In the effort of accessing the Green Climate Fund (GCF), it is necessary to strengthen the national actors’ capacity. With that in mind, the GCF worked together with the Japanese Ministry of Environment (MOEJ) and the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) in the Asian Institutes of Technology (AIT) to develop the national capacity in drafting concept note in accordance to the GCF criteria; particularly for the climate change adaptation projects/programmes including through the Simplified Approval Process (SAP). The initial training called “Capacity Building Programme on GCF Concept Note Development for Climate Change Adaptation including through the SAP” was held on 18 to 22 November 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. Furthermore, the second training was held on 18 to 22 January 2021 virtually with the title of “Advanced Training Developing Concept Notes for The Green Climate Fund Including via The Simplified Approval Process Workshop Series”.

The series of training was conducted as an intensive mentorship programme, to help each country representative in submitting concept notes to GCF by the end of the training period. The GCF invited the National Designated Authority (NDA), Direct Access Entities (DAEs), and related Executing Entities (EE) from Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Island, and Niue.

![GCF Concept Note Development Training 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand(https://fiskal.kemenkeu.go.id/nda_gcf/media/Training_Concept_Note_GCF_1.jpg)

Following the need to develop the climate change adaptation sector, Indonesia sent a delegation from the Fiscal Policy Agency (FPA) as the NDA of Indonesia, the Adaptation Directorate of Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF), along with Kemitraan and Yayasan Kehati as Indonesia DAE and DAE candidate. Both of these institutions work together in developing a concept note for an adaptation project related to food security in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT); with the title drafted as “Local Food Diversification Program for Climate Change Adaptation”. The concept project being designed by Kemitraan and Yayasan Kehati is an upscaling plan for food diversification activities that have been implemented by Yayasan Kehati in NTT. This project design is consistent with the main criteria of SAP submission to GCF, which are the project/programme is ready to be scaled-up, has the potential to bring a transformational impact, has a maximum funding scale of up to US$ 10 million, and has risk category C (lowest environmental and social risk). The approval system of the SAP project/programme is simpler and aims to accelerate the funding of DAEs small-scale projects/programmes.

Within the training, participants were given the basic understanding that every statement in the GCF concept note must be supported by scientific data. To help participants in presenting valid data and information, the training also provided examples of documents that could be used as the references. For instance, the research results from international and national institutions, state regulation at the national and regional level, microdata from local NGOs, research data from local universities, as well as survey results that were collected independently by the project proponents. Meanwhile, for the necessary data to prove that climate change is the driving force of the problem, the GCF introduce the usage of the Asia-Pacific Adaptation Information Platform (AP-PLAT). This platform, which provides adaptation data, has also been launched along with the G20 ministerial meeting on 16 June 2019 in Japan.

[GCF Concept Note Development Training 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand(https://fiskal.kemenkeu.go.id/nda_gcf/media/Training_Concept_Note_GCF_2.jpg)

Furthermore, in the advanced training stage conducted in 2021, Indonesia received the opportunity to participate in the additional intensive consultation (online), facilitated by the MOEJ. Through this consultation, the concept note drafted by Kemitraan and Yayasan Kehati received useful input in more detail. Thus, the concept note now has reached the finalization stage and is planned to be submitted by Kemitraan as the DAE, with the support of Yayasan Kehati as Executing Entity (EE), to GCF in the mid of April 2021.