Clara Gallagher

Climate finance advisor, LIFE-AR

Clara has a range of experience at the intersection of climate planning and development, working with the governments of Liberia, Malawi, The Gambia, India and Uganda, and on projects implemented in the Pacific, all focusing on improving access to climate finance.

Focusing mainly on adaptation finance, Clara also has experience tackling access to Green Climate Fund, as well as looking at decentralised approaches to public climate finance and the interaction between public financial management and climate finance. She has worked with NGOs, national governments, at the intergovernmental level and in the private sector.

Expertise

Climate finance; climate policy; locally led adaptation; Green Climate Fund; UNFCCC processes; public finance management; governance; decentralisation; local government.

Before IIED

Clara has a variety of experience across the public and NGO sectors, previously working in the climate change section of the Commonwealth Secretariat, as climate change advisor to The Elders, and as an Overseas Development Institute fellow/technical advisor in the Environmental Protection Agency of the government of Liberia. Clara was also a researcher in IIED's Climate Change research group before moving into her current role with LIFE-AR (LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience).

Education

MSc, economics, with reference to environment and development (SOAS)
BA (hons), history and politics (with proficiency in German), University of Exeter

Current work

As part of the interim secretariat to LIFE-AR, Clara works with different frontrunner country governments as they develop their approaches to fulfilling the LDC Vision 2050.

Her focus is on reforming the international climate finance system, increasing the quantity and quality of finance made available for locally led adaptation actions, and supporting national and local governments, civil society organisations and others to access and effectively use climate finance.