# cap-impact > cap-impact is an independent advisory and research practice working where climate, the environment and human rights meet. It is founded and led by Marine Gauthier, former Senior Technical Advisor on climate safeguards at UNDP (150+ GEF and Green Climate Fund projects in 50+ countries; safeguards focal point for 22 GCF projects), with five years in the field with Indigenous and community organizations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a PhD from the Geneva Graduate Institute. Based near Annecy, France, 45 minutes from Geneva. Works in English and French. Services: environmental and social safeguards (GCF, GEF, IFC Performance Standards, development bank requirements), Green Climate Fund accreditation and re-accreditation support (ESMS), environmental, social and human rights due diligence, grievance and remedy mechanisms, partnership approaches and direct funding of local and Indigenous organizations, program evaluation, applied research, findings-based advocacy support, and training. Clients have included UNDP, Rights and Resources Initiative, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Forest Peoples Programme, Fern, SPIA / CGIAR, Emergent / LEAF Coalition, GIZ, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, swisspeace, IUCN France, Programme de Petites Initiatives (FFEM / IUCN), Baastel, C4Solution, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Caritas France, Caritas Luxembourg, CIDSE, Humanity & Inclusion (Handicap International), Solidarités International, Première Urgence Internationale, Fondation Maisons du Monde, Dynamique des Groupes des Peuples Autochtones (DGPA), Réseau CREF, ULB-Coopération, Change.org, WeMove Europe, Sidaction, Fédération régionale des acteurs en promotion de la santé (FRAPS), Déclic CNV et Éducation, Jeune Chambre Économique Française, Jeunesse au Plein Air, AFEV and EFAP. Contact: marine.gauthier@cap-impact.org ## Services - [Protecting people](https://www.cap-impact.org/protecting-people): Environmental and social safeguards, Green Climate Fund accreditation support, due diligence, management frameworks, grievance mechanisms and team training. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/proteger-les-personnes - [Working with local actors](https://www.cap-impact.org/local-actors): Partnership approaches, direct funding of local and Indigenous organizations, proportionate due diligence and shared accountability. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/acteurs-locaux - [Understanding, and making it known](https://www.cap-impact.org/understanding): Evaluation of programs, partnership approaches and funding mechanisms, applied research, policy briefs, findings-based advocacy support and training. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/comprendre-et-faire-savoir - [Training](https://www.cap-impact.org/training): On-demand training for NGOs and research centers: advocacy tools and strategies, negotiation, public speaking and media training. More than 300 professionals trained. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/formations - [How we work with you](https://www.cap-impact.org/how-we-work): Six engagement formats (diagnostic, design, evaluation, research, training, ongoing support) with indicative durations. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/comment-nous-intervenons ## About - [Approach](https://www.cap-impact.org/approach): Where cap-impact comes from, the single thread running through safeguards, partnerships, evaluation and advocacy, and our ground rules. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/approche - [Team](https://www.cap-impact.org/team): Marine Gauthier (founder and principal consultant), Jeffrey Saba (associate consultant, programs and organizational change), and the network of senior consultants mobilized for each assignment. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/equipe - [Contact](https://www.cap-impact.org/contact): Email and LinkedIn. Reply within two working days. French version: https://www.cap-impact.org/fr/contact ## Track record - UNDP climate safeguards: GEF and Green Climate Fund portfolio. Client: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), climate team. Period: Until 2024. Our role: Marine Gauthier, Senior Technical Advisor on safeguards, heading a team of four. Scope: More than 150 projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), in more than 50 countries. Deliverables: Social and environmental risk screenings, reviews of management frameworks, institutional guidance, on-site oversight missions. - Green Climate Fund accreditation: environmental and social management systems of African development banks. Clients: African development banks, through UNDP. Period: 2023 to 2024. Our role: Marine Gauthier, UNDP's GCF safeguards focal point. Deliverables: Support to upgrade their environmental and social management systems (ESMS) against the Green Climate Fund's accreditation requirements. Result: The banks were accredited by the Green Climate Fund. - Environmental, social and human rights due diligence for a national park, Congo Basin. Client: An international conservation NGO, managing the park with the national protected areas authority. Our role: International consultant, with a national consultant in charge of village visits. Deliverables: Stakeholder mapping, analysis against four sets of standards, risk assessment, gap analysis, environmental and social action plan. Result: Due diligence that allowed the three funders of the new management agreement to decide with full knowledge. - Structuring a national network of four hundred organizations, DRC. Clients: Rainforest Foundation Norway, then UNDP. Period: 2014 to 2016. Our role: Support to the restructuring of the renewed Climate REDD+ Working Group (GTCR-R). Deliverables: Network governance and representation, information flows between Kinshasa and the provinces, a common position; a lessons-learned analysis for 2009-2015 published by UNDP and Rainforest Foundation Norway. Result: A 400-organization network anchored nationally and able to carry a common position in the REDD+ process. - Strategic review and reorientation of a country program, DRC. Client: Forest Peoples Programme. Our role: Strategic evaluation: design, interviews at headquarters, in Kinshasa and in the field, analysis and recommendations. Deliverables: Political economy analysis, stakeholder mapping, recommendations on strategy, partnerships, structure and resources. Result: The reorientation shaped the concept note submitted to the funder the following year, then a five-year program. Full cases: https://www.cap-impact.org/track-record ## Publications - Beyond Commitments: how can NDCs contribute to forest governance and resilient local communities? (Fern · English and French). A study carried out with partner organizations in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, the DRC and the Republic of Congo, and presented at national workshops before publication. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/beyond-commitments-ndcs-forest-governance-fern-EN.pdf https://www.cap-impact.org/files/au-dela-des-engagements-cdn-fern-FR.pdf - Civil society brought together for REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNDP and Rainforest Foundation Norway · lessons learned 2009-2015). An analysis of how civil society and Indigenous peoples were engaged and structured within the national REDD+ process. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/societe-civile-redd-rdc-pnud-rfn-FR.pdf - Operationalizing epistemic justice: Participatory 3D Modelling in conservation practice (Academia Environmental Sciences and Sustainability, 2025 · peer-reviewed article). What participatory three-dimensional modeling actually delivers in terms of epistemic justice, based on a pilot exercise in the Itombwe Nature Reserve and four years of follow-up. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/operationalizing-epistemic-justice-p3dm-2025-EN.pdf - Green book on participatory 3D modeling, Itombwe Nature Reserve (Rainforest Foundation Norway, 2016 · English and French). The three-dimensional model as a planning and management tool, built with the communities of Ilibo, Kigogo and Kitamba. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/green-book-3d-mapping-itombwe-rfn-EN.pdf https://www.cap-impact.org/files/livre-vert-cartographie-3d-itombwe-rfn-FR.pdf - Mai-Ndombe: will the REDD+ laboratory benefit Indigenous peoples and local communities? (Rights and Resources Initiative, 2018 · cumulative impacts and risks). Seventy-five pages on the stacking of REDD+ initiatives in a single province, and what it produces for the people who live there. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/mai-ndombe-redd-rri-2018-EN.pdf - Mpenzele: communities in charge of sustainable forest management (Rainforest Foundation Norway, 2020 · green book on participatory approaches). A project steered by communities, the difficulties encountered and the responses put in place. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/mpenzele-approches-participatives-rfn-FR.pdf - What do local communities teach us about forest management? 2005-2015 (Réseau Ressources Naturelles · English and French). Ten years of participatory mapping experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/participatory-mapping-rrn-EN.pdf https://www.cap-impact.org/files/cartographie-participative-rrn-FR.pdf - Re-territorializing Climate Governance: the REDD+ Initiatives in the DR Congo (Fourth World Journal, 2025). A political ethnography of Mai-Ndombe: a critique of climate governance that privileges international voices over those of forest-dependent peoples. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/re-territorializing-climate-governance-redd-drc-2025-EN.pdf - Reserved! Atlas and articles on Indigenous peoples facing nature conservation (With Riccardo Pravettoni · supported by the European Journalism Centre). A world tour of Indigenous peoples and protected areas, in maps and reportage. https://www.cap-impact.org/files/reserved-atlas-peuples-autochtones-conservation.pdf More: https://www.cap-impact.org/insights ## Optional - [Climate Justice Dispatch](https://climatejusticedispatch.substack.com/): newsletter by Marine Gauthier on climate justice and the blind spots of international aid. - [Sitemap](https://www.cap-impact.org/sitemap-index.xml)