NEWSLETTER Issue 6, July 2018

Facility developed by the EBRD with support from the CIF PPCR, the UK and the EBRD ETC Fund EBRD Early Transition countries Fund ("ETC Fund") is supported by Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,

Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei China and the United Kingdom

Finance Technology Innovation

PROJECT PROGRESS OVERVIEW

A warm welcome to the sixth issue of the CLIMADAPT program news-letter!

In this issue, as usual, we will update you on the CLIMADAPT pro-gramme’s activities and share our experience in promoting climate resil-ience in Tajikistan, including the ongoing workshops, trainings, various outreach activities and success stories.

CLIMADAPT offers credit lines and technical assistance to local partner financial institutions to enhance their investments into the climate resili-

ence technologies. Direct support to farmers and MSMEs is provided through the advisory support, knowledge dissemination and awareness raising. It is very pleasing to see the great progress since the launch of the programme in 2016, which confirms the needs and challenges in the country and relevance of our programme. Five financial institutions (Bank Eskhata, IMON International, HUMO, Arvand and First Micro-finance Bank) have joined the program and have so far disbursed 3,000 loans to Tajik farmers, entrepreneurs and households for USD 9.0 mil-lion.

I hope our newsletters will be a useful contribution that will facilitate discussion and networking opportunities for all interested.

If you have any questions, please contact us directly on in-fo@climadapt.tj or reach us at +992 93 433 9001.

Kairat Shalabay,

Team Leader,

CLIMADAPT

ABOUT US

9.0

million USD dollars disbursed

beneficiaries con-sisting of house-holds, farmers and MSMEs

PORTFOLIO AS OF 1st July 2018

climate resilience technologies supported

20

3099

CLIMADAPT SUCCESS STORY AT PPCR MEETING

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Pilot Program on Climate Resilience (PPCR) held a meeting to review progress and tasks ahead in implementing PPCR. A Tajik delegation led by Mr. Zafar Makhmudov, Head of Project Implementation Unit of Committee for Environmental Protection, has been attending the PPCR Pilot Countries Meeting at the headquarters of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, the Philippines from May 21 to 24, 2018. The meeting attracted delegates from 28 coun-tries of PPCR, climate change experts, researchers, etc., and was aimed to share experience and report on the progress in carrying out the PPCR. Tajikistan is one of the countries selected worldwide for the PPCR, which aims to support developing countries in building their resilience to the impacts of climate change. It provides financing to demonstrate ways to integrate climate risk management and adaptation objectives into core development planning.

Mr. Zafar Makhmudov, representing the Government of Tajiki-stan, presented the annual results of CLIMADAPT, which has been supported by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) through PPCR and shared achievements of CLIMADAPT facility on using microfinance for climate change adaptation and resilience build-ing. Ms. Nurgul Esenamanova, Climate Finance Officer of EBRD, presented early findings of the evaluation and learning activity project launched recently in Tajikistan. At the investment level,

the evaluation and learning activity will assess direct and indi-rect impacts of private sector-focused adaptation projects on women and men end-beneficiaries and CLIMADAPT will form the basis for this analysis as a case study.

The PPCR Pilot Countries Meeting is a platform for networking and knowledge sharing between experts, donors and civil socie-ty leaders representing different countries and projects.

EBRD’s 27th Annual Meeting and Business Forum was held in Jordan on 9-10 May, 2018. The theme of the Business Forum was Energising Economies and it aimed to engage participants in discussions on a variety of topical issues – from business climate to economic growth, from targeted, profitable investment to environ-mental protection. The Annual Meeting and Business Forum attract-ed senior government officials, leading financial and corporate execu-tives and representative of civil society organisations and the interna-tional and regional media. The two-day program of the Business Forum consisted of Discussions, Investment Outlook Sessions, the Civil Society Program, Networking Events and Associated events.

EBRD is playing a crucial role in helping countries to confront devel-opment challenges through various interventions, which promote competitive and sustainable market economies. The Bank delivered

impressive achievements through a record level of financing of €9.7 billion in 2017, with a particular focus on the green economy. During the event, EBRD highlighted its increasing emphasis on inclusion and its outreach to women entrepreneurs, as well as its work to make economies more resilient, especially through local currency financing. The EBRD is planning to examine how to invest even more in its ex-isting countries of operations. The EBRD’s economists also presented their latest macroeconomic forecast for the EBRD regions during the Annual Meeting in Jordan, focusing on the overview of economic growth prospects and analysis of future challenges. For more details please visit the website.

EBRD ANNUAL MEETING AND BUSINESS FORUM

During the EBRD Annual Meeting in Jordan, an award ceremony was hosted, celebrating the achievements of fourteen companies from different countries, which have made outstanding contribu-tions to promoting environmental and social sustainability. The awards, organized by the EBRD’s Environment and Sustainability Department to recognize achievements in the field, are awarded annually in four categories: sustainable energy, climate resilience, environmental and social best practice, and environmental and social innovation. After receiving a record of 55 nominations, 14

projects were selected in 2018 for gold, silver and bronze awards across the four categories.

The EBRD Sustainability Awards 2018 showcased and celebrated the remarkable achievements of award winning EBRD clients. MDO HUMO won the Silver award under the Climate Resilience category of the EBRD’s Sustainability Awards 2018. MDO HUMO is one of the leaders and progressive players of the micro finance sector of Tajikistan. MDO HUMO was nominated for the EBRD’s Sustainability Awards 2018 for its commitment and never-ending outreach efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment and to improve its workforce management with a view to increas-ing the number of women staff and promoting staff awareness about gender issues. MDO HUMO is a CLIMADAPT partner finan-cial institution with the highest number of female clients and the first partner institution to disburse all the funds made available through CLIMADAPT. We express our deep gratitude to the MDO HUMO team for the outstanding work in this area and wish that further cooperation between our institutions would be as fruitful and impactful.

HUMO SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS

EVALUATION AND LEARNING WORKSHOP

On 27 April 2018, Second Stakeholder Workshop: “Gender-sensitive, climate-resilient, private sector investments: Tajikistan case”, was held in Serena Hotel, Dushanbe. The representatives from the Gov-ernment of Tajikistan, the Tajik public and private sector, local and international financial institutions, the civil society and donor com-munity took part in this event. At a workshop, the EBRD took stock of ongoing efforts to boost women’s economic opportunities in the face of a changing climate in Tajikistan.

The challenge of climate change for Tajikistan and Gender in relation to climate change were the main themes of the event. During the event, leading gender and climate change experts discussed progress on gender-sensitive activities, exchanged views on current trends in

private sector development and gender in relation to climate change adaptation.

The evaluation and learning activity will investigate how gender con-siderations could be integrated into climate resilience policy and investment planning in Tajikistan. CLIMADAPT was demonstrated as a prime example of a financing program to tackle gender issues. Promoting women’s economic opportunities is an important part of CLIMADAPT’s work. Its partner financial institutions, through which clients receive their loans, support women’s access to finance and actively reach out to more women. As a result, nearly 30% of CLI-MADAPT borrowers are female, in a country where female entrepre-neurs are still a small minority. The CLIMADAPT will continue pro-moting gender equality in the context of building climate resilience in Tajikistan. For more details, please visit our website.

CLIMADAPT provides concessional funding for financing innova-tive and incipient climate resilience technologies in Tajikistan through five local banks and microfinance institutions. Each part-ner has own experiences in mainstreaming climate finance into their core business and has own dedicated approach for attracting new customers via networking, direct meetings and selling. Loan officers of partner financial institutions work closely with clients to

identify their needs and to determine the best loan product fitting their needs and objectives.

CLIMADAPT understands that project success directly depends on the contribution and commitment of the talented PFIs’ credit staff and launched a competition among PFIs’ loan officers to stimulate them. The objectives of the competition are to motivate the growth of CLIMADAPT portfolio and to encourage PFI staff to promote innovative technologies. The most distinguished PFIs Loan officers who made an invaluable contribution to the imple-mentation of the CLIMADAPT project receive certificate and prize. The awards are available in three categories - Loan portfolio award, Technology Innovation award and Special Gender award. The selection of winners and award ceremonies are conducted on quarterly basis. Up to now, CLIMADAPT has awarded 42 loan officers for their extraordinary service and outstanding perfor-mance in promoting climate resilience investment starting. About 20% of all winners are women loan officers. We would like to congratulate all the winners and wish them success in their lives.

For more details, please visit our Facebook page.

PFI LOAN OFFICER AWARDS

One of the CLIMADAPT project objectives is to increase public awareness on climate resilience technologies through dissemina-tion of various materials, including technology brochures, leaflets and posters. Information dissemination is an important tool to build capacity and knowledge in this field. It is also an efficient

marketing tool to inform about climate resilient technologies that are supported by CLIMADAPT. The project team prepared bunch of technology brochures on innovative technologies, such as drip irrigation, cold storage, greenhouse and solar technologies. The brochures include explanation of the technology, its benefits and recommendations. Images and graphics help readers to get a clearer understanding of the technologies. The brochures also incorporate the success stories, which illustrate the benefits of the approach in bringing tangible outcomes based on real cases.

Each brochure was prepared in English, Russian and Tajik lan-guages, also containing essential information about CLIMADAPT project and PFIs contact information. These brochures are used to introduce and promote climate resilience technologies and inform prospective customers about the support they can receive from CLIMADAPT.

The brochures are printed and distributed during all marketing events, including technology workshops, conferences, trainings and seminars and other events. All brochures are available on project website.

CLIMADAPT BROCHURES

CLIMADAPT is dedicated to investments in improved climate resili-ence technologies to help make the Tajik private sector more resilient to climate change. Since February 2016, CLIMADAPT conducted sixteen technology workshops on various topics, for 522 farmers and entrepreneurs in different regions of Tajikistan, including GBAO and Rasht regions. CLIMADAPT technology workshops are undertaken to promote the development and use of climate resilience technologies, such as drip irrigation, greenhouses, energy efficient cold storages, solar panels, solar dryers and equipment modernization.

The latest technology workshop on solar technologies was organized in June in Khorog, GBAO. This workshop targeted the commercial segment and brought together entrepreneurs and managers of small businesses. The main objective of this workshop was to explain the benefits of using solar technologies for small businesses that can lead to a reduction in the use of electricity and increase the profit and business efficiency. Presentation of solar panels and solar water heaters was delivered by local vendor, which described the technical details and economic benefits of solar technologies.

The workshops have provided a unique platform to introduce partici-pants with climate resilience technologies and aimed creating an avenue for local farmers and entrepreneurs to share ideas and sug-gest action on climate change adaptation. During the workshops, participants had the chance to meet with suppliers and installers of innovative technologies and with the partner financial institutions. The workshops also included site visits to allow participants to ‘touch and see’ the various technologies and to understand the practical implications and benefits. Use of climate resilience technologies by farmers, households and small and medium sized enterprises, reduc-es their operating costs, saves energy, water resources, and improves income. More information can be found on our website.

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS