Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme

Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme

With the objective of strengthening the country capacities to access climate finance, the Green Climate Fund has allocated resources under the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme (the Readiness Programme),to support countries raise awareness, develop capacities and engage all relevant stakeholders at national/ local level.

The Readiness Programme aims to build the capacities of North Macedonia to access GCF funding to implement country-led national climate adaptation and mitigation measures. The overall aim is for the country to be fully prepared to fulfil its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as climate-action obligations in frames of the European Union pre-accession process, enhancing climate action in the priority sectors, such as agriculture, energy, transport, health, forestry, water resources, waste, biodiversity and cultural heritage.  

The GCF Readiness programme has an allocation per country per year for all developing countries, including the Republic of North Macedonia, of up to USD 1 million per country per year under the Readiness Programme, to cover all readiness activities, and an additional single allocation of up to USD 3 million for formulation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and/or other adaptation planning processes.

 

Countries may submit multiple requests based on the needs of the country. NDAs may have multiple readiness grants under implementation simultaneously, but are expected to ensure that readiness proposals build on previous interventions and maintain complementarity and coherence within a national vision.

Readiness Support for North Macedonia

"Building capacity towards sustainable human capital development in North Macedonia’’”

  • Recipient country: North Macedonia
  • Project budget: USD 820 076
  • Delivery partner: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
  • Readiness area: Capacity building; Strategic frameworks
  • Implementation period: 24 months (starting February 2022)
  • Status: Implementation

This is the third project of the Republic of North Macedonia under the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme. It will be implemented by GIZ, under the guidance and leadership of the Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government in Charge of Economic Affairs, Coordination of Economic Sectors and Investments, as National Designated Authority for the GCF. This Readiness project aims to complement the previous and ongoing readiness efforts by targeting human capital development through a sectoral approach. More specifically, the project will support building the capacities and creating an evidence-based and enabling environment in the health, education, and labor & social protection sectors, which deal with the socially vulnerable and marginalized groups that are often overlooked in climate change agenda and finance, aiming to address lack of consistent and transparent data and low levels of climate change mainstreaming into the three specified sectors.


Expected outcomes:


  • Strengthened capacity of the NDA and the Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC) to guide and advise on climate finance and project implementation with an integrated dimension of sustainable development of human capital.
  • Enhanced capacities and coordination of the key ministries (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Labor and Social Policy) relevant public institutions, civil society, academia and private sector with regard to mainstreaming climate change aspects in the health, labor & social protection and education sectors.
  • Enhanced data, knowledge and policy frameworks to support decarbonization of the health sector; integration of climate change at different levels in the education systems; and promotion and integration of climate / green jobs into state employment programmes and incentives.


“Strengthening country capacities for climate change adaptation and mitigation and finalization of Country Work Programme for the Republic of North Macedonia”

  • Readiness area: NDA Strengthening, Country programming, Direct access to climate finance, Climate finance accessed
  • Implementation period: June 2020 - December 2021

This was the second project of the Republic of North Macedonia under the Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, implemented by FAO under guidance and leadership of the Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government of North Macedonia, as National Designated Authority (NDA) to the GCF. The project was based on the progress achieved under the country’s first GCF Readiness project implemented in 2019, particularly on the discussions to develop a system for tracking, monitoring and streamlining climate finance in North Macedonia, and on the development of a National Coordination Mechanism on GCF and other climate finance matters and the prioritization procedure for GCF proposals in the country.


Achieved outcomes:

  • The first GCF Country Work Programme of North Macedonia was developed and submitted to the GCF. It includes a pipeline of country-led projects addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation actions in the priority sectors, aligned to the broader national development and climate finance priorities, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the GCF investment criteria.
  • Based on the progress achieved under the first Readiness grant, a Procedure for Tracking, Monitoring and Streamlining of Public Climate Finance was drafted and piloted as proposed mid-term solution, until a national climate budget tagging is introduced.
  • Capacities of the NDA and different national stakeholders on strategic engagement with the GCF were strengthened, with a particular attention on increasing the private sector engagement in innovation and investments for climate action in the country’s priority sectors.
  • The project supported transferring knowledge and experience at institutional level regarding the GCF accreditation process to enable the country to directly access the GCF. This included identifying and prioritizing the most potential national institutions for GCF accreditation. As a first step, the Government nominated the Fund of Innovation and Technology Development (FITD) to be the first national entity to initiate the GCF accreditation process.

Project Factsheet
North Macedonia
2022



"Support for the management of an effective national coordinative mechanism regarding the Green Climate Fund”

  • Readiness area: NDA Strengthening and Country Programming
  • Implementation period: September 2018 - October 2019
  • Status: Completed

In 2017 the Republic of North Macedonia through its NDA requested an initial grant from the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme (the Readiness Programme). The project “Support for the management of an effective national coordinative mechanism regarding the Green Climate Fund” implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as GCF Accredited Entity, under the guidance of the NDA, aims at enhancing country ownership and strengthening the institutional capacities of the NDA to efficiently engage with the Fund.

The project focuses on strengthening the institutional capacities of the NDA to effectively fulfill its roles and responsibilities related to the GCF, to create needed national participatory and stakeholder engagement processes, and to initiate preparation of a GCF Country Work Programme, aligned with the national adaptation and mitigation priorities, the Sustainable Development Goals and the GCF investment criteria.


Achieved outcomes:


  • Raised awareness and understanding of relevant stakeholders about the GCF and the Readiness process in the country;
  • Established country coordination mechanism and stakeholder consultative processes led by the NDA;
  • Priority sectors for climate action identified and criteria established for prioritizing project proposals developed in North Macedonia for GCF funding;
  • Established ‘no objection’procedure to guarantee country ownership of GCF climate projects;
  • Developed initial procedure for the monitoring, oversight and streamlining of climate finance in North Macedonia;
  • Raised awareness among national stakeholders on the Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) and gender standards to meet the GCF requirements;

Project Factsheet
North Macedonia
2020



„Support from the GCF to enhance capacities to access climate finance“

As part of the national efforts to achieve low-carbon economy and climate resilient development, the Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, acting as the National Designated Authority (NDA) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), is receiving support from the GCF to enhance capacities to access climate finance.



The support will actively complement ongoing readiness support by assisting in three main areas:


1. Economic risk assessment for the agricultural sector involving analysis of potential costs and benefits of climate change effects on the agricultural sector including:


  • Creating an overview of the economic risks associated with climate change;
  • Development of project concepts to support climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector;
  • Development of financial and economic models / tools which could be used to analyse investments / feed into Annexes of GCF project proposals or other funding proposals.

2. Support to the prioritization of projects for the selection of projects, which involves:


  • Using already established criteria for ranking potential GCF projects to evaluate the potential /level of priority of projects for agriculture sector adaptation and for energy sector mitigation.
  • Estimation of climate financing needs based on these project ideas.

3. Capacity assessment for climate information services being undertaken to gain an in-depth understanding of the current situation regarding Climate Information Services (CIS) in North Macedonia, to identify the knowledge and information gaps and to propose recommendations on how to address these gaps. The capacity assessment will be based on the framework for assessment of capacities adopted by the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and will focus on the following key questions:


  • Who are the main users of the climate information services and what climate information services do they use?
  • What do the users need from the climate information services to maximize investments and address vulnerabilities?
  • What specific components can the National Hydro-meteorological Service provide at present?
  • What other institutions play a relevant role in the provision of meteorological and hydrological services?
  • What are the gaps and opportunities for improvement?

This support programme began in February 2020 and is expected to be completed in September 2020.




Readiness support proposal for Adaptation Planning to be submitted to the GCF

"Improving resilience in North Macedonia by integrating adaptation into planning processes”
  • Recipient country: North Macedonia
  • Max amount of funding: USD 3 million
  • Project duration: 24 months
  • Implementing partner: United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

The primary objective of this project proposal is to build the enabling institutional, planning and programming environments for climate change adaptation at the national, municipal and sectoral levels through strengthening coordination, capacity and the information base so that the country can design and implement effective adaptation investments in line with national priorities.

Successful implementation of this project will help North Macedonia advance on its path to sustainable and climate-resilient development. This advancement process will target key institutions from the national to the municipal level with a focus on nine priority sectors of energy, transport, agriculture, biodiversity, health, water resources, forestry, waste, and cultural heritage. This project has been carefully designed to respond to the country’s needs, align to and support national development aspirations, and complement other related projects.

This proposal targets three (out of four possible) outcomes:

  • 1. Adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination strengthened;
  • 2. Evidence basis produced to design adaptation solutions for maximum impact;
  • 3. Private sector engagement in adaptation catalysed.

More broadly, this proposal will contribute to advancing North Macedonia’s national climate efforts, building on previous efforts and advancing the implementation of strategic documents, including the NDCs, Long-term Strategy and Law on Climate Action, the UN Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, the GCF Country Work Programme as well as sectoral development and climate change plans and efforts.

More info: Consultations_NMK NAP project proposal

Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, in charge of economic affairs and coordination of economic departments
National Designated Authority (NDA)/Focal Point for interaction with the Green Climate Fund

Web: www.vicepremier-ekonomija.gov.mk
Contact person

  Ms. Sandra Andovska, Advisor for Climate Changes, Cabinet of the Deputy President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, in charge of economic affairs and coordination of economic departments

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