Advancing climate action in the UK through adaptive technical assistance
Tailored technical assistance that meets the specific needs of countries and sectors can be crucial in spurring climate action. Technical assistance (TA) can provide the necessary expertise and resources to develop and implement effective, equitable, and sustainable solutions. This is particularly valuable in addressing complex and challenging issues that require specialized knowledge.
Technical assistance can enhance the capacity of local stakeholders, communities, and governments, enabling them to adopt best practices and manage and sustain climate initiatives over the long term. Additionally, TA can boost innovation through knowledge transfer, encourage research and development, and increase financing for innovative projects by helping to de-risk investments.
When paired with policy development advice, TA can foster an enabling environment by establishing regulatory frameworks and policies that support innovation in climate technologies and their delivery models. This support plays an essential role in achieving UK’s climate goals and fostering resilience in vulnerable regions.
ICF partners with donors, philanthropies and governments to design and provide diverse, practical TA that addresses barriers to advancing and scaling up climate action.
How technical assistance directly influences outcomes
Technical assistance can create an environment where innovation and climate solutions thrive that are positive for both people and the planet. Here are a few insights and examples of the work we’ve done with others.
1. Build a thorough understanding of the needs and local contexts. To ensure TA is effective, equitable, and sustainable, it is essential to collaborate with local partners, beneficiaries, communities, and governments in the design processes. Identifying systemic challenges and addressing specific knowledge and capacity gaps will require strong collaboration and learning from past failures. Technical assistance that is locally led will address unique needs, encouraging local buy-in and ownership towards climate action.
ICF, as the fund manager for the UK Government’s UK PACT GRCF, designed each funding round with a comprehensive scoping activity which included engagement with local stakeholders in specific countries and sectors, to prioritise technical assistance projects and stimulate market engagement for locally led solutions.
2. Be flexible and adaptive. Transformative change and positive reform require approaches that can be flexible and adaptive to unpredictable challenges. Project design should be politically informed through a deep analysis on local dynamics and emerging risks. Learning should be embedded throughout the delivery to flexibly manage a pool of resources as new opportunities emerge and scale-back on those that are not successful.
In Nepal, ICF delivered technical assistance to local governments in three provinces, aligned with evolving needs and demand. This required navigating and adapting to the complex demands and external contexts that evolved during delivery.
3. Integrate gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) from the outset. Applying an explicit and intentional GESI lens from TA design through to implementation will facilitate GESI-related positive impacts. Comprehensive GESI assessments can identify inequalities faced by women and other marginalised groups, and root causes of their vulnerabilities to inform climate action. Participatory and inclusive practices are crucial for capturing the voices of marginalized and vulnerable individuals within specific contexts. Technical assistance should facilitate their participation and empowerment in decision-making for localized action.
ICF facilitated the integration of GESI into TA projects funded by the UK PACT GRCF and Nigeria Country Programme. This initiative demonstrates how incorporating GESI considerations can enhance the effectiveness and inclusivity of climate action efforts.
4. Invest in learning and knowledge sharing. Technical assistance with robust monitoring and learning systems can capture best practices and drive scalable behavioural and system change. Applying learning from TA with a focus on contributing to sector wide knowledge gaps, collective action and problem solving nationally and internationally extend the impact created. Technical assistance delivery and management approaches that create space to learn from failure and reflect on challenges is essential to ensure performance improvements and experimentation when addressing complex climate issues.
In Nepal, ICF established an urban area learning alliance to identify, share, and adapt good practices to strengthen capacity, encourage collaboration, and inform public and private sector policy decisions.
5. Co-design technical assistance to support capacity needs and establish robust accountability. Co-designing TA programs with beneficiaries and decision makers will not only ensure their buy-in but also increase overall accountability towards climate commitments. Addressing specific capacity gaps through tailored training and resources that are co-designed with beneficiaries can help governments implement climate policies and monitor their progress accurately, while managing climate funds effectively and as intended.
ICF encouraged UK PACT GRCF applicants to design TA projects in close collaboration with local beneficiaries to ensure commitment and buy-in to work as partners towards a mutual goal in addressing specific gaps for climate action.
6. Challenge “business as usual” approaches to contribute to nature-positive outcomes. In the same way as applying a GESI lens from the design phase, integrating nature and biodiversity considerations from the outset can help to ensure that TA contributes to nature positive outcomes. This could be co-benefits that focus on other objectives by designing and implementing technical assistance with a nature lens or delivering TA that helps to pilot and scale nature-based solutions. Nature-focused technical assistance can create both climate and nature benefits and strengthen local capacities to adopt sustainable practices across various value chains. Tailored technical assistance can also drive businesses and the financial sector to change practices and lead by example to end nature degradation and invest towards restoration.
At ICF, we work with businesses to build understanding, partake in discussion with peers, and learn from early movers to integrate biodiversity in their practices.