“Women climate leadership is crucial. We see that women and girls are the ones who rise to the challenge most effectively when disaster strikes all over the world,” said Aicha Diallo Hadia, a civil society and indigenous observer from Burkina Faso’s Tin Hinan association during the latest committee meetings of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). Women climate leadership is about amplifying the voice of women and those who are advocating for equity and social justice as we work for a 1.5C future. With 15 years of experience delivering climate finance to developing countries, we at CIF have learned that accelerating women climate leadership is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. This International Women’s Day, let’s listen to women leaders and advocates from local and Indigenous communities, civil society, partner governments, and climate finance experts. They share their perspectives on challenges faced by women and how climate finance and the Climate Investment Funds can best deliver for them.
“Generally speaking, women are much more impacted [by climate change] and have to mitigate these impacts for the family,” explained South Africa’s Penelope Herbst, a CIF private sector observer This fact is made worse by well-known gender inequalities and power imbalances in all areas of social, economic, and political life that limit the full recognition of women as critical leaders in climate solutions. Women generally have limited access to ownership and control of land and natural resources because of customary and social gender norms, limited financial resources, or inadequate legal tenure systems. Biodiversity loss and environmental degradation further compound women’s already limited access to these resources and drive underrepresentation in decision-making over those resources and landscapes.
In the mining and energy sectors, decision-making bodies, as well as professional roles are dominated by men, which sometimes results in overlooking the considerations of women, Indigenous Peoples and minorities. This also means that women are at a disadvantage and face additional obstacles in accessing current and emerging employment opportunities, also due to additional burdens of care work traditionally expected of them. As producers, processors, distributors, and users of renewable energy, women play a significant role in the different processes along the value chain but face high barriers to accessing clean energy sources and remain underrepresented in the workforce, institutions, policymaking, and governance.
But study after study proves that increased participation, engagement and leadership of women contributes to positive outcomes in good governance and financial management, collaboration and collective action, household wellbeing and resilience, and much more. “Women are the solution in Niger, because they are dynamic, they are the majority, and they are the most disadvantaged. We really consider them at the centre of our activities, and they are also a big part of the solution. Because we have results with women,” said Dan Bakoye Chaibou, from Niger’s Ministry of Planning. How does this look in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a CIF partner country implementing projects through the Forest Investment Program (FIP). “In all the local governance structures that we have been able to put in place thanks to this project we insist that women be members of the management committee,” said Yannick Lwamba, Monitoring & Evaluation specialist with the government of DRC. This is the right approach: demonstrations of political and institutional will and commitment to gender equality provide formal guidance and accountability. This also potentially invalidates discriminatory practices and beliefs, whilst simultaneously signalling women’s ‘worthiness’, legitimacy and authority in claiming their rights and articulating their concerns.
Indeed, policy frameworks for gender equality–both broadly (e.g., national gender policy, gender provisions in the constitution, etc.), and integrated into sectors specifically (a gender action plan or strategy in national renewable energy policy)– can help advance women’s climate leadership. These frameworks can guide, set targets and priorities, and establish actions to address discriminatory gender barriers. Some examples of efforts include institutional anti-discrimination and harassment policies, programmatic gender and social safeguards, national gender and climate action plans, laws protecting land rights and tenure, and strategies on gender mainstreaming and equitable stakeholder engagement (e.g., gender quotas and incentive mechanisms). Tunisia’s Sihem Ben Hadj Ameur, associate director at the Ministry of Agriculture, explains that “climate finance can protect and must protect women climate leadership by working on really improving their role in fighting climate change impact, and by accompanying them in their projects linked to natural resources management with coaching and capacity building.”
As one of the world’s largest multilateral funds, the Climate Investment Funds leverages the power of concessional finance to innovate, pilot new approaches and open up new markets for a greener future. With 15 years of experience in climate finance, we have learned that this can only be achieved by placing gender equality at the heart of our investments, and have shared these lessons through thought leadership, workshops and publications. CIF supports transformational change and climate-smart development for both women and men. “If we want climate action to be effective, we must be able to integrate everyone (…). And when we talk about (…) climate, all actors must be able to take part, men and women, and this in an equal way,” explains Aicha Diallo Hadia. One of the most striking lessons that CIF has learned is the value of having women in climate leadership roles. Building on the partner multilateral development banks’ (MDBs) own commitments to gender equality, CIF therefore aims to go beyond gender-mainstreaming to gender-transformative approaches, identifying opportunities through project activities to advance women climate leadership. “Climate finance is about pipelining programs and responding to specific needs. And if a climate finance window such as the CIF can provide very clear opportunities for women to take lead, to take charge in some of these programs, I think that's going to change the game. And, actually seeing women at the forefront, at the centre of the discussion, is changing the landscape of climate finance,” said Angelo Kairos de la Cruz, a CIF civil society observer from The Philippines’ Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities. CIF’s women climate leadership strategy helps focus climate investments in policies, programmes and projects that shift harmful gender norms and ensure sustainable natural resource governance, renewable energy integration and a just transition, while addressing adaptation needs for women.
“We have a lot of hope for this CIF project [Dedicated Grant Mechanism] and for what women really can become in the future.” Angelique Ntinou – Vice President Dedicated Grant Mechanism, Republic of Congo