Mar 08, 2021
Anne Kuriakose and Ezgi Canpolat
On the 8th of March the world’s attention is on women. It is an opportunity in 365 (days) we have to shift the conversation to bring women on the center stage. We can’t afford women to be kept on the sidelines amid the critical transitions needed in countries around the world towards climate-resilient, low-carbon development. For effective climate action, gender equality efforts are not an add-on, but a necessity. It is time to go beyond incremental gains towards truly transformative changes for both the planet and the women and men on it.
How can we effect transformative outcomes for women through climate finance? The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) believes that the answer lies in meaningfully engaging with women as agents of change and leaders of climate action. Through its investments, CIF seeks to advance low-carbon pathways, while engaging with women and men on the ground. Our programs encourage asset accumulation by women; shifting of restrictive gender norms that limit the role of women in society; and empowerment of women as decision-makers and leaders at local and national levels.
The evidence supports women-led climate action
The evidence suggests that this approach benefits both gender equality and the effectiveness of our climate investments. A comprehensive evaluation of Transformational Change within the CIF concluded that: “CIF…is advancing women’s voice, skills, and livelihoods in ways that are starting to bring about systemic change”. Another assessment found CIF on the right track locally, with positive trends in engagement with women and gender-related groups.
Take the example of CIF’s one-of-a-kind, locally-led, inclusive climate finance delivery program, the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM). DGM has been empowering women to effectively participate and become leaders in forest governance, production and reforms through direct engagement at the local level. CIF has already invested $80 million to DGM programs around the world, with remarkable results on gender equality. In Ghana, 42% of individual grant recipients are women, and 34% are migrant women. In Mexico, 85% of initiatives from the DGM’s Social Inclusion window are led by women. Women lead DGM activities around forest-based value chain development, such as processing shea butter in West Africa.
Women’s 'critical role' in ensuring a just transition
As countries seek an inclusive shift to low-carbon development, it is important that this happens through a just transition that does not leave any sections of society behind. Women have a critical role in making sure this happens. Opportunities for leading change from within the renewable energy sector abound. CIF investments are helping women play an active role as pioneers in this shift by engaging in STEM-led training, education, job placement, and sector leadership in renewable energy employment in countries from Kazakhstan, to Egypt and Turkey. Countries such as Haiti are supporting women’s solar enterprises, as a new form of non-agricultural employment, and innovating with ways of encouraging more private sector investment to this area.
Women have also been leading climate resilience efforts in their communities with CIF support. For example, in Niger and Tajikistan women are driving sustainable land management and adaptation finance packages for agriculture and household energy efficiency.
What is more, the benefits of these initiatives for women are more than just financial. In Niger, a woman beneficiary of a CIF-funded project told us how she turned skeptics into champions through her uptake of drip irrigation technology. “When [my husband] saw how much money I made in the first year, he started to pay attention and is now helping me on the farm, along with my brother-in-law,” she explained. In Tajikistan, women who borrowed adaptation finance reported a shifting of gender norms. 92% said they became less time-poor, 60% said they now had more ability to influence household on assets, and 77% said they had more influence over household decisions on equipment.
Institutions at all levels must focus on gender goals
CIF’s programming in gender-transformative investments does not stop at benefits to individual women and men. It also seeks to help shift the responsiveness and flexibility of national and local institutions to reach gender goals. This can take the form of targeted budgeting for women-led projects. For example, 30 percent of sub-projects at district level in Zambia are set aside for priorities identified by women. While in Cambodia, government ministries are collaborating across sectors to ensure an integrated national gender and climate action plan that considers inclusive climate coordination down to the commune level.
As the momentum for just transitions to low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways builds, it is time to unleash women’s voice in climate action and strengthen the responsiveness of national institutions to strategic gender interests, for a joint march towards goals of gender equality and an inclusive low-carbon future. Today, on International Women's Day 2021, we call for countries, institutions and organizations to recognize - and accelerate - the crucial role of women in the fight against climate change.
