The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Climate Finance Strategy in Southeast Asia: Enabling Conditions for Regional Climate Finance Readiness

Abstract

Southeast Asia is the hardest-hit region worldwide regarding the frequency and severity of natural hazards, which are deemed to increase significantly in the incoming years. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (RCRC) in Southeast Asia, through its International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Asia Pacific Regional Office (RO), IFRC Country Cluster Support Teams (CCSTs) in Bangkok and Jakarta, and National Societies, provides tireless support on the ground to save countless lives from climate-related hazards such as floods, droughts, and typhoons. However, to keep providing community recovery, resilience, disaster risk reduction and mitigation, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia needs to significantly increase its funding capacity by creating innovative business models, thus engaging in climate finance.

To do so, the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia can develop a climate finance readiness strategy by focusing on several readiness dimensions: (1) Internal Capacity-Building, (2) External Capacity-Building, and (3) Contextual Environment. Each theme groups several enabling conditions for the RCRC Movement to develop to become ‘climate finance ready’. Internal Capacity-Building groups the enabling conditions of Policies and Plans, Budget and Time, Awareness and Training, Knowledge and Expertise. External Capacity-Building groups the enabling conditions of Humanitarian Diplomacy, Advocacy and Public Communications, Representation to Climate Funds, and Partnerships with Governments. Contextual Environment groups the enabling conditions of Climate Funds Eligibility, and Governmental Engagement.

Popular Abstract

Southeast Asia is home to 639 million people and is the hardest-hit region worldwide by natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and typhoons. Every year, millions of people in local communities face increasing life-threatening droughts, see their homes washed away, and lose a loved one. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (RCRC) through its International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) offices and National Societies provide tireless support on the ground to save countless lives. However, to rescue millions of people, the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia needs to increase its funding, thus engaging in climate finance.

Climate finance is finance distributed by climate funds to governments, and accredited organizations, to help them reduce climate change, adapt to its consequences, and develop resilience to disasters. Climate finance readiness represents the capacities of organizations and governments to access climate finance from climate funds. Those capacities can be developed by capacity-building, which aims to increase the performances of organizations or governments. For now, the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia does not have access to climate finance but can develop a readiness strategy to get significant funding from it, by developing its capacities. This study aims to describe the enabling conditions for climate finance readiness in Southeast Asia through a climate finance readiness framework for networked humanitarian organizations such as the RCRC Movement, based on interviews and surveys.

The results show that to get access to climate finance, the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia can develop a readiness strategy focusing on several dimensions such as internal capacity-building, external capacity-building, and the contextual environment. Each readiness dimension groups several enabling conditions for the RCRC Movement in Southeast Asia to get access to climate finance. Internal capacity- building groups the development of policies and plans, budget and time, awareness and training, knowledge and expertise. External capacity-building groups the development of humanitarian diplomacy, advocacy and public communications, representation to climate funds, and partnerships with governments. Contextual environment groups the management of climate funds eligibility, and governmental engagement.

This study additionally shows that the political and institutional will of the IFRC Secretariat to engage in climate finance is the primary need for the RCRC Movement to become climate finance ready. Indeed, without the political and institutional will at the highest level of decision-making, there is no strategy design and implementation. Also, this study shows a systemic strategy since IFRC offices provide technical and financial support to the National Societies that communicate their needs to their IFRC offices to create a needs-informed and locally-based strategy. Finally, this study highlights the need to integrate non-accredited entities such as humanitarian organizations into the climate funding landscape and shift the climate finance discussion from bulk spending to targeting the most vulnerable communities.

• author: Coviaux, Claire Lucienne Jeanne
• supervisor: Lejla Sunagic
• organization: Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
• course: VBRM15 20221
• year: 2022
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Climate finance, climate finance readiness, enabling conditions, capacity-building, Southeast Asia, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Philippine Red Cross, National Societies
• language: English
• id: 9102841
• date added to LUP: 2022-11-07 09:16:12
• date last changed: 2022-11-07 09:16:12