CFAs: Technical support on Climate Finance Transparency in Developing Countries

ICAT provides countries with tailored support and practical tools and methodologies to build robust transparency frameworks needed for effective climate action in sync with national development priorities.

Objectives

• In the context of an ICAT country support project the objective is to provide international expert advice and support, i.e. technical support, training, and capacity building, to developing countries for their efforts in developing and implementing national climate finance transparency framework. The technical support provided will be in line with the ICAT Climate Finance Transparency Guide, and UNFCCC guidance for implementation of Article 13.
• Expert advice and support shall be based on country priorities and needs with the aim of equipping countries with the capacity to effectively assess their climate finance needs and flows, mobilize and efficiently manage financial resources dedicated to achieving their climate objectives, and fulfilling their transparency commitments under international frameworks, in particular the ETF.

Aims

• All activities, including country support, aim to be in-line with the following characteristics:
  • Policy focus, aimed at enabling transformational change;
  • Agility in responding to country needs, anchored in sustainable development assessments;
  • Flexibility to innovate and create replicable approaches;
  • Sound methodologies and tools; and
  • Peer-to-peer collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Focus Areas

• ICAT concentrates its efforts in four areas:
  • Direct country support;
  • Regional Climate Action Transparency Hubs;
  • The ICAT Toolbox; and
  • Knowledge sharing.

Funding Information

• Up to USD 108,000 grant amount available.
• The expected duration of the grant/funding per country project module is 12 to 18 months

Eligible Activities

• Scoping, planning, and institutional arrangements:
  • Support the national experts/consultants and the national focal point for the ICAT project to:
    • Identify relevant stakeholders;
    • Conduct country baseline assessment;
    • Define the objectives and scope of the national climate finance transparency framework;
    • Map the current national institutional arrangements, roles and responsibilities, and governance structure;
    • Develop the required institutional arrangements and the related roles and responsibilities for climate finance transparency; and
    • Identify the required institutional and technical capacity to implement the institutional arrangements for climate finance transparency
• Defining and classifying climate finance:
  • Support the national experts/consultants and the national focal point for the ICAT project to:
    • Articulate climate finance definition and classify sectors and subsectors;
    • Set transparency framework parameters and climate impact indicators;
    • Define climate finance impact indicators.
• Ex-ante climate finance needs assessment for NDC:
  • Support the national experts/consultants and the national focal point for the ICAT project to:
    • Set the framework for the establishment of a national methodology for climate finance needs assessment;
    • Develop the methodology for identifying climate finance needs;
    • Apply the methodology to assess the climate finance needs; and
    • Road map for integrating the methodology for identifying climate finance needs into the overall climate finance transparency system.
• Developing climate finance tracking framework:
  • Support the national experts/consultants and the national focal point for the ICAT project to:
    • Develop a national methodology to track climate finance flows and a road map for its implementation.
• From transparency to enhanced climate action:
  • Support the national experts/consultants and the national focal point for the ICAT project to:
    • Compare ex-ante planning and ex-post financial flows to assess financial needs;
    • Develop the basis for a climate finance strategy;
    • Develop a road map for reporting climate finance information as part of the international reporting requirements; and
    • Develop a plan for the implementation of the next climate finance transparency cycle
• Project management support and coordination of activities:
  • Support ICAT outreach activities and content management of knowledge products, including drafting of regular progress summaries, preparing summary case studies, and running webinars/workshops to strengthen MRV/transparency capacity among a variety of stakeholders in line with the “one-ICAT” approach;
  • Alert the Secretariat and ICAT implementing partners well in advance of planned outreach and workshops with the aim of coordinating outreach efforts and enhancing visibility of results achieved;
  • Encourage peer-to-peer exchange and south-south cooperation during implementation among the countries being supported by the implementing partner and other ICAT countries;
  • Ensure that technical support and approaches are fully coordinated in the Initiative. The Grantee will actively participate in monthly meetings with other ICAT implementing partners through the Initiative Coordination Team (ICT) including its subgroups (currently the Country and Toolbox Group (CTG) and the Communications Group), sharing information on progress, lessons learned, foreseen risks and bottlenecks and opportunities and planning and contributing to Initiative-wide outreach activities.

Deliverables

• Scoping, planning, and institutional arrangements:
  • The following deliverables may be adjusted for each country per the defined work plan:
    • Detailed baseline report and stakeholder analysis;
    • Report on the objectives and the scope of the national climate finance transparency framework, and established institutional arrangements for climate finance transparency; and
    • Report on the developed and implemented customized set of training modules, catering to the specific needs of relevant stakeholders and staff, to ensure sufficient institutional and technical capacities for climate finance transparency.
• Defining and classifying climate finance:
  • The following deliverables may be adjusted for each country per the defined work plan:
    • Report on the national climate finance definition and transparency framework parameters, and impact indicators.
• Ex-ante climate finance needs assessment for NDC:
  • The following deliverables may be adjusted for each country in accordance with the defined work plan:
    • Report on the methodology for identifying climate finance needs and the road map for its implementation; and
    • Report on the climate finance needs.
• Developing climate finance tracking framework
  • The following deliverables may be adjusted for each country in accordance with the defined work plan:
    • Report on the methodology for tracking climate finance flows and the road map for its implementation.
• From transparency to enhanced climate action
  • The following deliverables may be adjusted for each country in accordance with the defined work plan:
    • Report on the climate finance strategy and resource mobilization guidelines;
    • The road map to communicate data on the financial support received and on the financial support needed to the UNFCCC; and
    • Improvement plan for the national implementation of the climate finance transparency cycle.
• Project management support and coordination of activities
  • Completion of a MELU start-of project survey for each country included in the agreement to support the creation of baseline data for the MELU framework;
    • Active participation in the above mentioned groups and ICAT outreach activities. This includes monthly meetings of the ICT, bi-weekly meetings of the CTG and monthly meetings with the Communications Group. The Grantee will contribute to these groups through active participation in discussions, presentation of project progress as required and provision of feedback on documents circulated as part of the meetings. It also includes participation in international events (online or in person) when relevant, to provide input/updates on the ICAT project. Indicative set of deliverables by country;
    • At least one Summary country case study for the ICAT website
    • At least two webinar presentations (slides and meeting minutes)
    • Support to or participation in at least one peer-to-peer knowledge exchange event
  • Support to or participation in at least one event at a regional/international climate event (online or in person)
  • Regular progress updates on the technical support activities and recommendations on potential improvements and opportunities that can be pursued through informal briefings to the ICAT Secretariat (monthly) and by updating the country update tool on a bi-weekly basis to highlight upcoming workshops, progress made, lessons learned and potential issues/delays;
  • Timely provision of progress reports and deliverables described under Activity 1 and 2 including reporting against ICAT KPIs specified in the ICAT MELU Framework. The progress report should follow the milestone schedule (5.2) of this agreement and be submitted using the template in Annex C. Some ad hoc reporting is also required through surveys issued by the ICAT Secretariat (i.e. for trainings/workshops, reporting to UNFCCC and end of project surveys) the Grantee will facilitate the completion of such surveys by relevant country focal points and country counterparts by assisting the ICAT Secretariat with survey distribution and follow-up as needed;
  • Outputs and outreach material developed under these projects, acknowledging ICAT support as appropriate.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following categories of applicants are eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals:
  • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
  • Foundations
  • Civil society organizations (CSO)
  • Grass-roots organizations
  • Institutions or federations
  • Academic and research institutions
  • For-profit entities
  • Non-UN intergovernmental organization
  • UN system organization

Ineligibility Criteria

• The applicant is ineligible for the Grant/Funding if, at the time of the submission of the proposal, the applicant:
  • Is included in the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List, including the UN Security Council Resolution 1267/1989 list;
  • iIs included in the World Bank Corporate Procurement Listing of Non-Responsible Vendors and World Bank Listing of Ineligible Firms and Individuals;
  • Has failed to address any allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse through “appropriate preventive measures, investigation and corrective action” in accordance with the United Nations Protocol on Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Involving Implementing Partners or are registered in the United Nations Screening Database “Clearcheck”;
  • Is currently suspended from doing business with UNOPS and has been removed from the UNOPS vendor database(s), for reasons other than engaging in Proscribed Practices as defined in the UNOPS Operational Instruction on Vendor Sanctions.

For more information, visit UNGM.