Gender Action has recently published a research paper which draws attention to the women’s disproportionate vulnerability to negative climate change impacts in developing countries. The research paper also demonstrates how women and girls in these countries have been largely excluded from climate change finance policies and programs.
The research paper was prepared after examining two climate funds and two non-climate funds in order to learn how gender can be better integrated in global climate finance mechanisms. The paper emphasizes that women and girls must not only be included in adaptive and mitigative activities, but also be recognized as agents of change who are essential to the success of climate change interventions.
Gender Action prepared this report at the request of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and Oxfam in order to ascertain practices that could ‘work for women’ in climate change financing. GA conducted interviews and desk research to examine the extent to which two non-climate funds and two climate funds integrate gender issues into their policies and investments.
Case studies of the two non-climate funds, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI Alliance), offer valuable lessons for gender integration in global finance mechanisms. Case studies of the two climate funds, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Adaptation Fund (AF), provide insight into specific challenges and opportunities related to gender integration in climate change finance. While the latter present promising examples of gender integration in GEF and AF funded projects, Annex I demonstrates that climate finance funds on the whole still have a long way to go in order to achieve meaningful gender integration in their policies and programs. The best practices and lessons learned provide a valuable blueprint for other climate funds.
