On May 24, 2023, the Africa Climate Change Fund Secretariat participated in a hybrid high-level panel discussion on Gender Transformative Climate Action in Eastern and Southern Africa. On that occasion, the ACCF Coordinator provided a highlight on the Fund’s financing a Gender Transformative Approach. Following a brief introduction of the Fund, the Coordinator, Ms. Rita Effah, described the ACCF’s financing mechanism put in place to support women-led and women-focused climate initiatives in Africa as part of the Fund’s bold commitment to contribute to addressing women’s and men’s unequal access to the resources that are needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to address adequately and proportionally the ways in which gender roles influence women’s and men’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In line with this, Rita indicated that in 2021, the ACCF launched its third Call for Proposals to select projects that improve gender-transformative, low carbon and climate resilient development in selected vulnerable communities, especially for women and girls in Africa.
Under the framework of this Call for proposals, “10 projects were shortlisted for immediate funding of about $8.2milion and 6 projects of about $4.5million in the pipeline pending mobilization of additional resources. The total funding for the 16 PPs is estimated at $12.6million, out of which 6 of the 10 projects have been launched early 2023”, Rita commented. “At the ACCF, we strongly believe that ensuring women and girls equal access to climate finance is a development imperative given the fact that they are disproportionally affected by climate change effects globally and much more in Africa”. “The ACCF’s focus is an integral part of the African Development Bank’s overall efforts to address climate change related gender-based inequalities and increase women’s access to climate finance,” she concluded.
This 3-day regional conversation was convened by the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office together with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The event brought together “women climate experts and advocates at the forefront of climate justice in Eastern and Southern Africa to facilitate networking and knowledge exchange and co-create common regional advocacy and action with regional, continental, and global policy makers and intergovernmental bodies.”
