The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) is a Public Company Limited by Shares, registered at the Officer of the Registrar General of Rwanda. For more than four decades, BRD has been the sole pro- vider of long-term finance and has significantly facilitated the emergence of different productive en- terprises in the private sector. It aims to be an innovative and sustainable provider of development finance for socio-economic impact and a trusted strategic partner for Rwanda’s development that offers financial solutions for enhanced value to our stakeholders. Its strategic pillars are diverse in- cluding the commitment of Operational Excellence, being strategic in forming partnerships to deliver its mandate is a Dynamic Culture:

Rwanda is requesting a gap assessment support for accreditation for BRD. The support will help BRD better understand the accreditation support as well as identify the different shortcomings the appli- cant needs to address in order to meet the accreditation requirement.

Since its establishment 50 years ago, BRD has been involved in several activities related to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Rwanda. More than 50% of the Bank’s portfolio is in agriculture and renewable energy - both sectors have to a varying degree various intervention related to climate adaptation and mitigation.

One of the Bank’s largest intervention so far is in the energy sector, particularly in solar energy gener- ation, as since 2017, BRD has been selected as the fund manager of the “Renewable Energy Fund” (REF), a fund worth US$ 48.94 Million and financed by the World Bank. The main objective of REF is to increase electricity access in Rwanda through off-grid technologies and facilitate private sector partic- ipation in renewable off-grid electrification. The expected outcome of the project is to facilitate the deployment of an estimated 445,500 off-grid connections and benefit 1.8 million people, with 52% of whom are women.

Building on this new vision, a new mission and clear priorities centered on five priority sectors have been articulated. These will all be driven by embracing a set of five fundamental values:

• Pragmatic: BRD will catalyze development finance while keeping a business mindset.
• Focused: BRD will focus on key high impact flagship interventions since the needs are many but resources are few.
• Innovative: BRD will structure interventions to achieve more impact with fewer resources.
• Engaged: BRD will deliberately share new direction and manage expectations of internal and external stakeholders.
• Inclusive: BRD will deliver broad based development for all Rwandans especially those under-served by commercial banks and a special focus on women and youth

Prior to this submission, BRD has gathered internally the different documents needed for GCF ac- creditation. However, the findings advise that it would be valuable to receive the support from GCF in form of a Gap assessment to assist BRD in identifying the gaps or weaknesses in relation to GCF requirements. BRD needs this support from GCF to effectively conduct this exercise. Through the valuable action plan that will emerge from the gap assessment, BRD will be in position to address these weaknesses in a timely manner before pursing our application.