Gender-responsive climate-change negotiations and policy making in Africa

I agree with you Cathy. There is need for all the countries in Africa to develop strategies at the national level on gender and climate change and action plan so that the agreed upon GAP is domesticated.

If developed and implemented effectively, the GAP will enable countries to ensure that gender issues are considered in the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies at national and local/ district/county levels. However, the development of the GAP needs to be as inclusive as possible to ensure that the needs and priorities of all stakeholders, including the marginalized communities are addressed

The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (GAP) is a great step to the implementation of climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Climate change has an impact on natural and human systems. The development of GAP has to take into consideration the different strategies to mitigate the risk of climate change,that is physical and transitional risk, caused by natural disasters.

In my opinion, GAP can be a success in Africa and why not the world at large if the following can be implemented by policy makers;
1. The responsibility to work on climate adaptability strategies, that is “TAKE ACTION NOW” (climate smart Agriculture).
2. The impact of climate change on agricultural communities and how the Eco-sytem functions.
3. People working in different fields like agriculture, climate change,food security and land users must collaborate.
4. Mentoring program implemented to help achieve gender empowerment for agricultural development. Women getting involved in capacity building, networking etc.for the better.
5. Think of financing options that can target agriculture and climate change differently for sustainability.

I recommend that rural communities should be sustained, considering the fact that African women are under represented in agricultural research as compared to agricultural grass root production. This goes to bring back the issue of marginalization of the African woman.
Investing in women is a smart plan to fight hunger and poverty, this can work if the African woman is given a chance.

The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (GAP) launched in Bonn in 2017 is a crucial turning point that represents an important step in accelerating the achievement of gender-responsive climate action within countries and in our context Africa. Th e fact that the plan recognizes the ‘need for gender mainstreaming through all relevant targets and goals in activities under the Convention’ and ‘invites’ Parties to engage in implementing the GAP, is a huge plus for the continent if at all Africa is to engage in sustainable climate change actions.

In my view though, there is so much that needs to be done if GAP is to be useful to the African continent in any way. Some of the urgent activities that need to be carried out are;
1. capacity building for African gender and climate negotiators.
2. Capacity building for policy makers to factor in the GAP in their policies at national and county levels.
3. Training manuals for both negotiators and policy makers to give them a reference as they undertake their day to day work.
4. Evaluation of the existing policy documents at national levels to see how the recommendations of the GAP can be integrated in them.
5. Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership
6. Coherence within the UNFCCC bodies and also among various stakeholders in Africa.
7. Gender-responsive implementation of the GAP in the African context
8. Continuous monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the outcomes

Among key implications of the UNFCCC 3-year Gender Action Plan (GAP) in Africa are: An opportunity for gender inclusion and mainstreaming into the climate adaptation and mitigation negotiations processes which is a huge plus, then it offers this open space for women folks to leverage on in terms of sharing their views and seeing their opinions being seriously taken into consideration, and of course, provides new understanding about what gender or the gender agenda really means to sustainable development in Africa. There is no doubt how the ingenuity of women can lead positive changes, but it gets even better when a level playing space is created like what the GAP provides.

The GAP is has the potential to improve livelihoods for women globally and particularly in the case of Africa where its five priority areas are urgent, if well enhanced by matching commitments with action, it can significantly reverse the emergency challenges of hunger, poverty, migration and the social vulnerabilities on which conflicts and disasters lies.
In my opinion the GAP must not been seen in a limited way as just an environmental or gender plan but a wholistic development plan that addresses critical issues like water, sanitation, health, education, reproductive health and social relationships as they influence livelihoods. Take for instance, the issue of gender imbalance influences social justice and how legislation about equity and equality is looked at broadly. Otherwise why in Africa, above 50% of agriculture production is lead by small holder women farmers yet only less than 15% of women own land or have access to land where they can hold on to for longer periods of time?

UNFCCC’s Decision 3/CP.23 provides an enormous opportunity not only for women engagement in policy, but to own the policy by being the custodians of the processes and application.

Now the hard truth must be told: Women must truly convert this plan into actions. The challenge of poverty hunger and migration will not go away even the same stories are told and the manner of handling them is maintained. Each women has within them the capacity to make a positive change from wherever standpoint there are. Now is the time. Don’t wait to be told what to do. It need innovative ideas from each one of us on how to reverse our deserts back into greenlands, restore our degraded landscapes, revive our depleted biodiversity, and make agriculture and food systems sustainable.

This plan is already an inclusive one.

Thank you

Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the online discussion on Gender-responsive climate-change negotiations and policy making in Africa. This chat is part of the Inclusive Climate Change Adaptation for a Sustainable Africa (ICCASA) project, an African Development Bank Group (AfDB) project funded by the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund (KOAFEC). ICCASA is implemented across Africa by four partners: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), African Working Group on Gender and Climate Change (AWGGCC), Women in Global Science and Technology (WISAT), and World University Service of Canada (WUSC). We look forward to your meaningful participation during these three weeks.

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