The African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa partnered to develop the NDC Capacity Scorecard. The NDC Capacity Scorecard is a digital tool designed to help stakeholders achieve the development and implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions NDCs. It offers a centralized platform for tracking progress, identifying challenges, and accessing vital resources to enhance implementation efforts.
Developing the NDC Capacity Scorecard
Behind the Scenes
As countries prepare to develop their next generation of NDCs, it is important for African nations to be strategic and have a revolutionized approach as they are particularly hit harder by climate change bearing disproportionate impacts. African nations need to enhance their capacity to develop, implement and monitor their NDCs.
Recognizing these needs, the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa, conducted a scoping study that informed the development the NDC Capacity Scorecard. The study revealed several challenges that African countries face in the development and implementation of their NDCs including limited technical expertise, weak institutional coordination, and constrained resource mobilization.
As per the study, African nations struggle with integrating climate action into national development plans due to gaps in data availability, inadequate financial absorption capacity and fragmented policy frameworks. The NDC capacity score card was developed to assess and enhance the capacity of African Countries in effectively developing and implementing their NDCs.
Key steps in the development of the NDC Capacity Score card
The AGNES and partners followed four major steps in developing the NDC capacity Score card. First, the teams reviewed a significant number of existing NDC tools to avoid duplications and come up with a strategic and targeted tool. After an intensive review of over 10 scorecards the team determined the following gaps:
- Lack of an NDC capacity scorecard that assesses the capacity of countries to develop and implement their NDCs.
- Absence of score cards focusing on critical areas like water and forestry etc.
- Methodological diversity: While some scorecards employ qualitative policy analysis, others use quantitative aggregation or composite indices. There is an opportunity to enrich the tools by incorporating some of the emerging approaches such as multi-criteria decision analysis.
- There’s still a gap in scorecards that can assess the development process of NDCs.
- In most cases, they do not capture all the national priorities, and therefore, they under-represent the country’s needs.
After determining the gaps, the team settled on moving to the second stage with the NDC Capacity Scorecard; developing the scorecard prototype. The third stage was all about pilot testing in East and Southern African Countries. Lastly, the tool was refined and is out for use by government officials who handle the NDC data.
Why the NDC Capacity Score Card is important
Capacity Assessment
The NDC Capacity Scorecard is a tool designed for national stakeholders which aims at providing a structured self- assessment framework to enable decision makers in evaluating their nation’s readiness in executing their NDCs. It is an innovative tool that makes climate action processes simple as it offers a centralized interactive platform that helps in assessing Development and Implementation capacities tracking progress and informing policy and investment. Furthermore, it gives information on the main gaps for improvement and promotes data accessibility.
Timely help to African Nations
Also, the tool was launched at the perfect time when nations are preparing to submit their latest version of NDCs. The tool is literally going to empower nations to mainstream climate action across all their existing sectors, improve monitoring and evaluation of climate policies, position the countries to attract international climate finance and foster multi-sectoral collaborations. Ultimately, there will be transparency and accountability in implementing NDC, as well as offering a tool that can track the progress over time.
What are the Key Features in the NDC Capacity Scorecard?
The scored card focuses on two sections i.e., Development and Implementation Capacity.
Each section has its own dashboard for data input during assessment. Each of these sections require data input in Four key areas available on the respective dashboards:
- Finance Capacity
- Technical Capacity
- Governance Capacity
- Monitoring Capacity
Under each section, there is a “New assessment” toggle at the top right that you press to fill in data under each of the above listed four key areas.
Each area has specific question, Also, each section has its own Overall Capacity Ratings which basically gives assessment results. Most importantly, the scorecard serves all African nations as it has a language translation feature.
Conclusion
The road to effective NDC development and implementation is complex, but with tools like the NDC Capacity Scorecard, African nations are at a better position to develop and turn their climate commitments into action. The Capacity scorecard is a crucial step toward strengthening the continent’s ability to meet its climate commitments. As more countries adopt and utilize the scorecard, Africa’s climate governance landscape will potentially transform, ensuring that climate action is not only ambitious but also achievable.
