Practice
Public Grants and Technical Assistance
Aspect contributions
How this practice contributes to the green port aspects.
| Aspect | Role | Justification |
|---|---|---|
| Financing (Green & Sustainable) | Core | - |
| Regulatory Compliance | Secondary | Grant and ODA financing typically requires compliance with the applicable donor procurement and environmental and social safeguards |
| Climate Adaptation | Secondary | Grants and concessional finance commonly support climate adaptation investments |
| Workforce Standards and Engagement | Secondary | Technical assistance often includes capacity building and workforce training |
Summary
Public grants and technical assistance provide non repayable funding and expert support to develop, prepare, or implement sustainable port initiatives. This may include, among others, government or donor funded infrastructure upgrades, feasibility studies and project preparation support, capacity building for port authorities, funding for pilot or demonstration projects, and technical advisory services from development agencies.
For DMC ports, public grants and technical assistance can enable projects that lack commercial viability, build institutional capacity and technical expertise, reduce barriers to sustainable investment, accelerate innovation and adoption of good practices, and support equitable regional development.
Details
Public grants and technical assistance are particularly valuable for port sustainability initiatives where upfront investments are required but financial returns are insufficient to justify commercial financing, or where institutional capacity gaps limit project preparation and implementation.
Grants and technical assistance can fund feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments, master planning, pilot projects, and demonstration technologies, and can support policy development, management system implementation, and workforce training .
In DMCs, key grant and technical assistance providers include the ADB (through its technical assistance programs, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, IFC, and UNESCAP (ADB, 2024; DFAT, n.d.).
Additionally, the ADB Southeast Asia Development Solutions (SEADS) knowledge platform provides knowledge products, matchmaking, and capacity building opportunities for ADB member countries (ADB, n.d.).
The Green Climate Fund provides grants, concessional financing, guarantees, and equity for both climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, targeting a 50:50 balance between the two over time (Green Climate Fund, n.d.).
Grant financing can complement commercial and blended finance instruments by addressing cost elements that do not generate direct revenue streams. For example, feasibility studies, master plans, environmental assessments, workforce training, and pilot demonstrations often require upfront investment that is difficult to recover through project revenues alone. Grant support for these elements can help to unlock subsequent commercial or blended finance for full project implementation.
Enabling factors
Bilateral and multilateral development cooperation frameworks; national ODA and grant management procedures; EU Connecting Europe Facility; Green Climate Fund country programs; development bank technical assistance programs.
Project management platforms for grant tracking; monitoring and evaluation systems; knowledge management tools for technical assistance deliverables.
Donor procurement requirements (such as World Bank and ADB procurement rules, including the ADB Procurement Directive for ADB Borrowers (2026)); national public procurement standards; transparency and anti corruption provisions.
Bilateral donors (JICA, KOICA, DFAT Australia, GIZ, AFD); multilateral development banks (ADB, World Bank, IFC, AIIB); climate funds (Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Funds); regional development programs (ASEAN, UNESCAP).