To encourage more effective utilization of climate finance for all stakeholders in various sectors, there needs to be a bridge that aligns the interests and capabilities of national stakeholders with international climate finance. In an effort to identify stakeholders' constraints in accessing international climate finance sources, the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF), as the main liaison between the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Indonesia, or the National Designated Authority (NDA), conducted a capacity gap assessment starting on September 19, 2023. This activity is supported by the Global Green Growth Institute as the implementing partner of the readiness program.

The capacity gap assessment kick-off meeting began with an opening from the NDA secretariat representative who conveyed the background and objectives of this activity. The gap assessment derived from the results of the assessment of Indonesia's needs in achieving readiness for access to climate change funding, which found that Indonesia needs increased capacity in priority sectors to be able to produce quality funding proposals and encourage collaboration and participation according to stakeholder types. The purpose of this capacity gap assessment is to identify the needs of each stakeholder group.

The NDA Secretariat Team then opened discussions with all GCF stakeholders regarding the challenges they have faced. Several main challenges were identified, with gaps in funding scale, duration of the approval process, and GCF preferences for certain project stages, among others.

From the perspective of NGOs and CSOs in Indonesia, the scale of GCF funding is still considered too high. To meet the criteria for GCF micro-funding alone, a program would likely involve more than twenty organizations as consortium members. This gap is being bridged by Kemitraan through programs funded by the Adaptation Fund.

The long approval period is also a challenge for various types of stakeholders, especially local governments. This can be mitigated by increasing awareness of the importance of long-term programs that are not dependent on existing political positions in the region.

The last challenge is GCF's preference for certain project stages. In the process of developing concept notes, many project proponents proposed the idea of a potential project, not a project ready to be scaled up. Due to that, there is a need to raise awareness regarding the type of project GCF desires and the supporting information needed to make projects attractive.

These inputs will begin the GCF multi-stakeholder capacity gap assessment in Indonesia. During this assessment, NDA will also develop stakeholder mapping with their needs and interests. As a follow-up, NDA will conduct a series of workshops and publish knowledge products tailored to the result of the stakeholder's assessment and mapping. It is hoped that this step will help enhance national stakeholders' capacity and enhance access to GCF funding for Indonesian national entities.