KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Government is in the process of having three national agencies accredited as National Implementing Entities (NIEs) of the United Nations (UN) Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The accreditation will aid in building efficiency in the country’s engagement with the fund. The three entities are the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), and Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

Minister without Portfolio in the Economic Growth and Job Creation Ministry, Daryl Vaz, in making the disclosure yesterday said that “in the future, these agencies will be able to forge partnerships directly with the GCF”.

“They will be able to implement projects guided by the fund’s investment framework and Jamaica’s priorities for implementing mitigation and adaptation activities both in the public and private sectors,” he explained.

Vaz was speaking at a signing ceremony for the second tranche of the GCF Readiness Grant to Jamaica in the sum of US$582,000, at Jamaica House in Kingston.

The money is intended to help the private sector to develop and implement strategies to respond to climate change.

The signing follows a workshop held with the private sector in June 2016 to discuss the important issue of climate change financing and how to access funds from the GCF.

Last October, the first tranche of US$300,000 was made available to allow for the hiring of consultants in climate and development finance to provide technical support to the ministry’s Climate Change Division in the development of a country programme for engagement with the GCF. Vaz appealed to the private sector and all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) “to work with us at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, through the Climate Change Division, to build the resilience of our country to climate change”.

“You have our total support, and we would like to be involved from the concept stage to implementation to ensure that we get it right the first time and that businesses and, indeed, the country benefit from the resources of the GCF and any other financing options regarding climate change,” he added.

Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Audrey Sewell, noted that the private sector has a critical role to play in ensuring that the country can withstand the shocks from climate change, which, she noted, have the potential to derail all the projects, plans and goals of this and successive administrations.

“We want to provide the private sector with the knowledge and expertise to access the funds provided by the GCF through the Government, individually as grant funding or through concessional loans,” she said.