Vanuatu Community-based Climate Resilience Project design finalized

A full-day validation workshop was organized at the Melanesian Hotel on Wednesday 10th March, 2021 by Save the Children and Vanuatu Government, to finalize the project design for Vanuatu Community-based Climate Resilience Project (VCCRP) – a community-based adaptation program implemented by Government of Vanuatu with an indicative budget of USD30million over 8 years from 2022-2030.

In attendance were representatives of the Vanuatu Government across line Ministries and departments including DG Climate Change, Ms Esline Garaebiti, and a range of Directors and SGs across different sectors and levels of government.

In her opening speech, Ms Esline Garaebiti described the VCCRP as, “a project to cause a real difference in our communities”, further elaborating that: it will assist in the livelihood of communities with the effects of Climate Change and natural disasters; provide information to communities on Climate Change and natural disasters and, the implementation of which will be led by area councils and communities

Country Director for Save the Children, Luke Ebbs, stated that Climate Change greatly increases the risk of disasters as well as placing our own and our children’s resilience at risk.

“At Save the Children we share the dream of Vanuatu government as laid out in the People’s Plan – a country where every child in every community has the right to survive and live to adulthood, the right to have access to quality education and the right to be protected from all forms of violence. Climate change is a real threat to this dream and we are working together to take action,” Mr Ebbs said.

In his overview of the VCCRP, Mr Ebbs described the project as using a community-based adaptation approach by equipping area councils and communities with the financial and technical support needed to empower local actors identify climate change and disaster risks in their communities and implement bottom-up adaptation approaches.

VCCRP, a Vanuatu Government-led Project supported by Save the Children as the Accredited Entity, will be made possible through funding from the Green Climate Fund – the world’s largest fund for tackling climate change adaptation and mitigation.