The LoCAL Mechanism
Building on two decades of experience in local development finance, the UN Climate Development Fund (UNCDF) has established the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) to address the unfunded mandate of local governments in addressing climate change adaptation.
Local governments in least developed countries (LDCs) are in a unique position to identify the climate change adaptation responses that best meet local needs, and typically have the mandate to undertake the small- to medium-sized adaptation investments required for building climate resilience. Yet they frequently lack the resources to do so – particularly in a manner aligned with established local decision-making processes and planning, budgeting and budget execution cycles. In this context, LoCAL comes to empower local governments to contribute towards the achievements of national determined contributions (NDCs) and NAPs where available.
This e-tutorial aims to provide an incursion through the LoCAL mechanism. It provides answers to a series of questions such as: Why are local governments in a position to address climate change at the local level?, How does LoCAL mechanism help local governments to address climate change?, What are the components LoCAL relies on and how are they interlinked?, Where does LoCAL operate? and others more.
The e-tutorial contains a 4-minute video and an interactive lesson. The interactive lesson itself includes four sections and a variety of learning check points helping you to remain engaged throughout. The four sections are:
- Climate Change in the Local Context
- LoCAL and Its Three Components
- Where and How Does LoCAL Operate?
- Wrap-up and Test Yourself
The e-tutorial does not provide certification, however, you will receive a badge, upon completion, acknowledging that you have acquired the knowledge provided on LoCAL. The badge will be sent to you by email and it can also be found under the "Certification" tab next to the "Course page". Here, you can also find a survey which we highly encourage you to take. This will help us to improve the learning tool in the future.
While the e-tutorial is available to the general public we encourage the following categories of individuals to take it prior to attending any face to face training or webinar organised by UNCDF:
- Field officers/UN Volunteers, and local/central government staff who are actively involved in LoCAL implementation at country level;
- UNCDF and national experts who contribute to the scoping and design phase and lead during LoCAL implementation;
- The engaged public and practitioners with an interest in understanding ways to leverage climate adaptation finance at the local level.