GGCA
The GGCA is a unique network of 13 UN agencies and more than 25 civil society organizations working together to ensure that climate change decision-making, policies and initiatives, at all levels, are gender responsive.
In early 2005, concerned about the persistent exclusion of women’s rights and gender issues in climate debates, WEDO and IUCN came up with an idea to build an NGO-UN alliance as a united front on ‘gender and climate change’. In partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the GGCA was officially launched in 2007, at UNFCCC COP-13 in Bali. Since its founding, WEDO has played a leadership role in facilitating global and national policy advocacy, capacity building and knowledge generation, in partnership and collaboration with various members under the GGCA umbrella.
On behalf of the GGCA, WEDO administers two key projects: the Advocacy Team and the Women Delegates Fund (WDF). Tracking the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process closely, the Advocacy Team is a comprised of civil society leaders from a range of backgrounds, expertise and regions. They work closely with government negotiators as technical advisors to integrate effective gender text into the climate change policies. The team continues to celebrate great success: the Cancun Agreements (from COP-16, December 2010) retained eight strong references to women and gender, and new gender language was also included in areas critical for national implementation. Key partners in advocacy work include ENERGIA – the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, Abantu for Development in Ghana, Oxfam International, CARE, ActionAid, UNIFEM (now part of UNWOMEN) and many more.
WEDO is also proud to administer the WDF, with support from Finland and in partnership with UNDP, which provides travel and capacity building support to women delegates from the global South. The WDF supports women to join their national negotiating teams at major UNFCCC meetings and has contributed to an overall rise in women’s participation in the UNFCCC process over 2009 and 2010. Ending in December 2011, the WDF has been an important project to provide networking opportunities, negotiation skills training, substantive workshops and much more beyond just travel support. WEDO remains grateful to Finland for recognizing the importance of women’s leadership in decision-making as positive change agents!
WEDO works with all members of the alliance to lobby governments and build the GGCA’s membership of organizations working toward gender-sensitive international climate change agreements and plans. The GGCA is in a transition period at the close of 2010 and will define a new strategic plan in early 2011. For more information, visit the GGCA website!
The Latest GGCA News
TONIGHT at COP17! Gender and Climate Change: Actions, Results and Lessons Learned
WEDO at COP17
Thursday, Dec 8 – 18:00-19:30, EU Pavilion – Warsaw Room
This event will showcase successes achieved under the GGCA umbrella as well as bilateral cooperation through the Governments of Finland, Iceland, and South Africa, demonstrating best practice examples and strategies for successfully integrating gender perspective into international and national-level actions on climate change.
Progress on Gender in the Adaptation Fund
New York, July 20th, 2011– The Adaptation Fund was established by the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund was officially launched in 2007, although it was established in 2001 at the 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the UNFCCC in Marrakech, Morocco. The Fund is financed with 2% of the Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) issued for projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other sources of funding.…
Gender equality and the Green Climate Fund
Tokyo, Japan– The second meeting of the Transitional Committee (TC) to design the Green Climate Fund (GCF) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded yesterday in Tokyo, Japan. The Cancun Agreements, adopted at COP16 at the end of 2010, established the “Green Climate Fund” to provide assistance to developing countries. As the international community now works to design this global climate fund, WEDO and its partners are working to ensure the equitable and effective allocation of funds for the world’s most vulnerable populations. At the regional Transitional Committee meeting in Tokyo, women and gender issues were highlighted in various ways.
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UNFCCC Side Event – Women and Climate Finance – Past Experiences Inspiring Future Funds
Bonn, Germany, June 13, 2011 – GGCA, in partnership with the Government of Finland, IUCN, the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice (MRFCJ), Oxfam, UNDP, UNEP and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), organized a UNFCCC side event entitled Women and Climate Finance – Past Experiences Inspiring Future Funds. The event, chaired by Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland), focused on lessons learned through mainstreaming gender in development funds and considered how these experiences can serve as a foundation for integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment into climate finance mechanisms.
A Conversation with Women Negotiators at the UNFCCC
New York, June 28th 2011– Original article was published in the CDKN Global Blog
By Jessica Sinclair Taylor, CDKN Global Communications Assistant and Tristan Stubbs, CDKN Global Communications Officer
Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the lives of women in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). So now is the time to pay attention to the views of female negotiators from LDCs, who form a distinct minority in the UNFCCC discussions. In Bonn last week, CDKN spoke to several women negotiators working with WEDO to seek their views on the climate talks. Our conversations showed that…
