WWF EU South Africa 2021-2025

The overall objective of this project is that South African CSOs effectively participate in climate change governance to ensure enhanced climate policy ambition, implementation and accountability. The specific objective of the project is that bye 2025 enviromental CSOs invested social CSOs and trade unions form a well-coordinated, motivated, capacitated and functional core group to participate effectively in climate change and political processes. The associated outputs are to: 1. Build a strong cross-cutting civil society community, including support from social partners (labour) with improved ambition, implementation and accountability for climate change in South Africa; 2. A new cohort of youth climate champions are empowered to engage strongly in climate action and in climate policy processes; and 3. Recommendations for crosscutting issues such as gender, equality and rights-based approaches to be mainstreamed into the national climate policy, for both mitigation and adaptation. The contribution is assessed by Sida as relevant within the framework of the Strategy for support through Swedish organizations in civil society 2016-2022. The project mainly works to unite and strengthen different civil society organizations (environmental and social CSOs), trade unions and young people to be able to push climate change issues and participate in policy processes. The World Wildlife Fund WWF describes how civil society in South Africa has been fragmented when it comes to environmental commitment,and underlines the importance of reaching out to a wide range of actors where trade unions are considered to have a central role. The capacity building of CSOs is expected to facilitate their participation in political decision-making processes regarding climate change. WWF emphasizes the importance of combining environmental measures with a clear equality and rights perspective. For example, by working strategically with experts in human rights and gender equality to be able to set demands for the participation of women and young people in decision-making and to influence policy processes connected to the climate so that these include the two perspectives. Strengthened capacity and increased knowledge of CSOs is considered to be able to contribute to increased accountability towards decision makers. Sida assesses that the effort will contribute directly to the implementation of the Strategy for support through Swedish organizations in civil society 2016-2022 and the goal of strengthening the capacity of civil society in developing countries and thereby contributing to poverty reduction. The contribution is judged to be particularly relevant in terms of strengthening the capacity of civil society actors in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the promotion of a favorable social climate for civil society actors. Sida assesses that the level of requested own contribution is reasonable and that WWF has the capacity to carry out the contribution. Sida also assesses that the contribution's overall risk level is reasonable. Sida therefore decides to grant the World Wildlife Fund WWF's application for funding of its own contribution for the EU project "Climate Ambition to Accountability Project" during the period 2021-2025 in South Africa. In this decision, Sida relies mainly on the EU Commission's, the project's main financier, approval of the application, except for the assessments relating to WWF's capacity, where the assessment is based on the latest preparation of the WWF's application 2018-2022 (input number: 54030559).