Climate Finance: Lessons from Rwanda

The document argues that developing countries can increase their access to climate finance by demonstrating strong fund management and project delivery. Rwanda is presented as a model for this approach, utilizing a national climate-responsive development plan (GGCRS) and a dedicated fund (FONERWA) to streamline resources and improve project quality. Key success factors identified include the use of joint sector reviews for cross-institutional coordination and the 'ubudehe' community-based system for inclusive needs assessments. The briefing recommends that other African nations establish similar dedicated funds to manage funding, prepare viable projects, and implement rigorous monitoring and evaluation to attract further international investment.

• Rwanda has integrated climate resilience into its national economic planning through the Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy (GGCRS), which is based on the concept of climate-compatible development (CCD) to align developmental goals with climate threats and opportunities.
• To overcome coordination challenges across different ministries and agencies, Rwanda employs 'joint sector reviews' that bring together public and private sector companies, NGOs, and donor organisations to ensure consistency in policy implementation.
• Rwanda uses a community-led participatory system called 'ubudehe' to rank members by vulnerability, ensuring that district and national development plans respond to actual local needs and target the most vulnerable individuals first.
• The establishment of the Fund for Environment and Climate Change (FONERWA), Africa's largest demand-based climate fund, has been central to Rwanda's ability to access and manage climate finance by pooling diverse resources and meeting international fiduciary requirements.
• FONERWA increases the volume of fundable projects by providing detailed assistance to develop proposals that show potential rather than simply rejecting them, addressing the common gap in project preparation capacity in developing countries.
• FONERWA supports a wide range of project scales, including smaller projects for remote and poor communities that are typically less financially viable and struggle to obtain development resources due to high transaction costs.

APA

Chennells, M. (2015). Climate Finance: Lessons from Rwanda. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Policy-Briefing-139.pdf

Chicago

Chennells, Matthew. Climate Finance: Lessons from Rwanda. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2015. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Policy-Briefing-139.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chennells |first1=Matthew |title=Climate Finance: Lessons from Rwanda |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2015 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Policy-Briefing-139.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chennells2015climate, author = {Chennells, Matthew}, title = {{Climate Finance: Lessons from Rwanda}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Policy-Briefing-139.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }