Earth Today | ‘Good move, AF’
New e-course on climate change, gender mainstreaming gets thumbs up from Jamaican stakeholders
Published:Thursday | April 4, 2024 | 12:09 AM
THE ADAPTATION Fund (AF) is introducing a new e-course designed to strengthen country capacities to develop gender mainstreaming across their project lifecycles – a move that has won the approval of local stakeholders.
“This is great news. I think it is very important that we build the capacity of countries to be able to integrate gender considerations into climate change,” noted Indi Mcylmont-Lafayette, a gender and development communications specialist.
“It is a significant gap that was first identified in, I believe, Cancun, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began to look at taking gender into consideration. I think a lot of countries still do not have the capacity to work through what it means to put gender considerations into climate change planning,” she added.
The course, which adds to the suite of e-learning courses offered by the AF – from which Jamaica has benefited – focuses on integrating gender-responsive approaches throughout the lifecycle of AF projects and programmes. The AF has committed more than US$1.1 billion for climate change adaptation and resilience projects and programmes across the developing world, including in Jamaica.
According to Mclymont-Lafayette, a long-time climate justice advocate who has observed proceedings at the AF, the fund’s new course is also an important consideration for climate financing.
“Gender and climate change are areas that donors want to see addressed. Yet, there is limited capacity at the community and country levels to effectively implement gender considerations into climate planning. This course will help to enable countries to meet their requirement. They will have better capacity to source funding. So the course is welcomed,” she said.
Development professional Eleanor Jones agreed, noting that adaptation is key for resilience building in small island developing states and other developing countries that are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. The effort to enable better integration of gender and climate change in adaptation interventions is, therefore, welcomed.
“Adaptation is what we need. It is a major issue for us, and so this is excellent. Capacity-building is crucial for us and we are seeing, more and more, the need for it. Whenever you talk among professionals, it seems that we just do not have the resources that we need for all that is required. So this training is beneficial for strengthening our resources,” said Jones, who heads the firm Environmental Solutions Limited and who has represented Jamaica’s private sector in global climate change negotiations.
The course, also available in French and Spanish, is organised into three modules, and “aids users in understanding the steps required to integrate gender mainstreaming throughout the project or programme lifecycle. The course is self-paced, can be completed in about an hour, and is available for free to AF’s implementing entities and other interested stakeholders”, revealed an April 1 press release from the fund.
“The brief, intuitive modules focus on each step in the development and implementation processes of AF projects, and break down required steps across the project identification or concept stage, and the various proposal, implementation, monitoring, reporting and knowledge management stages,” the release explained.
It also utilises AF case studies to guide learners through critical steps at each of the project stages, and provides access to templates and further support to guide them through their projects. The course also integrates quick quizzes to motivate users and assess what they have learnt.
“Climate change impacts women and girls in vulnerable countries often disproportionately and in ways that differ from impacts to men and boys. We are pleased to roll out this e-course on gender mainstreaming as another significant step in continued learning and sharing of Adaptation Fund experiences, to advance a gender-responsive approach through all adaptation interventions,” said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund in the release.
“Over the years, the fund has made great strides in promoting the advancement of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, while strengthening institutional and technical capacities in the long term to ensure gender considerations are included in project planning. We hope this course can benefit implementing entities and the adaptation community in mainstreaming gender equality for effective and sustainable adaptation efforts,” he added.
Gender mainstreaming is one of the key objectives of the AF’s Gender Policy and Gender Action Plan, which was adopted in March 2016 and updated in 2021. The course follows the 2022 release of an AF study on ‘Intersectional approaches to gender mainstreaming in adaptation-relevant interventions’, which examined the value of intersectional approaches to implementing gender-mainstreaming strategies for adaptation projects.