The Government of Niger seeks Readiness and Preparatory Support to establish ANFICT’s capacity to meet and maintain the GCF’s accreditation standards as a Direct Access Entity (DAE).

Like other West African countries, and as confirmed by empirical data on the ground, Niger is facing the effects of climate change. Climate change affects areas and populations that are already vulnerable, both through poverty and through the degradation of natural resources. Niger’s climate change response cannot be fully effective without the participation of its local governments, which lack financial resources and capacities to meet this challenge and build climate-resilient local communities and economies. Through its mandate, capacity and track record, ANFICT is uniquely well placed to mobilize, manage and transfer international climate finance to Niger’s local governments for effective local climate action.

Under Niger’s decentralization agenda key responsibilities including climate change action have been devolved to local governments. Accordingly, ANFICT was created in 2008 as an autonomous State agency mandated to receive, manage and transfer budgetary resources to local governments to finance their implementation of the devolved responsibilities. ANFICT has demonstrated its suitability to manage funds of external development partners for climate and non-climate related initiatives, however its policies, procedures such as environmental and social policy, transparency and accountability policies, gender policy, financial disclosure policy, zero tolerance for fraud, financial mismanagement and other forms of malpractice policy, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing policies, risks control procedures, budgeting procedures and project management and grants award procedures are not yet formalized and documented nor its staff capacity solid enough to meet GCF accreditation standards for direct access.

Successful accreditation of ANFICT as a DAE will allow to enable local governments to access international climate finance to build the climate resilience of local economies and communities through local climate action, hence contributing to the territorialization of the NDC in the attainment of the Paris Agreement and specific SDG’s objectives. Building on ANFICT’s mandate, the specific Goal of this Support, closely aligned Objective 1 for GCF Readiness Proposals, is that ANFICT establishes adequate human, technical and institutional systems to enable it to fulfil the roles and responsibilities of a DAE of GCF while enhancing its capacity to support effective climate change response by local governments.