Enhancing Caribbean Civil Society’s Access and Readiness for Climate Finance

The small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean region are disproportionately vulnerable to external economic shocks and natural disasters that can instantly erase years—if not decades—of development gains. However, accessing climate finance remains a challenging process for many governments and organizations working in the region.

Enhancing civil society’s leadership and capacity to build climate resilience is critical. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are well positioned to lead “bottom-up” approaches to reduce vulnerability and build the climate resilience of at-risk communities and their livelihoods across the Caribbean. However, they currently have limited access to and engagement in their region’s climate finance and decision-making processes.

This project, implemented by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states, seeks to address this gap with support from IISD and Climate Analytics. Specifically, it seeks to enhance civil society’s capacity—including knowledge, skills, and organizational structures—and the enabling external institutions to improve access to climate financing and delivery of climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Caribbean. It will achieve this by:

• Creating and enhancing mechanisms for CSO engagement in climate change decision making at the national and regional levels in the Caribbean.
• Increasing the uptake of innovative climate change solutions to scale up impact and build local resilience among Caribbean CSOs and their public and private sector partners.
• Building the technical and organizational capacity of Caribbean CSOs to directly access climate finance and effectively deliver climate change adaptation and mitigation actions.
• Strengthening the pipeline of CSO-led national and regional climate change projects/programs for the Green Climate Fund and other climate funds.

The project will involve a collaboration with national designated authorities and leading national and regional CSOs from the CARICOM member states, including Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Suriname. The lead national designated authority for the project is the Climate Change Division – Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in Jamaica.

The project is funded by the Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme.