Battambang Province– representatives of governments and NGOs implementing CCCA-funded projects on climate change adaptation and mitigation and Climate Change Technical Working Group (CCTWG) members participated in an “Experience Sharing Workshop on Climate Change Projects” from 20^th to 21^st June 2018 at Khemara Battambang Hotel to take stock of the achievements of CCCA grant projects and to identify any needs for support to maximize projects’ impacts in the final phase of implementation. The event was organized by Department of Climate Change (DCC), General Secretariat of the National Council for Sustainable Development (GSSD), with financial support of the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA), with participation from 95 people, including 28 women.

In the opening remarks, Mr. Sum Thy, Director of the Department of Climate Change, GSSD, as well as CCCA’s project manager, appreciated the progress made by all 22 grants to build staff and institutional capacity, inject direct benefits to local people, and welcomed this opportunity to compile lessons learnt to be integrated in the policy, research and polit project implementation.

UNDP representative as well as CCCA’s trust fund administrator, Mr. Julien Chevillard noted that fourteen government agencies have received support from DCC/CCCA for the implementation of priority actions under their Climate Change Action Plans. In addition, 8 governmental and non-governmental organizations have received grants in 2016 for innovation and research projects focused on climate change priorities. He noted that 2018 and 2019 would be a crucial period to ensure that lessons learnt are integrated in the new Government strategies and budget for the next 5 years, and also invited participants to consider market-based approaches to make their activities sustainable, when relevant.

The workshop was organized mostly around group discussions, focusing on 3 aspects: 1) identification of the progress made, challenges and solutions, 2) ensuring the sustainability of successful approaches, and strategies for scaling-up and 3) administrative and financial management issues.

Recommendations from the workshop will help to shape the CCCA program support to grantees over the next year.