GCF Country Programme Development Guide

1. A key step in turning a country’s climate action aspirations into reality is identifying short-term and long-term projects/programmes and investment priorities—strategic initiatives that will help realize a paradigm shift in achieving low-emission and climate-resilient development, As part of establishing a Strategic Framework with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the National Designated Authority (NDA)/Focal Point (FP) may wish to initiate a country programme and request the Fund to support its development through the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme. While developing a country programme is not mandatory, a template has been created to support countries in preparing it. The annexed template can be adapted to reflect the country’s national circumstances.2. An overarching objective of a having a country programme is fostering country ownership. To achieve this, country programmes should be driven by a robust and inclusive engagement process that brings together key stakeholders across all levels of government, local and community-based institutions, the private sector, and civil society to put forward clear and country-owned priorities that GCF can support. This also involves getting existing and prospective accredited entities to identify practical steps that will enable the implementation of these priorities, which, in turn, can be supported by the Fund. It will provide the accredited entities with clarity on the types of initiatives that country stakeholders seek their support in bringing to life. The programme will assist in realizing a paradigm shift in the countries’ efforts to achieve low emission and climate resilient development.3. The annexed template captures the key elements of a country programme, including country priorities, short- and long-term projects/programmes and an action plan. It also has a Readiness Self-Assessment tool that enables the country to evaluate its readiness level for engagement with GCF as well as its own performance against a set of defined outcomes.