The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism team, the Green Climate Fund and the FAO West Africa sub-regional office partnered to organise a regional training course with the key support of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The training, which took place from 7 to 11 June 2021, aimed to build the capacity of countries in the West African sub-region to develop Green Climate Fund projects to restore degraded forest landscapes.

The training targeted the following French-speaking countries with significant forest resources: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, the Niger, Senegal and Togo. It was organised in a mixed format: trainers and speakers were connected remotely with in-person participation from the attendees. The training took place over 5 days with 3 sessions per day in a location in the capital of each country to allow for face-to-face interaction. In each country, the group had a designated facilitator. In the end, more than 80 people, including partners from sectoral ministries, FAO staff and other actors were trained in the 8 participating countries.

The main objective of this online training course, combining remote presentations and face-to-face group work, was to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to access Green Climate Fund financing for transformative forestry-related projects and programmes. It supported West African countries to better understand the context of international cooperation and to engage in the development of financial project proposals tailored to climate change needs and the priorities of their respective countries and regions.

The main course activities were structured around interactive modules on accessing Green Climate Fund financing: the country teams worked on developing a climate rationale, theory of change, mobilizing private sector actors, with a particular focus on sharing experiences of good practices and lessons learned on climate policies in other countries. Participants were also informed about other possible sources of funding such as the Adaptation Fund and the Global Environment Facility, among others.

The training was a success, and all the participants gave excellent feedback. An important remark raised by the countries was the need for more training on this topic and specifically on carbon benefits and the use of tools developed by FAO to support them throughout the process.

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