Pakistan to launch first ever National Climate Change Gender Action Plan

Islamabad:Pakistan is going to launch its first ever National Climate Change Gender Action Plan (ccGAP) tomorrow (Wednesday) with the aim to build capacities of the Ministry of Climate Change in institutional mechanism and mainstreaming gender in GCF (Green Climate Fund) funded projects.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) is implementing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) funded, Gender-responsive Readiness for Pakistan: Building capacities and innovative approaches through development of a National Climate Change Gender Action Plan (ccGAP), an IUCN official told this agency while revealing the unprecedented initiative.

He said the objective was to develop the ccGAP and to build capacities at National Designated Authority or MoCC through ensuring institutional mechanism and mainstreaming gender in the pipeline projects for GCF.

With support from the GCF and technical guidance from the IUCN and other key partners, the Government of Pakistan and key stakeholders have jointly developed the first National Climate Change Gender Action Plan (ccGAP) of Pakistan after a comprehensive consultative process.

"ccGAP is developed around the six priority sectors including; agriculture and food security, forest and biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, water and sanitation, integrated coastal management and mitigation: energy and transport," he informed.

Primarily a multi-stakeholder, cross-sector capacity building process was led by Ministry of Climate Change and IUCN to develop national capacities and focal groups and a cross-sector national action plan, fostering innovative project design to strengthen national and provincial climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience through gender-responsive strategies and activities, he added.

The process, he said, was further leading towards a gender-responsive project pipeline of Pakistan. This pilot effort helped enhance existing and nascent policy and programming, while elevating the country’s position as an international leader toward building inclusive sustainable development, climate action and resilience for all.

This comprehensive process directly engaged approximately 300 women, gender experts, women organizations and key stakeholders from the priority sectors and from all over Pakistan.

This is a great achievement of Government of Pakistan in multiple ways, particularly because it is the first ever Climate Change Gender Action Plan of Pakistan lead by Ministry of Climate Change and also because it is the first such initiative by GCF to ensure gender mainstreaming in the upcoming GCF funded projects.

The process has engaged representatives and practitioners from all the six priority sectors and across the country. Hence Pakistan’s ccGAP process is an example for the rest of the world. GCF will use the lessons learnt as a guide for other Gender-responsive Readiness initiatives all over the world.