Undertaking a Capacity Needs Assessment in the Areas of Environmental and Social Safeguards, Gender Equality and Indigenous Peoples Issues

This assignment supported the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Secretariat in achieving its commitment to providing technical support and developing the technical competencies of its Accredited Entities (AEs) and GCF staff. This support was targeted towards ensuring that cross cutting GCF requirements, which include the Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) policy, Gender Policy and Indigenous Peoples Policy (IPP), are fulfilled and maintained throughout the duration of a project lifecycle (from preparation through to implementation).

The training needs assessment conducted under this project informed recommendations for the GCF on how and where to improve and build capacity within AEs and amongst GCF staff. These recommendations will feed into the development of a comprehensive and long-term training program by the GCF, which will be the primary focus in contributing to the overall technical capacity development of the Fund. As such, this project laid the groundwork for the GCF’s upcoming capacity building phase.

During this project, we assessed the training needs of the 51 Accredited Entities – multinational, regional and national – and the 250 GCF staff, on ESS, gender and indigenous peoples in their ability to align with the requirements and expectations of the fund. This work was conducted primarily through desk reviews, surveys and interviews with AEs.