Getting accredited is one of the ways to engage with the Fund. It is a rigorous and multi-staged process, so it is worthwhile to plan and prepare for it.
Firstly, the entity needs to have its own legal status.
Second, the entity needs to have in place strong fiduciary standards, environmental guidelines, social guidelines, and gender policies and procedures at the institutional level.
Third, the entity should be able to demonstrate that there is a sufficient track record of such policies being implemented within the institution, and will accordingly be able to meet the Fund’s standards.
Subnational, national, regional and international entities, both public and private, are eligible for accreditation. If the subnational, national or regional entity, has applied for accreditation, firstly it should liaise with the National Designated Authority of the country, which coordinates all engagement with the GCF and will have to endorse the application. Applications are being received through the GCF’s Online Accreditation System. The Fund’s secretariat checks if the application is complete with all the required supporting documentation, once an accreditation fee is paid. This is the first stage.
The next stage is conducted by an independent accreditation panel of technical experts which reviews the entity’s application. Depending on the quality and completeness of the submitted documents, several rounds of questions, interviews or site visits may occur to determine whether the applicant entity can be accredited.
Once the assessment is finished, the accreditation panel will recommend the entity to the board of the GCF, which will finally decide based on the panel’s recommendation.
Stage 3 is the legal arrangement’s stage, where the entity and the GCF enter into an Accreditation Master Agreement. This agreement serves as the overarching legal agreement between and entity and the GCF.