IISD Commits to Advancing Gender-Responsive Climate Adaptation Action at the Generation Equality Forum

National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes represent a key policy entry point for climate action that fosters gender equality. Ensuring a gender-responsive approach will help promote adaptation action that addresses gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities while advancing participatory decision-making, yielding equitable benefits for people of all genders and social groups, and building the resilience of women and girls in all their diversity.  

Watch Angie Dazé, IISD Senior Policy Lead of Gender Equality, make the announcement in the video below.

We make this commitment to drive gender-responsive adaptation action in partnership with two governments who are already showing leadership in this area: Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.  

"We are working with partners from around the world to build a network of experts and advocates with the power and influence to ensure adaptation action is gender-responsive," says Dazé.  

The NAP Global Network has over 1,500 participants from 155 countries, many of whom are adaptation decision-makers in governments, funders, and civil society organizations. This provides a solid platform to promote gender-responsive climate action.  

IISD is already working with the governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, among others, to advance gender-responsive NAP processes.  

"We believe climate action must be gender-responsive if it is to be effective," says Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Deputy Director and NAP Project Coordinator, Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana. "We are actively working to integrate gender issues into our NAP process, to ensure that women and girls benefit equitably from adaptation efforts."

This is a priority for the NAP Global Network in the coming years, enabling it to provide technical support and capacity development for more countries to integrate gender considerations into NAP processes. 

"Gender can be a catalyst through which adaptation becomes fully effective and meaningful," says Mohamed Sanogo, Coordinator of the National Climate Change Program with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Côte d’Ivoire. "Without taking into consideration gender equality, climate action will not be sustainable."