This webpage is public and discloses Project and safeguard information to public and relevant stakeholders. It is the Safeguard Mechanism specific webpage of the CTCN for the AFCIA Programme.
Environmental and social risks under this project will depend on the types of grants awarded by the programme. The nature of the AFCIA programme reduces the environmental and social risks as small grant are awarded based on a thorough screening process, they are not higher than 250,000 USD and delivered through technical assistance by CTCN partner pre-selected and part of the existing network of the CTCN. UNEP and Adaptation Fund safeguard policies will be followed to ensure full compliance.
UNEP’s Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework (ESSF) aims to strengthen the sustainability and accountability of UNEP programmes and projects. It respects human rights and aims to protect people and the environment from potential adverse impacts of project interventions and to ensure that stakeholders activity participate in programmes and projects and have effective channels to voice their concerns. The ESSF sets out UNEP’s commitment to sustainable development and environmental and social standards that are designed to promote human well-being and the protection of the environment.
Adaptation Fund ESP policy is aligned with UNEP safeguard policy that will be applied to identify and manage risks and ensure that no negative impacts are expected because of the implementation of the micro-grants. UNEP Safeguard Risk Identification Form (SRIF) will be used to ease the approval process internally and ensure the quality of the screening by UNEP team. For each pre-selected micro- grants, a SRIF has been prepared and sent for clearance to the UNEP Safeguards Advisor. If the screening assigns a high or moderate risk category to the project, additional steps will be taken to avoid or mitigate such risks during project preparation and management. Under AFCIA, projects with low risks (Category C as per Adaptation Fund´s ESMS) will be prioritized while projects with high risks will not be selected. If medium risk are identified, a management and /or gender action plan will be developed and approved at project level, following the AF ESP policy, to mitigate and monitor the risks during the project implementation.
For each pre-selected request, a Safeguards Risk Identification Form (SRIF) will be formulated and cleared by UNEP safeguard division. If the screening assigns a moderate risk category to the project (high risk projects will not be selected), then additional steps will be taken to avoid or mitigate such risks during project preparation and management in alignment with AF ESMS and ESP. Project and safeguard information will be identified with support from and disclose to public and all relevant stakeholders during the early consultation processes and inception meetings. A grievance redress mechanism will be clearly defined and established through protocols and made publicly available from CTCN webpage. It will follow UNEP´s procedures as well as Adaptation Fund´s ESP and ESMS. The project team will respond promptly to any concerns observed or reported to avoid their escalation to grievances. The response process will be managed by CTCN with complaints not addressed referred to UNEP as a second step. Roles and responsibilities will be further detailed in the GRM protocols that will be developed at project inception phase and presented during the launch workshop.
These SRIF can be accessed through the specific webpage of each of the AFCIA Projects, a list of all the projects can be found here.
The SRIF is developed during the identification and formulation of the project or programme, in alignment with the Adaptation Fund´s Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) procedures. The SRIF rates the level of risks of the technical assistance as defined in Adaptation Fund´s 15 principles, the Adaptation Fund ESP and ESMS. The SRIF also serves as a preliminary gender and youth Assessment of the request. At proposal stage, the SRIF is informed by in-country consultations and cleared by UNEP safeguards officer. Adaptation Fund ESP policy is fully aligned with UNEP ESSMF, so is the UNEP SRIF with Adaptation Fund´s 15 principles. In compliance with the Adaptation Fund Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), the delivery process for the ESP will include:
- an environmental and social risks identification through the SRIF,
- an environmental and social assessment through the approval of the SRIF by UNEP Safeguard officer,
- an environmental and social management planning for projects that would have been identified as medium risk,
- monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of the risks will be ensured yearly through the PPR,
- public disclosure and consultation will be ensured by the CTCN during the formulation of the Response Plan and throughout the implementation of the technical assistance, and
- the establishment of a grievance mechanism that will be accessible through CTCN´s website and communicated to the stakeholders during the inception workshop.
To support the Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework UNEP has adopted several related policies which will be applied to the Aggregator mechanism including:
- policy guidance on environment, human rights and addressing inequalities,
- indigenous people policy,
- policy and strategy on gender equality and the environment,
- promoting greater protection for environmental defenders,
- UNEP Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework, and
- UNEP’s Stakeholder Response Mechanism.
Grievance Mechanism
The programme grievance redress mechanism will be established and introduced during the programme launch workshop as well as each selected TA projects’ kick off meetings and the links will be made publicly available via the AFCIA website. The project team will respond promptly to any concerns observed or reported to avoid their escalation to grievances. Protocols will be developed to establish the Grievance Redress Mechanism following UNEP’s Stakeholder Response Mechanism (SRM) providing the opportunity for people who believe they have been adversely affected by activities that are implemented or executed as part of AFCIA II projects to submit complaints directly to CTCN and UNEP. Any person or group of persons who believe that they are or may be adversely affected by an activity implemented or executed as part of AFCIA will be able to file a complaint. The response process will be managed by CTCN with complaints not addressed referred to UNEP as a second step. Protocols will describe the dissemination strategy of the GRM, explains the process of complaints registration and sets the GRM operating procedures to respond to the requests and address the grievances.
Raise a grievance case
Access the grievance redress mechanism