The Frontline Funds Accelerator (FFA) is an initiative piloting a new way to fund grassroots groups. The FFA recognizes that the people hardest hit by climate change are the most effective at building resilient, sustainable communities, and it aims to put the funding and decision-making power directly in their hands.
The Huairou Commission—a network focused on keeping grassroots women at the center of climate resilience and adaptation—is a critical partner in this work. The commission brings a strong grassroots constituency and a wealth of hard-won knowledge of how to build the voice and power of local women and indigenous people and how to fund local initiatives.
Photo Credit: Huairou Commission—Life Center Vietnam’s fish and water hyacinth growing model
The FFA draws on insights and lessons from Huairou Commission’s Community Resilience Funds. For years, this funding has supported women’s groups in creating resilience and adaptation solutions in their communities. In addition to supplying funding, the FFA is looking at the barriers to direct funding from other national, regional, and global mechanisms and intends to measure the effectiveness of directly funding community-led initiatives.
The FFA brings different groups—and strengths—to the table. This includes action-oriented research organization International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a global network of the urban poor at Slum Dwellers International, the more than 65 organizations that are part of the Global Resilience Partnership, the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, and the Huairou Commission.
According to Suranjana Gupta, advisor to the Huairou Commission, if it works, the FFA will be transformative. “The Frontline Funds Accelerator represents a small step toward a very big change. Social movements are responding to tremendous demands to be innovative and meet community needs—and we’re creating truly remarkable and resourceful solutions. Now, we need funding mechanisms as innovative as the solutions that come from social movements; climate finance institutions need to think outside the box.”
The FFA asks important questions. What measures need to be in place for donors to trust grassroots groups with more funding? How can we make sure that we have robust systems for the management of money? How do we make this a learning and coalition-building process at the same time? The FFA is an exciting learning lab that has the potential to change how finance works in resilience and adaptation—and development work more broadly.
When asked how optimistic she is about this initiative working, Gupta gives an enthusiastic five on a one-to-five scale. She says: “You can’t work in the climate sector if you’re not a little optimistic—you’d burn out very quickly. But necessity is not the only reason I’m optimistic. Huairou Commission is in this for the long run. If we get one major donor to redefine how they look at social movements and acceptable risk, and if this one donor can redefine their work and revisit their criteria for delivering resources to grassroot organizations on the ground, then that is a huge win. Even if parts of the FFA fail, it’s still a win because it teaches us what doesn’t work. So, I’m very optimistic and am encouraged with the number and variety of groups investing in this effort.”
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Photo Credit: Huairou Commission—Women in Uganda participate in a Village Savings and Loan Association