AAI's Journey at the GCBC Accelerator Launch

On September 23rd, 2025, we marked a significant milestone in our decade-long mission to transform climate finance in Africa. Ambassador Seyni Nafo represented the Africa Adaptation Initiative at the Global Capacity Building Coalition's Steering Group meeting at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, where we were officially recognized as one of three winners of the inaugural GCBC Accelerator program.

A Decade of Building African Solutions

This recognition comes after ten years of dedicated work in a very specific space: supporting African institutions to directly access climate finance. As Amb. Nafo shared with the distinguished gathering, "This is really encouraging for us because we've been in this space for ten years, and it is very specific—supporting African institutions to access finance."

The numbers tell our story clearly. While the African continent receives 40% of the Green Climate Fund's portfolio—the world's largest provider of adaptation finance that countries can directly access—85% of these resources flow through non-African entities. This reality prompted Ambassador Nafo to invoke an African proverb: "One cannot be shaved in his absence." Essentially, the continent receives resources, but African institutions manage only 15% of the funding meant for their own development.

The Adaptation Finance Academy Difference

Our response has been the Adaptation Finance Academy, a comprehensive program designed to flip these statistics. We provide end-to-end support to African institutions, from project origination through execution, addressing every barrier from fiduciary management capacity to procurement processes that can stall or derail access to funding.

Beyond Numbers: Building Institutional Ecosystems

Our work extends far beyond simple fund mobilization. We focus on retaining institutional talent—the African women and men who must navigate increasingly complex financial instruments. The Green Climate Fund, with its 25 annexes and proposals running hundreds of pages, represents what Amb. Nafo describes as "the most complex financial institution to tap into." As he explained to the GCBC gathering, "If you can crack that nut, then the rest of it is pretty easier."

We train commercial banks to use development tools like log frames for impact reporting, support procurement efficiency, and ensure African experts remain on the continent to lead these initiatives. The goal is creating a critical mass of local expertise across African countries by 2030, enabling nations to translate their climate visions into financed implementation through domestic institutional capacity.

 Global Recognition, African Leadership

The GCBC Accelerator selection process drew nearly 50 high-quality applications worldwide. We were selected alongside Climate Compatible Growth and Transforma by a distinguished panel chaired by Mary Schapiro and including representatives from major financial institutions across multiple continents.

Mary Schapiro noted that "the winners of the GCBC Accelerator exemplify the kind of innovative, high-impact projects that can mobilize sustainable finance and help close the investment and capacity gap." This recognition positions African-led solutions as essential components of global climate action, not merely recipients of international support.

A New Chapter in Climate Finance

Environmental Finance magazine highlighted how the GCBC Accelerator addresses critical capacity gaps in emerging markets, where technical expertise demand often exceeds supply. The coalition, launched by UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Michael Bloomberg at COP28, directly responds to requests from financial institutions in emerging markets and developing economies.

For AAI, this partnership provides more than resources and recognition. It offers a platform to demonstrate that effective climate finance requires building the institutional ecosystem necessary for sustainable, locally-led climate action. We are not seeking to become aid recipients but equal partners architecting global climate solutions.

Looking Forward

As we advance through the GCBC Accelerator program, our mission remains clear: ensuring that climate finance in Africa is not just available but truly led and managed by African institutions. The recognition validates our Adaptation Finance Academy's approach of filling the adaptation finance gap one project at a time through institutional capacity building.

Our presence at The Plaza Hotel alongside international development bank leaders and finance sector executives represents the evolution from aid recipient to equal partner in global climate action. The path ahead focuses on scaling our impact, ensuring that by 2030, African countries possess the institutional capacity to translate their climate ambitions into financed reality.

This recognition marks not an end but a new beginning. One where African solutions take their rightful place in addressing the global climate challenge through institutional excellence and local leadership.