Supporting Governments in tackling the devastating impacts of climate change
It has been almost two years since I sat in a security plane flying over the once familiar, but then almost unrecognisable, terrain of Dominica – the country of my birth.
However, since we launched our Climate Finance Access Hub in 2017, a Commonwealth initiative which deploys specialists to ministries to assist with funding applications, we have helped countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to access USD 25.3 million, with a further USD 367.4 million in the pipeline.
We have also been focused on how to help countries make the best use of development assistance. Preliminary research by the Commonwealth shows that between 2010 and 2016, small states failed to utilise $4.5 billion of development assistance made available
In fact, there are a myriad examples of unused funds being returned to donors because small and vulnerable member states were not able to draw down and use them, mainly because of lack of capacity and coordination for the implementation of developmental projects.
The issue is one of the most challenging obstacles facing our smaller and less-resourced member states, and is a powerful example of the key role multilateral organisations including the Commonwealth have in helping member countries to address climate change. Intergovernmental bodies such as the Commonwealth Secretariat are able to serve as ‘consultants of choice’ for member states, offering cost-effective access to in-house expertise.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
