(Dubai) — The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) announced at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) the launch of its latest funding appeal to mobilize urgently-needed financing for local women’s civil society organizations working at the forefront of climate action.
Launched in partnership with the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), the WPHF Climate Security Funding Appeal will mobilize up to 25M USD to support local women’s organizations working across three priority areas: Enhancing the meaningful participation of women in decision-making processes and responses related to the prevention of climate-related conflicts and injustice; Ensuring that climate-related humanitarian and crisis response planning, frameworks and programming are gender inclusive and responsive; and Promoting women’s leadership in green socio-economic recovery and political decision-making to reduce climate-related conflicts and injustice.
Climate change is an increasing urgent global imperative impacting every region of the world. According to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), over 3.3 billion people are “highly vulnerable” to climate change, a threat multiplier that is already leading to higher levels of conflict, political instability, population displacements, poverty, and hunger across borders.
Further, the impacts of climate change are not gender neutral. In the face of rising temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather, structural and gender inequalities are making women, girls and marginalized groups disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of the global climate crisis, leaving them with fewer resources and opportunities to prevent, adapt, and recover. These issues are exacerbated in climate-induced crises, where economic loss, growing conflict, forced migration, and the lack of access to basic resources are heightening the risk of gender-based violence and putting the livelihoods of women and girls at stake.
“Civil society organizations do the work, going directly to the people who are affected by the effects of climate change. That’s why it’s so important to work with women peacebuilders and women-led organizations like ours,” says Yvonne Kwaomae, a local climate activist and WPHF CSO partner in the Solomon Islands.
Despite these challenges, women’s civil society organizations are leading local interventions and response efforts to escalating climate-related security risks in their communities. It is critical to support their work with adequate financing and to enhance their capacities and leadership to ensure they continue to serve as powerful engines of climate prevention, adaptation, and mitigation on the front lines.
WPHF’s climate security response will consist of an open Call for Proposals to mobilize funding to local women’s organizations that can respond to climate security and climate injustice concerns in 12 eligible countries/group of countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pacific (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu), Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Sudan.
This Call for Proposals will make available financing for civil society organizations to strengthen women’s participation and leadership in climate security and climate justice through programmatic funding from 30,000 USD to 200,000 USD, and institutional funding to help sustain and strengthen women’s organizations working on climate action with grants from 2,500 USD to 30,000 USD.
“When funds like this are made available to women, they build the community together, even the neighboring community,” says Kwaomae. “So when disaster strikes, they help each other to bring peace.”
Fundraiser for Women Leading Climate Action
