A delegation from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Secretariat undertook a country visit as part of the global effort of assessing GCF’s pilot funding window called “Enhanced Direct Access” (EDA). The GCF country visit formed part of this mid-term evaluation of the EDA pilot phase while Namibia has been selected as a study site because it is one of a handful countries that managed to successfully access funding under the EDA modality through EIF. The Green Climate Fund therefore conducted an assessment of the global EDA modality implementation to engage the key stakeholders and capture lessons learned using the CBNRM EDA Project as a pilot. The CBNRM EDA Project is the first in the world to be financed by the Green Climate Fund under the Enhanced Direct Access modality. The EDA modality intends to ensure country ownership of projects by accommodating a broad range of country conditions and circumstances, balanced with oversight mechanisms to ensure the effective delivery of funding. This further ensure that the funding is directly channeled to the Community Based Organisations (CBOs) who are the direct beneficiaries of the grant facility. The visit took place between the 26th January-3rd February 2020.
The visit also coincided with the launch of the Sorris Sorris Solar Power Plant official handover on the Wednesday, 29 January 20120 at Sorris Sorris Conservancy in Kunene Region. The official handover ceremony was officiated by the Honourable Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment and Tourism.