The Adaptation Fund (AF), established by the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is mandated to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and to allow direct access to the Fund by Parties. It is this latter characteristic – direct access – that has raised considerable interest among the international climate change community. Civil society has praised this development as an innovative element of the Fund’s governance structure that seeks to ensure country ownership.  Now that the AF is fully operational, with two projects approved and six more proposals endorsed, what is the evidence that the direct access modality is providing the type of success onlookers are hoping for? This paper explores the current status of direct access and examines the challenges countries face in securing its potential.