of Good Practices Climate Projects, by our Indonesian partner Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice. This publication, also supported by GAGGA, provides indicators for gender sensitive climate projects, based on local women's experiences with climate and investment projects in Indonesia.