Climate Funders Urged to Build Capacity Into Governments, Not Projects
COP 31 Special Events • United NationsNovember 12, 2026
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Two panels at a COP31 capacity-building session on Nov. 12, 2026, made the same argument: climate skills funded from abroad disappear when donor projects end unless they are built into government budgets, councils and universities. Officials from Uganda, the World Bank, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, the U.K. government and several global networks described how to make that happen. The session was informational, and no votes or decisions were taken.
- Uganda and Kenya models send adaptation money through local governments using performance-based grants
- Kenya's counties have invested more than $60M of their own money in the FLOCA program
- Loss and damage fund plans country support of up to $250,000 per country, with simplified access
- University of Liberia graduated its first cohort from accredited postgraduate climate programs
- Panelists said handover must be planned and funded from day one, with domestic budgets carrying core costs
The first panel, moderated by Sarah Pima, member of the PCCB, ran about 37 minutes, the longest discussion of the session. It focused on one design question: whether climate finance should flow through the systems governments already run. Alejandro Kilpatrick, Manager of the Capacity Building Subdivision at the UNFCCC, opened the session.
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