Notification to National, Regional and Multilateral Implementing Entities of the Adaptation Fund in relation to COVID-19 outbreak
Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2020) — As most countries around the world have been impacted by the current outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), it has caused multiple and unpredictable challenges.
The Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat understands that the rapidly evolving situation regarding the spread of COVID-19 creates uncertainty and constraints for the normal implementation of projects funded by the Adaptation Fund that may interfere with the planned implementation of some projects and programmes.
We are all feeling the effects of this situation and doing our best to ensure smooth conduct of our operations. As such it has turned out to be not possible to organize the 35th meeting of the Adaptation Fund Board and the 26th meetings of the Board’s committees, as regular face-to-face meetings originally scheduled to take place at the end of March 2020. As an alternative, the Adaptation Fund Board is exploring the possibility of organizing a scaled-down virtual meeting that will focus on only the most pressing agenda items and defer other items to a future face-to-face meeting to be held at a later date.
In light of the above, we encourage all implementing entities to consider adaptive management options included in the Operational Policies & Guidelines (OPG) in order to mitigate any disruption for project implementation. Furthermore, in accordance with the Fund’s Updated Policy on Project/Programme Delays, in cases where a project/programme inception is not expected to start within the standard six months’ timeline set by the Board (from date of the first cash transfer), the implementing entity must send a notification to the secretariat with an explanation of the delay and an estimated start date using the form on pages 9-10 in Annex D of the policy document. The entity must also notify the project country’s Designated Authority (DA) with an explanation of the delay and an estimated new start date.
Should implementing entities experience any project or programme implementation issues, please contact the Secretariat at afbsec@adaptation-fund.org and copy Mr. Mahamat Assouyouti massouyouti@adaptation-fund.org and Ms. Martina Dorigo mdorigo@adaptation-fund.org to provide an update and discuss options as needed.
The Secretariat would like to take this opportunity to thank all of its implementing entities and partners for their ongoing efforts to tackle the climate change threats that our client countries face, despite the challenging situation created by this COVID-19 pandemic. We remain available to help with any request related to the implementation of the project and programme portfolio funded by the Adaptation Fund.