New York, July 20th, 2011–  The Adaptation Fund was established by the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund was officially launched in 2007, although it was established in 2001 at the 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the UNFCCC in Marrakech, Morocco. The Fund is financed with 2% of the Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) issued for projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other sources of funding.

One of the key objectives of the Global Gender and Climate Alliane (GGCA) is to ensure that financing mechanisms on mitigation and adaptation address the needs of poor women and men equitably. Over the past year, the UNDP Gender Team, on behalf of the GGCA, have strategically engaged with the Adaptation Fund Board to raise awareness of gender considerations within the operations of the Adaptation Fund.

At the Board’s 11^th meeting in September, following a presentation by UNDP on gender in adaptation finance, the Board committed to take gender considerations into account as they revised the Fund’s Operational Policies and Guidelines. Through sustained dialogue with Board members and concrete suggestions for how gender considerations could be integrated, the revised templates annexed to the Adaptation Fund’s Operational Policies and Guidelines have been approved and now reference gender considerations for the first time! Please see the specific references listed below.

This is a very important first step, and the GGCA will further work to ensure that gender considerations are meaningfully addressed in the development and implementation of Adaptation Fund projects and programmes.  

References in the Adaptation Fund’s Operational Policies and Guidelines

The Project and Programme Review Criteria ask:

• Does the project / programme provide economic, social and environmental benefits, with particular reference to the most vulnerable communities, including gender considerations?
• Are relevant targets and indicators disaggregated by sex?

The Template for Project/Programme Proposals requests countries to:

• Describe how the project / programme provides economic, social and environmental benefits, with particular reference to the most vulnerable communities, and groups within communities, including gender considerations.
• Describe the consultative process, including the list of stakeholders consulted, undertaken during project preparation, with particular reference to vulnerable groups, including gender considerations.

Instructions for Preparing a Request for Project or Programme Funding from the Adaptation Fund instruct program countries to:

• List the stakeholders consulted, including vulnerable communities, including gender considerations, and the methods of consultation.
• Specify how typically marginalized groups, such as women, will be involved in and benefit from the project/programme.
• Include monitoring and evaluation arrangements including budgeted M&E plan and sex disaggregated targets and indicators.