14 November 2017,

Press Conference

Gender Just Climate Solutions Award Winners

WHAT
On UNFCCC’s Gender Day there will be a press conference with the winners who will talk about their projects and the impact of being awarded. A COP23 official side event: Women & Gender Constituency’s (WGC) annual award ceremony & publication launch. Each winner have received a seed grant of 2,000 Euros, travel support for one representative to attend 
the awards ceremony
, one year of mentorship activities from the members of the WGC, and opportunity to participate in a skills training workshop held by CTCN. We had a record number of 158 applicants, 24 were shortlisted for the publication (including the 3 winners).

WHO
Women & Gender Constituency; Kalyani Raj, All India Women’s Conference; Anne Barre, Women Engage for a Common Future; Elizabeth Thippahong, winner from Gender Development Association; Neha Raj Singh, winner from Navdanya; Audrey Boullot, winner from SOL; Karina Larson from Climate Technology Centre & Network.

WHEN
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 12:00 (noon)

WHERE
Press conference room 2, Bula Zone 3, Climate negotiation, COP23, in Bonn.

WHY
WGC and its member organisations engage on the ground and at international negotiations to ensure that the world’s leaders integrate gender equality while implementing the Paris Agreement. “We know the gender just solutions to a sustainable future already exist – it is time to showcase them far and wide!”

TRANSFORMATIONAL WINNER

Gender Development Association, represented at COP 23 by Elisabeth Thipphawong

• About: LAO PDR – GDA assessed gender roles in the northern rural uplands of Lao PDR, focusing on Non-Timber Forest Production. The project used a women’s empowerment lens to bridge traditional harvesting practices with sustainable livelihood initiatives in the target communities. The 4,500 project beneficiaries were women, their families and fellow community members; many of whom belong to the Hmong and Khmu ethnic groups who have been systematically marginalized in Lao PDR. The project identified key areas and documented policies for improving sustainability. Women leaders in the community participated in the Training of Trainer workshops with the goal to enhance their capacity and their knowledge sharing.

• Why: This project was elected because it provides equal access to benefits for women, men and youth; it empowers women through the use of their traditional knowledge. It is locally led, decentralised and appropriate; it ensures self-sufficiency and a low input of resources; it contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Plus, the results can be shared, spread and scaled up and it shows interlinkages to cross-cutting issues such as climate forced migration and food security

TECHNICAL WINNER

Better World Cameroon, could not attend due to visa issues but was represented by Global Ecovillage Network (GEN).

• About: Cameroon – BWC offers a simple, low cost, sustainable alternative to heavy use of solid fuel by building clean cookstoves with mud-building techniques and local materials. The main objectives of this participatory project are to: improve the livelihood of women by training them on the construction of low-emitting mud cookstoves, reduce air pollution, improve health, and enhance women’s participation in community engagement. Reaching 300 beneficiaries in 30 communities, BWC has held 10 participatory stove building workshop with women’s groups; held training of trainers; supported the establishment of partnerships and cooperatives to foster income generation; organized annual meetings for all trainees.

• Why: This project was elected because it provides equal access to benefits for women, men and youth; aims to alleviate burden of women’s workload; empowers women through enhanced livelihoods security; promotes women’s participation by ensuring decision making by local groups; ensures self-sufficiency and a low input of resources; contributes to carbon emissions reduction; results can be shared, spread & scaled up.

• “The richness of this award is n the fact that it carries the 100 voices of local women in the communities of Bafut, in the North West Region of Cameroon. It is to Better World Cameroon for providing me with the necessary skills that led the success of this project.” per Sonita Mbah.

NON TECHNICAL WINNER

NAVDANYA & SOL, represented at COP 23 by Audrey Boullot

• About: India & France – The project “Seeds for Hope” improves the climate resilience, food sovereignty and economic autonomy of farming communities (20,000 people) in the valley of Derhadun, in Northern India, relying on women’s knowledge and action. They are trained to reproduce and conserve local seeds, learn agro-ecological techniques and food transformation, which reinforces their power to make decisions. The project is led in partnership with the association Navdanya, created by Vandana Shiva. Direct beneficiaries: 745 farmers and their families in 31 villages.

• Why: This project was elected because it aims to alleviate women’s workload via additional natural resource management; it empowers women through better access to knowledge; it promotes women’s democratic rights and participation by ensuring decision making by local women’s groups; it is locally driven, decentralised and appropriate; it contributes to climate change mitigation and climate adaptation; its results can be shared, spread and scaled up; it shows interlinkages to cross-cutting issues, such as sustainable water management, sanitary food, solidarity.
  

CTCN WORKSHOP
The Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN) is inviting all the winners from 2017, 2016 and 2015 to a workshop on “Up-scaling gender-just climate solutions: sharing on climate technology and finance”, at LVR- Landesmuseum, November 15. It is a closed event but journalists are invited to come and interview the winners.

ABOUT WGC
The Women and Gender Constituency is one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Established in 2009, the WGC now consists of 27 women’s and environmental civil society organizations, who are working to ensure that women’s voices and their rights are embedded in all processes and results of the UNFCCC framework, for a sustainable and just future, so that gender equality and women’s human rights are central to the ongoing discussions.

MORE RESOURCES
https://womengenderclimate.org
https://www.sol-asso.fr
https://betterworld-cameroon.com
https://gdalaos.org

MEDIA ADVISORY

Media Contact: Hanna Gunnarsson

+49 152 04058573

hanna.gunnarsson@wecf.org