Africa Adaptation Programme

Gender and Climate Change: Vulnerabilities and Resilience in the

Face of Climate Change

Africa Adaptation ProgrammeBackground

Burkina FasoCameroonCongoEthiopiaGabonGhanaKenyaLesothoMalawiMauritius

MoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaRwandaSao TomeSenegalTanzaniaTunisia

• Established under the Japan-UNDP Joint Framework for Building Partnership to Address Climate Change in Africa

• Launched in 2008 by UNDP in partnership with UNIDO, UNICEF and WFP, with funding of US$92 million from the Government of Japan

Africa Adaptation ProgrammeObjectives

• Enhancing the adaptive capacity of vulnerable countries to climate change and disaster risks

• Promoting early adaptation through evidence-based solutions and initiatives for action

• Laying the foundation for long-term investment to increase resilience to climate change across the African continent

Programme OutcomesIn approaching this goal, AAP will focus its

support to countries around:

– Strengthening long term planning to enable countries to manage both existing and future risks associated with climate change and other causes

– Building effective leadership and institutional frameworks for enhanced coordination and cohesion of programmes

– Supporting the piloting of adaptation initiatives in the field

– Identifying a range of financing options for sustained adaptation

– Building knowledge management systems and promoting information sharing.

Planned activities to ensure that inter-regional expertise and capacity development is provided to 20 countries.....

Advice and assistance relating to enhanced Government policy-making and planning in this field

Support for leadership development and institutional reform as well as enabling individual development

Encouraging exposure to world best practice and data

Support in finding innovative funding options

Creation of region-wide databases and learning opportunities

NOTE

The information in this presentation is from the project design phase. It was gathered from the project documents for the 20 AAP countries. It is not a reflection of implementation.

The Development Context

• Climate change and development• Gender inequality and climate change• Millennium Development Goal 3• Women’s knowledge and skills

– Agriculture, Livestock– Households

• Mainstreaming gender into climate change adaptation• Gender mainstreaming: the process of incorporating the

impact of any planned action on both men and women and ensuring that their concerns and experiences are an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of legislation, policies and programmes (Garmer 2009).

Women’s livelihood activities are directly dependent on the natural environment.

Key Challenges for Reducing Gender-Based Vulnerability

• Decision-making Power– Absence of women in climate change adaptation planning and

decision-making – Important indigenous knowledge they possess is not

incorporated– Needs are not addressed

In Cameroon, women constitute 13.5% of parliament.

Key Challenges for Reducing Gender-based Vulnerability

• Limited Access to Information• Early Warning• Information not disseminated to women

• Limited Educational Opportunities– Lack of formal education– Not educated on climate science and prediction– Unable to acquire certain skills (e.g. swimming)

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the female adult literacy rate is 53.3 percent, while the rate for adult men is 71.2 percent (UNESCO 2009).

In Ghana, 44.1 percent of women have no formal education, compared to 22.1 percent of men (Ahmed 2008).

After the cyclone and flood of 1991 in Bangladesh the death rate was nearly five times as high for women as for men (Brody 2008).

Key Challenges for Reducing Gender-based Vulnerability

• Limited Financial and Economic Opportunities– Due to limited education and other

responsibilities– Lack of financial independence– Poor access to credit– Limited ownership of land

In Senegal, over 70 percent of women are involved in agriculture; however, they only own 13.4 percent of the land (Ahmed 2008).

Gender-sensitive Adaptation Approaches in the AAP

• Decision-making Power– Document and share women’s valuable knowledge – Equal participation of women - reduce vulnerability

of women to climate change and increase adaptive capacity of communities, nations and regions

Examples

Cameroon: Incorporating gender planning into field pilot interventions by working with and involving women groups at local/regional level, in order to benefit the whole community

Nigeria: Emphasis on developing women’s leadership in key institutions, including the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, state and local government counterparts and in civil society

Gender-sensitive Adaptation Approaches in the AAP

• Access to Information and Education– Outreach and Awareness

• Educate on climate science and climate impacts

– Early warning systems– Hard adaptation strategies

• Crop Diversification• Technology

Examples Ethiopia: Local-level awareness campaigns and workshops conducted on gender and climate change adaptation

Burkina Faso: Developing and implementing a climate change adaptation training programme for vulnerable groups and women at the community level

Gender-sensitive Adaptation Approaches in the AAP

• Financial and Economic Opportunities– Budget allocations for gender initiatives– Access to climate funds– Access to technologies

Examples

• Ghana– Specific fund and budgetary allocations to support initiatives

that target women and promote gender equality in climate change adaptation programmes

• Kenya– Training provided to enhance the access of women and

vulnerable groups to climate financing options at the national and international level

Conclusion

• Technical support• Commitment to addressing gender equality