USD $25.71 million
ACCF Secretariat
Ms. Rita EFFAH, ACCF Coordinator
africaclimatechangefund@afdb.org
The Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) offers small grants to African governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and regional institutions to support African countries to transition towards climate-resilient, low-carbon development, and scale-up
climate finance access. It was established by the African Development Bank in April 2014 to support African countries build their resilience to the negative acts of climate change and transition to sustainable low-carbon growth. The ACC received an initial contribution of €4.725 million from Germany through its international development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ). In early 2017, other donors joined the Fund, and it became a multi-donor trust fund with contributions from the Ministry for the Environment, Land, and Sea, Italy, the Government of Flanders, Belgium; followed by Global Affairs Canada, the Government of Quebec, and the Global Center for Adaptation, Canada in 2022. In the seven years since its creation, the ACCF has proved itself as a climate financing mechanism that supports climate finance preparatory activities and small-scale adaptation projects across the African continent. It has supported Bank implemented projects, regional projects, and projects implemented by civil society and public sector operators.
The ACCF was established with an initial contribution of EUR 4.725 million from Germany, and subsequently benefited from an additional funding commitment of EUR 4.7 million from the government of Italy and a commitment of EUR 2 million from the government of Flanders, Belgium, bringing the total contributions to the ACCF since its inception to over EUR 11.4 million.
Counterpart financing of at least 5% for external beneficiaries and 10% for Bank departments is strongly encouraged to demonstrate commitment and ownership by the project proponent. For external proponents, counterpart financing may be in the form of in-kind contributions.
"The ACCF is hosted by the AfDB and governed by general AfDB rules and procedures, unless explicitly excepted in the Multi-Donor Agreement (MDA) or these Operational Guidelines.
As trustee of the ACCF, the Bank, in accordance with its financial rules, regulations, policies, investment guidelines and relevant instruments, will administer and manage the resources of the Fund using its organization, services, facilities and staff. The resources and accounts of the ACCF will be kept separate from those of the Bank and the Fund. The governance structure of the ACCF includes: a secretariat hosted within the Climate and Environment Finance Division (PECG1) of the Climate Change and Green Growth Department (PECG) led by an ACCF Coordinator, a technical committee (TC), an oversight committee (OC) and, when necessary, the Board of Directors of the Bank. The functions of each is described in the following. "
External beneficiaries: African governments (including sub-national, local and municipal governments), African regional organizations (intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations from the public sector. UN Agencies may be considered on a case-by case basis), African Funds (Funds must be legally registered in an African country. Private sector (for-profit) funds are not eligible), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (please refer to the question on the eligibility of NGOs), African research institutions (institutes must be legally registered in an African country, and must have demonstrated credibility and track record).
Internal beneficiaries: African Development Bank departments (bank departments may submit proposals directly, or may work with eligible external beneficiaries to support them in preparing high quality proposals)
The ACCF is seeking innovative and impactful proposals that will support African countries to transition to climate resilient, low carbon development, and scale-up access to climate finance. Priority will be given to the following themes: supporting direct access to climate finance (including supporting the development of high quality, bankable projects aligned with African countries’ NDCs and NAPs or related adaptation strategies); supporting the identification and strengthening of national institutions to access the GCF; supporting small–scale or pilot adaptation initiatives to build resilience of vulnerable communities with a focus on promoting access to clean energy, promoting climate-resilient agriculture and economic diversification, creating opportunities for youth and women in low-carbon sectors, and improving access to water and sanitation.
In addition, proposals should be aligned with the priorities of the Bank, as well as the development and climate-related priorities of the targeted country.
The African countries that are eligible are the regional member countries of the African development Bank.
A proposal must be submitted to the Secretariat during a call for proposals. The proposals are peer reviewed by two Bank experts. More information and eligibility criteria can be found here.