Niue, GCF launch community of practice to accelerate climate action in the Pacific
Photo caption: The Pacific Regional Cohort Workshop was officially opened by Niue’s Prime Minister, Hon. Dalton Tagelagi (centre); with SPREP’s Deputy Director General, Easter Chu Shing (left) and GCF’s Regional Officer, Department of Asia and the Pacific, Samantha Rabine (right).
The government of Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, has initiated a community of practice that will increase engagement between the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and its Pacific Island partners, such as National Designated Authorities (NDAs) and regional and national organisations accredited by GCF.
Complementing existing structures, this unprecedented community will invigorate knowledge sharing and learning to build national capacity through programming with GCF and ultimately spur change across the Pacific. The GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme (GCF Readiness Programme) has been supporting the community of practice.
A community of practice is a group of people that informally come together through a shared experience and passion for a joint objective. The primary objective is knowledge sharing and learning; this shared peer experience can foster problem-solving, promote the spread of best practices, and drive strategic planning.
Knowledge gained through experience is invaluable in supporting climate-vulnerable countries as they access climate finance, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which face specific circumstances that make them especially vulnerable to climate change (e.g., sea level rise, hurricanes, extreme weather events). The climate finance needs of SIDS are high as they must respond to climate impacts, relieve debt burdens, and implement climate mitigation and adaptation plans.
Niue’s NDA understood that a key to a successful community of practice is defined by its members feeling connected to the group. After nearly a year of virtual meetings, Niue used its GCF Readiness resources to host the first community of practice workshop in Alofi in September 2024, bringing together for the first time eight Pacific Island countries (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu) and the Maldives.
The workshop aimed to build a community of practice for NDAs to share country programming initiatives, lessons learned through project implementation, and best practices for strategic programming with GCF.
Xavier Matsutaro of Palau’s NDA said, “Right now, we are realising there are some bottlenecks between donor systems and our systems and that’s why this dialogue is important. If we can make a transition so our systems are more compatible, then it [climate finance] can more effectively reach where it is needed at the grassroots level.”
He added, “Readiness is focused on the institutional capacity because that’s the conduit. A lot of efforts have been on obtaining human resources with the technical capacity needed to then take on the projects, but to get the activities on the ground – you need the human capacity.”
Niue also launched its Strategic Framework and Country Programme (SFCP), Readiness Needs Assessment, and Standard Operating Procedure, authored by the Greenwerk Team. Gaylene Tasmania, Niue’s Deputy Secretary to the Government, said the documents are a culmination of contributions from different stakeholders, donors, development partners, and community voices. The work was supported by GCF and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Niue’s Delivery Partner in GCF’s Readiness Programme.
To promote this unique community of practice, the Government of Niue and the SPREP hosted a side event at COP29 in November 2024. They brought to the global stage the importance of knowledge sharing across the Pacific for SIDS grappling with climate finance access during a critical time in the climate crisis.
At the meeting in Niue, Caroline Werthog of the Federated States of Micronesia NDA emphasised the urgency, “We are on the front lines of climate change, and we are trying our best to ensure our survival in the future.”
GCF’s Readiness Programme: helping countries get the finance they need to tackle the climate crisis
As the world’s largest climate action capacity-building programme, GCF’s Readiness Programme supports developing countries in tackling climate challenges and meeting global climate objectives. The programme was recently revamped, emphasising country programming, capacity-building, and knowledge sharing.
By 2027, GCF envisions developing countries strengthening their programming capacity and creating enabling environments to implement their national climate action plans and global climate commitments. They will also have enhanced access to GCF resources for programming. To achieve this, GCF’s Readiness Strategy 2024-2027 identifies knowledge sharing and learning as one of the most impactful tools for capacity-building, particularly in solving common climate challenges shared by neighbouring countries and peer stakeholders.
