In December 2021, GGGI concluded a project supporting Vanuatu’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) to mobilize climate finance. The project was delivered using GCF Readiness and Support funds during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The objective of the project was to enable Vanuatu to progress towards directly mobilizing and accessing climate finance. This was achieved through specific and targeted interventions in key government departments that provided capacity building and developed institutional policies and guidelines to accelerate MFEM’s application for GCF accreditation. A GCF project concept note was also developed.

The “Enhancing Vanuatu’s Ability to Seek Accreditation and Direct Access to GCF” project achieved the following results:

• An assessment on coordinating project proposals seeking external climate and development funding
• A financial management capacity, gender, and environmental and social safeguards (ESS) standards assessment (FMCA) of MFEM to support its efforts towards accreditation
• Initial guidelines for MFEM operations i.e., financial management, procurement, gender, and ESS aligned with GCF policies
• Completion of capacity building training and providing technical support for MFEM in anticipation of GCF accreditation.
• Completion of capacity building training and providing technical support for the Ministry of Climate Change towards climate change project management
• Completion of capacity building training and providing technical support to the Prime Minister’s Office to strengthen its ability to oversee and coordinate climate change programs
• Submission of a solar PV and battery storage project concept note to the GCF

As part of the activities undertaken during the project, the project team conducted more than twelve (12) one-to-one meetings and group consultations with local stakeholders and conducted five (5) capacity building workshops.

To build on the momentum of this project the Government of Vanuatu developed and submitted, with GGGI support, a ‘phase 2’ proposal to the GCF.  The phase 2 project will aim to address remaining capacity and process gaps through continued focus on the implementation of several technical assistance support and institutional improvements recommended under MFEM’s FMCA and direct access entity self-assessment. Additionally, three concept notes will be developed in support of building paradigm-shifting pipeline of projects for MFEM as national direct access entity and building their capacity to design climate change projects to access GCF funding.