The proposed readiness request will constitute Somalia’s first readiness request outside of NAP strengthening through UNDP. Activities under this request will fill the urgent need for NDA strengthening, development of a country programme and establishment of a GCF pipeline for Somalia.

The main challenge that this request will overcome are those of insufficient NDA technical and institutional capacity to effectively oversee climate finance in the country. This limited capacity exists because:

• the NDA does not have the existing operational procedures or technical capacity to effectively fulfill its role;
• while policy for climate change co-ordination has recently been passed in Somalia, this does not cover climate finance;
• Somalia does not have a Country Programme for the GCF;
• Somalia’s country project pipeline is not well developed; and
• the NDA does not yet have an adequate system for collecting, managing, and sharing lessons learnt and best practices specifically on climate finance.

This request will primarily target the NDA (Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate for Environment & Climate Change) for capacity building and institutional strengthening, to ensure that this office has the necessary capacity to provide strategic oversight of GCF activities in Somalia. It is expected that, upon completion of readiness activities, the NDA of Somalia will have: i) the required processes and tools in place to oversee GCF activities; ii) a well-developed Country Programme for strategic engagement with the GCF; iii) an initial pipeline of priority projects and hands-on experience in overseeing the development of GCF concept notes; and iv) an established knowledge management platform to collect, curate and disseminate best practices and lessons learned from GCF activities in-country.

These activities will complement the existing NAP strengthening activities, as well as the NDC enhancement activities currently taking place in Somalia. It is expected that the outcomes of the readiness activities will facilitate an increase in the country’s capacity to mobilise climate finance through the GCF.