Who is Aiding Whom? Redirecting Climate Finance to Grassroots Organizations Leading Resilient Development

As the human and economic costs of climate-related disasters are increasing (in countries as diverse as the United States and the Philippines), stakeholders are pressing climate finance institutions to allocate funding more responsibly and equitably and to devolve finances to local level where impacts are felt and resilience is built.

This session supports the call for action by presenting perspectives from grassroots organizers, government officials, and policy specialists on the urgent need to create finance mechanism that ensure cities and settlements are climate resilient and that situate poor communities at the center of protecting community assets, development investments, and their families and neighbors.

Panelists will share how grassroots social movements, particularly those led by empowered women, are working locally to reduce climate risks, vulnerabilities, and greenhouse gas emissions, and how they organize collectively to address these issues in slums, peri-urban settlements, the informal economy, and the rural-urban continuum.

Organized in two panels, this dialogue introduces evidence of the impact of grassroots action and explore avenues and practical entry-points for redirecting and devolving climate including through:

· acknowledging the contributions of grassroots social movements to nationally-determined commitments, the Paris Agreement, and the 2030 Agenda more broadly;

· revising and simplifying procedures and standards for climate financing to favor medium and smaller scale projects;

· enhancing direct access for local level institutions that support micro, small and medium enterprises; and

· building national and local capacities to succeed in participatory planning, implementation and the absorption of climate finance.

Insights from this event, together with those from complementary events convened at Habitat 3 will be consolidated in a report, tracking how development funding must be redirected to invest in grassroots social movements to realize bottom-up, inclusive implementation of the 2030 and New Urban Agenda.