Lome, Togo; October 21, 2021 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Resources (MERF) in Togo organized a workshop for the launching of the Togo readiness program. This readiness aims to enhancing Togo’s Direct Access to GCF and Support for the Development of Climate Finance Strategy.

The above Readiness Grant, approved in December 2020, followed other two grants that Togo received from GCF in 2015 and 2019. These first two GCF grants allowed Togo to establish an institutional framework for national coordination, development of no-objection manual, prepared the Country Program and completed the mapping which identified the barriers and enabling factors to facilitate private sector engagement in climate change adaptation.

Building on these, this grant will address the following remaining gaps to improve the country’s access to climate finance: Togo still has no national accredited entity with GCF, and the project concept notes that have been developed so far were done through the support from regional or international accredited entities and therefore there is a need to have national accredited entities and climate finance strategy to identify financing options to implement climate actions. This grant aims to enhance Togo’s direct access to the GCF through the (i) selection, nomination and accreditation application support for a potential national direct access entity (DAE); (ii) improving the National Employers Council of Togo’s (CNP-TOGO) knowledge on climate change such as on employment opportunities, climate financing, green transport, green building standards and in developing the Council’s green policy (iii) development of a Climate Finance Strategy including private sector engagement; and (iv) development of concept notes considering the capacity of the nominated national DAE.

The overall objective of this workshop is to facilitate the understanding of this Readiness Program of the GCF for Togo by the various stakeholders. It serves as a framework for discussion on the main expected results and reaffirming the commitment of the private sector on climate finance in Togo.  Specifically, the workshop aimed to:

• make an official launch of the project/program by the local authorities.
• present the main expected results of the Readiness ” Enhancing Togo’s Direct Access to GCF and Support for the Development of Climate Finance Strategy” to the various stakeholders and collect relevant information necessary to facilitate its implementation.

In his opening remarks while opening the workshop, the representative of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Resources (MERF) underlined that it was through the preparatory program of direct access, that Togo intended to align its commitments of the government roadmap 2020-2025 with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr. Dex Agourides, the GGGI’s Regional Director for Africa and Europe, in his opening remarks emphasized that speeding up the process to have the HCA will allow the GGGI team in Togo to better operate in the country and easily engage with other partners working in the field of green growth.

Mr.  Innocent Kabenga, the country representative for Togo, mentioned that it was in line with the spirit of Rio de Janeiro in 2012 and based on green growth, that GGGI had dedicated its time and resources to support the transition of its member countries to a green growth model in developing and implementing strategies to simultaneously achieve poverty reduction, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic growth.

About 56 Participants from government agencies, NGOs, IGOs and Development partners, who attended the workshop that took place at Hotel 2 Fevrier appreciated the outcomes of the workshop because it contributed to increasing their understanding of the readiness program and GGGI’s support to enhance Togo’s direct access to GCF and support for the development of climate finance strategy.