Joint Press Release

ClimDev-Africa retreat agrees concrete actions on CCDA III, COP19, Special Fund

Debreziet, Ethiopia 07 September 2013- Representatives from partner institutions to the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) programme today agreed to step up preparations for the two most important calendar events of the initiative for 2013 - the 2013 Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-III) billed for Addis Ababa next October and the 2013 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 19) scheduled for Warsaw, Poland in November.

For three days, senior officials and technical experts from the African Union Commission (AUC); the African Development Bank (AfDB); and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) stepped back from their daily activities (during a retreat in Debreziet, Ethiopia) and took a critical look at the programme delivery, new and forwarding looking programme strategies and all the administrative and technical preparations for the key events to maximize chances for success.
Participants took a critical look at concept notes, agenda and other relevant documents for CCDA-III; Africa’s participation at COP19; and agreed that the organisation of an Africa Day on the sidelines of COP 19 was both practical and feasible but needs sustained actions to ensure that Africa’s positions in all these events are informed by science and deep reflection.

Participants agreed on the need for more targeted assistance to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on climate change before, during and even after COP19 to improve on ClimDev-Africa’s visibility as an institution of choice on climate change issues on the continent.

The three institutions were represented by Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, Director of Rural Economy and Agriculture, at AUC; Dr. Samba Tounkara, Coordinator of ClimDev Special Fund, AfDB; and Dr. Fatima Denton, Coordinator for the African Climate Policy Centre at ECA.

A presentation on the current status of the ClimDev-Africa Special Fund by its Acting Co-ordinator, Dr. Samba Tounkara preceded a detailed discussion on how to promote the Fund’s unique features through targeted communication tools. The meeting called for urgent action on joint communication activities by the African Climate Policy Centre, the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank in this respect.

A senior consultant from the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK) presented a draft monitoring and evaluation framework for ClimDev-Africa and explained how it would ensure programme planning, implementation and tracking; the availability of timely of results to enhance the efficient management of ClimDev-Africa Special Fund; provide information and feedback for timely management decisions; and show how activities aggregate to outputs, outputs to outcomes.

The Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) Programme is mandated at the highest level of African political leadership (AU Summit of Heads of State and Government) to create a solid foundation for an appropriate response to climate change by Africa and its development partners. African Ministers of Finance, of Planning and of Environment have also recognized the potential role of the ClimDev-Africa initiative in combating the impacts of climate change.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa through its African Climate Policy Centre acting as the technical wing of the secretariat is responsible for establishing the policy basis for the programmatic orientation of ClimDev-Africa. The African Development Bank has a key mandate which is to manage the investment portfolio of climate investments based on empirical research work done by ACPC to identify gaps and niches in climate change response strategies. The African Union Commission provides the political platform and acts as a lever to distill key messages to member states on the value of investing in climate change as a precursor for good adaptation and mitigation.

The sustenance and evolution of this tripartite initiative is contingent on continuous renewal of processes on strategic orientation of climate change partnerships, and a coalition thinking that will enable the consortium to review their strategies through effective engagement and a shared vision on the cumulative value of the ClimDev mandate in terms of the “who”, “what” and “how” of policy influence and concrete action on the ground.

Meeting the aspirations of ClimDev will mean carving out a space where the purpose of the initiative, the interdependencies of partners within the consortium and their ability to retain their current relevance as well as forecast new roles in an increasingly complex and fluid terrain remains an imperative.