Environment Fund dispenses N$3 billion over 11 years with another Call for Proposals
By Freeman Ya Ngulu.
The Environmental Investment Fund (EIF), Namibia’s own response to the growing global need for green financing, is celebrating its 11th year anniversary this year with having mobilised more than N$3 billion mostly from multilateral and developmental funding institutions and partners.
The recently published Call for Project Proposals in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme provides small grants directly to eligible Civil Society Organizations and Community-Based Organizations for community-based projects in the focal areas of Otjibingwe communal area, the Iipumbu Ya Tshilongo landscape and the Ohangwena Region.
The Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Hon Ipumbu Shiimi, announced that the fund is rolling out a green concessional loan facility targeting youth entrepreneurs wishing to undertake economically viable investments that integrate low carbon and climate adaptation instruments.
In order to achieve its investment objective, the strategy is to target investments that have the potential of making a tangible long-term development impact to the lives and livelihood of rural communities, to unlock significant economic activity and value and to provide credit financing to individuals and to Small and Medium enterprises and farmers alike. These loan typically range from 12 to 72 months. The fund also invests in a range of other loan products designed to avail access to finance for poverty alleviation, employment creation and rural development.
The facility aims to deploy N$72 million of such investments over the next 12 months which is expected to grow to N$300 million by the 2024/25 financial year.
“This latest announcement highlights the Fund’s commitment since inception that it has been committed to rebuilding natural capital as a critical economic asset and source of public benefits – especially for poor and disadvantaged Namibians.” Manager Corporate Communications at the EIF, Lot Ndamanomhata said.
The Fund is one of the few state-owned enterprises that has successfully blended a financing approach that considers the three main pillars of sustainable development, namely, social, economic and environmental considerations.
