september, 2023
Between 100 and 150 community-based organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific working at the nexus of gender, climate, and environmental justice to receive Can$11 million from Global Affairs Canada for the next 3.5 years as part of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) initiative to support small and medium organizations for global climate action and innovation.
For the past 2.5 years, through the “Women Leading Climate Action” program, the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) has put resources into the hands of those who have enormous potential to change their own and their communities’ situations, to adapt and mitigate climate change in a gender-just way. We are referring to girls, women, and trans, intersex and non-binary people and from Indigenous and rural communities who are most affected by the climate crisis. With this additional funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), GAGGA reinforces its commitment to supporting women’s leadership in climate action, especially within the Global South, and to shift climate finance from harmful large scale projects (false solutions) to women-led grassroot movements working on gender just climate solutions and actions.
As the climate crisis intensifies, communities in the Global South, though contributing minimally to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, are suffering the direct consequences. Events like floods, droughts, and wildfires have resulted in vast displacement, thereby escalating humanitarian challenges globally. The Women Leading Climate Action program aims to push back against these challenges by targeting areas often overlooked in climate discourse: the gender-specific impacts of climate change. Women, especially those rooted in colonialism, racism, capitalism, and patriarchal systems, face increased vulnerability to climate change. While climate change hits women harder, women are also leading climate action. They have already demonstrated their ability to pressure governments, investors, and donors to act to prevent and avert the worst effects of the climate crisis and to support viable women-led climate approaches. By sidelining women from decision-making roles, we inadvertently suppress innovative, gender-just solutions to climate threats.
This partnership is set to directly support the most affected communities from climate change, with targeted support for 100 to 150 community-based organizations (CBOs) from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific in the next 3.5 years. Through grant funding, technical assistance, facilitation, and other types of support, the Women Leading Climate Action program aims to address gender inequality and achieve environmental justice by supporting women, and environmental, climate and women’s rights movement groups in OECD-DAC eligible countries to influence key decision-makers to take urgent action to divest from fossil fuel industries, defend critical ecosystems, and support inclusive, sustainable and gender- just climate solutions. It aims to:
● Strengthen the lobbying and advocacy roles of women-led organizations;
● Enhance collaboration between various women’s rights, climate justice, and environmental justice movements; and
● Influence policy-making to support gender just climate solutions.
Part of the larger GAGGA program – supported by the generous contribution of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs – running from 2021-2026, Canada’s additional financial support will contribute to a larger and wider reach of the program, including increased source of funding for women-led CBOs.
“Canada believes advancing gender equality and women’s participation in decision-making processes is the most effective way to ensure climate action is gender- and socially just. We look forward to working in partnership with GAGGA to support women’s rights organizations, feminist and environmental movements towards a sustainable planet where everyone can prosper.” Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development, Canada
“At GAGGA, we have seen how the synergy of women, trans, intersex, and non-binary voices can reshape climate narratives, drive impactful solutions, and challenge the status quo. The partnership with the Government of Canada will amplify our mission, proving that when climate finance is directed to women-led grassroot organizations, not only can we weather the storm of climate change, but we can redefine its course for a more gender just future.” Executive director, GAGGA Lead Organisation.
About GAGGA
The Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action is led by the Costa Rica-based Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM) in collaboration with consortium partners Both ENDS, a global environmental justice NGO, and Mama Cash, a women’s fund working internationally, both based in the Netherlands. Since 2016, GAGGA has built a unique network that strengthens the capacities of mainly women-led community-based organizations (CBOs) from the Global South to lobby and advocate for women’s rights to water, food security and a clean, healthy and safe environment. In strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), GAGGA has supported the expansion of women’s leadership in local environmental justice and women’s rights movements, which has led to successful collaborative direct lobby and advocacy (L&A) with impressive results. Building on this momentum, since 2021, GAGGA has set out to play a decisive role in climate mitigation and adaptation processes by incorporating the voices and leadership of women from the Global South. The urgent focus on climate change comes directly from women on the frontlines of resistance within the most marginalized and climate-impacted communities of GAGGA’s network in OECD-DAC countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and Europe.
Factsheet:
GHG Disparities
● Communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America are the least responsible for Green House Gas (GHG) emissions yet are the most negatively impacted by economic and political decisions largely made by the world’s largest GHG emitters.
Gender Just Climate Finance
● Only 0.22% of bilateral climate finance reaches feminist organisations
● In 2018-2019, overall climate-related Official development assistance (ODA) that integrates gender equality as a principle objective stood at just US$ 778 million, a little over 0.04%.
● Of the total amount of philanthropic giving estimated to be allocated to climate related issues, only 3% directly supports women’s environmental activism.
● In 2018-2019, only 0.22% of overall ODA that addressed climate change and gender equality objectives went to feminist, women-led and women’s rights organisations and movements and institutions (1.8% of the 12.6% dedicated to NGOs).
● In 2018-2019, only 2 of the top 10 countries receiving climate-related ODA were in Africa – Ethiopia and Mozambique – and the rest were in Asia. None were in the Caribbean despite the region being disproportionately impacted by climate change.
For further information contact:
● Suman Saurav, GAGGA Communications Strategist: gaggacommunication@fondocentroamericano.org, +91 883 9155 088
● Noemi Grütter, GAGGA Co-Coordinator, Advocacy and Collaborations: n.grutter@fondocentroamericano.org, +41 79 922 75 94