This paper provides an overview of how international public funding is accessed by recipient countries in order to secure public policy goals, and in particular the national response to climate change. It focuses on the concept of direct access, as it applies to funding originating from multilateral sources and considers how access might be improved and made more efficient.  Direct access has become a focus within the debate on how the international community can support those countries particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.  The paper takes a regional approach and examines how these issues are playing out in sub-Saharan Africa.