GCF insight #32
Climate change is eroding the very systems people depend on to survive and recover: their health services, their water and sanitation, and the social protection that catches them when shocks arrive. However, the financing response has not matched the need. Only 0.5 per cent of multilateral climate finance has reached health systems (WHO, 2023), and within the GCF, health, WASH and social protection have tended to sit at the margins of a portfolio that favours hard infrastructure.
This 32nd GCF insight examines how climate finance can more deliberately support resilience across this interconnected nexus. It explores how health systems, WASH, and adaptive social protection are currently treated in GCF programming, what the evolving policy environment means for project design, and why a people-centred investment pathway is both justified by the evidence and demanded by the scale of need. It also highlights what inclusion requires in practice for women, Indigenous Peoples, climate migrants and refugees, and communities living in fragile, conflict-affected, and informal settlement contexts.
Drawing on E Co’s consultancy experience, a desk review of GCF policy and the GCF-FAO 2025 joint review, case studies spanning Togo, Vanuatu, Mozambique, and Central and West Asia, and in-depth interviews with practitioners across GCF-accredited entities, Direct Access Entities, and the GCF Secretariat, the report sets out how the Fund can move from ad hoc engagement with these areas toward an integrated, measurable, people-centred strategy.
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GCF insight #31
Welcome to your 31st GCF insight report – Rethinking capacity building models for climate finance readiness.
Capacity building sits at the heart of international climate finance. Multilateral funds have long recognised that financial resources alone cannot deliver climate outcomes without competent institutions capable of planning, coordinating, and executing complex investment programmes. Significant investment has been made in training, technical assistance, and readiness support to build that foundation. However, a significant hurdle continues to hold things back: while training is being delivered, the conditions to make it stay and translate to more projects aren’t fully present.
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