Investments

As a Trust Fund, CAFI is managed by the Multi partner Trust Fund Office as the Administrative agent for fiduciary oversight, transparency, and accountability. CAFI provides long-term, predictable finance for countries to implement complex forest and land-use reforms, enhances coordination and alignment among donors, and offers transparency through the MPTF Office Gateway. 

As such, CAFI

• mobilises and channels finance to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and support sustainable development in six Central African countries with large forest cover (DRC, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, CAR, Equatorial Guinea).

• operates as a financial mechanism where donor contributions are pooled and then disbursed to national governments through implementing partners

• serves as both a catalyst for policy change and a lever for attracting additional investments (bilateral, multilateral, private).

• is funded by multiple contributors, giving it political weight and credibility.

• is guided by an Executive Board

CAFI : a pioneer in performance-based environmental finance

CAFI is helping pioneer a shift in international environmental finance from traditional activity-based programming toward a stronger focus on performance, results, and measurable impact. While conventional development assistance often emphasizes the delivery of planned activities and the utilization of funds, CAFI increasingly links funding decisions to the achievement of agreed outcomes and demonstrated progress.

At the heart of this approach is Independent Verification of Results, an innovative mechanism that provides CAFI and its partners with a high degree of confidence that reported achievements are real, measurable, and supported by credible evidence. Rather than relying solely on narrative progress reports or self-reported data, CAFI commissions independent third-party audits to assess both the accuracy of reported results and the robustness of the monitoring and evaluation systems used to generate them.

These verifications apply internationally recognized assurance practices and typically combine document reviews, independent recalculation of reported results, field visits, stakeholder interviews, geospatial and remote sensing analysis where relevant, and detailed assessments of project monitoring systems. The objective is not only to verify reported achievements, but also to determine whether the underlying evidence is sufficiently reliable to support funding decisions.

For all field investments and payment for environmental services or private sector projects, the findings of independent verification directly influence CAFI’s financing decisions. Future tranche disbursements, project extensions, and in some cases new investment approvals are increasingly informed by verified performance rather than solely by the completion of planned activities. Strong verification results can unlock additional funding and support project scale-up, while significant discrepancies may trigger corrective actions, delayed disbursements, or the reallocation of resources to higher-performing interventions.

By combining performance-based financing with independent verification of results, CAFI is helping establish a stronger link between funding and impact. This model rewards delivery, encourages innovation and continuous improvement, and helps ensure that scarce climate and forest finance is directed toward interventions that generate demonstrable and lasting outcomes. As global efforts to protect forests and address climate change become more urgent, CAFI’s approach offers a compelling example of how environmental funds can move beyond traditional aid models and place verified results at the center of decision-making.