WUNRN
Gender Indicators, Analysis, Data Needed
for Global Climate Change Funds/Projects
By Kristin Palitza
|
CAPE
TOWN, Jun 27, 2011 (IPS) - Of the millions of dollars spent on climate change
projects in developing countries, little has been allocated in a way that will
benefit women. Yet, in
According to
United Nations data, about 80 percent of the continent’s smallholder farmers
are women. While they are responsible for the food security of millions of
people, agriculture is one of the sectors hardest hit by climate change.
"There
is a lot of international talk about climate change funding for local
communities and especially for women, but not much is actually happening,"
says Ange Bukasa, who runs investment facilitation organisation Chezange
Connect in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Bukasa was
one of the delegates at the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) 2011
Partnership Forum, which was held from Jun. 24-25 in
The Climate
Investment Funds (CIF), established by the World Bank in cooperation with
regional multilateral development banks, provide funding for developing
countries’ climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Since their
launch in 2008, the CIF have allocated 6,5 billion dollars to climate change
projects in 45 developing countries. More than a third of the money went to 15
African states.
But most of
the money – more than 70 percent – is financing large-scale clean technology
energy and transportation projects. These are traditionally male-dominated
sectors of the formal economy.
Only 30
percent is being spent on small-scale projects that directly benefit poor,
rural communities and thereby potentially improve women’s livelihoods.
Experts at
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warn that the funds could run
the risk of perpetuating existing gender imbalances.
To take into
account the gendered nature of energy consumption and domestic labour patterns
in a resource-poor context, women need to be consulted when designing and
implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, they say.
But that
doesn’t happen often enough. "The links between large regional
institutions that administer the funds and the people on the ground who need to
access them are missing," says Bukasa, who works with farmers in
She
complains about a lack of consultation of women, who make up the majority of
smallholder farmers in the area. Bukasa also points out that most rural
communities have not been sufficiently educated about what climate change is
and how to mitigate it or adapt to it.
"People
may have heard the words ‘climate change’, but they have no clue what to do about
it and where to access information," Bukasa warns.
That means
that they remain unable to identify problems and solutions related to climate
change and hence cannot develop their own projects and apply for funds. Their
only option is to "continue farming like before", she sighs.
Such
feedback from climate change experts working at community-level seems to have
had some effect, however. The banks managing the CIF have now pledged they will
integrate gender indicators into all operations and include them in the main
criteria for the approval of grants.
Gender
analysis, sex-differentiated data, gender monitoring and gender auditing will
also be part of all projects financed by the CIF to ensure they benefit men and
women equally, they promise.
"We are
planning to take gender into greater account and are introducing more and more
indicators to assess the gender dimension of projects," says Mafalda
Duarte, climate finance coordinator at the African Development Bank (AfDB), one
of the regional institutions administering the funds.
The funds
will go towards solar energy projects, improved cooking stoves, sustainable
forestry projects, solar-powered irrigation as well as water storage and
heating systems. "When we review proposals we ensure that women will be
able to access the funded technologies,"
The only
drawback is that the focus is again on small-scale investments that only make
up a small percentage of the overall funds.
Florah
Mmereki, project manager at Wena Industry and Environment, an environmental
education trust based in
Mmereki says
women remain excluded because participation in many climate change adaptation
projects usually requires an upfront investment, such as a contribution to the
cost of energy-efficient wood stoves.
"But
rural women don’t have access to funds. They are the ones working in the
fields, but it’s their husbands who manage the money," she notes.
"There are many gender barriers that still need to be removed."