Women’s Empowerment at the Frontline of Adaptation

Given the vital role of women as the primary actors in natural resource management and agriculture, the following recommendations are made to make adaptation actions more gender sensitive and inclusive: ƒ ƒ Enhance women’s engagement in local-level climate change planning and implementation processes: Support and strengthen the development and implementation of practical mechanisms and systems to ensure the engagement of women, particularly from poor and marginalized groups, in local-level planning and the implementation processes of climate change adaptation initiatives, including activities under the Local Adaptation Plan of Action, Local Disaster Reduction Action Plans, and VDC plans. Particular focus must be given to women’s access to, and control over, resources and decision-making processes. ƒ ƒ Strengthen local-level women’s organizations and networks: Support and strengthen existing and new women’s organizations and networks at the local level to ensure women’s engagement to influence climate change- related decisions and programmes to meet their needs and priorities. ƒ ƒ Separate or create specific funds and resources for women: Advocate for, and provide, separate resources for poor and marginalized women in the form of either funds, seed money, grants, incentives, or subsidies to enable them to purchase appropriate and alternative adaptation technologies and establish alternative income generating activities and enterprises. These financing mechanisms must be flexible to meet women’s needs and reflect priorities. ƒ ƒ Promote time-saving, appropriate and alternative technologies: Promote coordination and linkages between alternative energy institutions such as the Government’s National Rural Renewable Energy Programme (NRREP) and sectoral agencies (working in agriculture, forestry, enterprise development) to develop, strengthen, and distribute time-saving and women-friendly technologies for drinking water, irrigation, cooking, and agro-processing. ƒ ƒ Establish local-level pre- and post assessment mechanisms for climate-change interventions from a gender equality and social inclusion perspective: Encourage the establishment of gender equality and social inclusion sensitive pre- and post-assessments/gender analysis of needs and sub-sector analysis and monitoring for the design, planning and implementation of climate change-related programmes, both before and after rolling out activities and programmes at the local level. Support the collection of disaggregated data for targeting and monitoring women (e.g., as a prerequisite for the implementation of agro-enterprises and alternative energy technologies, etc). ƒ ƒ Increase investment in adequate and skilled local-level service providers (quality and quantity): Advocate and provide for adequate local-level human resources and service providers in terms of specific climate change- related extension skills (quality) and number (quantity) to reach poor and marginalized women. ƒ ƒ Enhance the capacity of national and local-level institutions for gender equality: Strengthen the capacity of both national and local-level organizations working on climate change to address gender equality and social inclusion issues organizationally, through training, coaching, mentoring, and developing an organizational action plan for achieving gender equality (e.g., training on gender, gender analysis, organizational change for gender equality etc.) so that extension workers are gender sensitive in their actions and delivery of services (e.g., during training events, disaster response activities, and so forth). ƒ ƒ Include or provide for gender experts within national and local-level climate change-related institutions: Include professionals with good knowledge and expertise on gender equality and social inclusion issues, or train staff on these issues to ensure understanding of the issues and the gender sensitivity of these institutions in implementing activities. ƒ ƒ Conduct awareness raising: At the national and local climate change governance levels, raise awareness of the impacts of climate change specific to women, particularly among policy and decision makers. At the local or community levels, develop appropriate climate change awareness and information campaign materials that can be understood and used by local people, particularly women and marginalized groups. The language used and the advocacy materials should be gender-friendly and appropriate for rural women. ƒ ƒ Strengthen and develop male gender champions: Identify and support male gender champions at local and national levels, both within service delivery organizations and committees and groups. Train, coach, and organize these men to support women and women’s leadership.

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