On Monday December 10th, the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Women and Gender Constituency held its annual Gender Just Climate Solutions Award and publication launch at the climate negotiations in Katowice, Poland.

The Awards celebrate gender-just solutions- aiming to support and scale up innovative initiatives that put equity and sustainability at heart. These award winners are not only challenging the status quo, they are turning the system upside down.

2018 Winners

TRANSFORMATIONAL SOLUTION WINNER

Dorothee Lisenga (CFLEDD), Congo DRC

According to a 2016 study, 70% of women in the DRC did until recently not have access to land and forest titles. Dorothee Lisenga has organised dialogues on women’s inheritance rights between customary chiefs, local and indigenous women. This work has led to huge successes in women’s access to land and forest rights of women in the provinces of Ecuador and Maindombe of the DRC.

NON TECHNICAL SOLUTION WINNER

Clive Chibule (Green living Movement), Zambia

Clive Chibule has trained 537 women on leadership in project management and climate resilience. In a region stricken by climate-shocks, it has become necessary to support women farmers in diversifying their income, and making them less dependent on rain-fed harvests. Women farmers, with the support of the award winner, reproduce their own seeds, have planted over 35,000 trees, and created 250 vegetable gardens.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION WINNER

Trupti Jain (Naireeta Services), India

Gujarat state is prone to short periods of heavy rains and flooding, followed by long droughts. Many farmlands have become waste lands. Trupti Jain has combined women’s leadership with low cost and sustainable technology to tackle the severe impacts of excessive rain water from storms. This technology protects groundwater via a filtration system and increases soil fertility by reducing salinity. The units conserve 1-4 million litres of runoff water and can irrigate 22 acres during the dry season. While women still do not own the land, by owning the technology they help their community double their harvest which in turns has a tremendous impact on their role in the community as decision-makers. Since 2011, more than 3500 units have been installed in India and also increasingly abroad; in Ghana, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Each installed Bhungroo provides food security for 30 to 100 people, generating an additional income of about USD 5700 per year.

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About the Awards

Since 2015, the Women and Gender Constituency of the UNFCCC, of which WEDO is a founding member, awards ‘Gender-Just Climate Solutions’ annually. These awards aim to showcase real solutions for a more just, equal and healthy planet.

All types of activist, grassroots and women-led organizations and groups working on issues related to climate change are encouraged to apply. In the end, three winning award recipients receive €2000 Euro, travel support to attend COP, and mentorship opportunities – while runners-up are showcased in a publication, online platform and awards ceremony.

Since 2017, the Awards have included a collaboration with the UNFCCC Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN). The CTCN provides support to the winners from all 4 years of the program to a workshop on up-scaling gender just climate solutions, sharing of climate technology and finance- aimed at building on south-south technology and capacity knowledge sharing.