This October, six projects from around the world received funding from the Gender-Just Climate Solutions (GJCS) Scale Fund to support their gender-just, community-driven, and sustainable climate solutions. The recipients are:
The GJCS Scale Fund is a re-grant collective that seeks to respond to the challenges described through the GJCS Awards Program and provide another avenue for flexible, feminist funding. These small re-grants are intentionally flexible and needs-driven, supporting various activities from communications to administration to strategic planning.
Since September 2021, the GJCS Scale Fund has awarded about 516,000 USD through six rounds of funding, supporting 42 recipients from 22 countries. The six 2024 recipients represent multifaceted solutions from Bolivia, Cameroon, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Latin America and are supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Irish Government.
The GJCS re-grant collective builds on decades of feminist mobilizing for climate solutions to provide access to direct funding opportunities for scaling up current programming and offers technical assistance to address institutional capacity, such as fundraising and advocacy mapping and developing communications materials.
Learn more about the most recent awardees below.
CENDEP
CENDEP’s project will strengthen the performance of the Individual Nursery Scheme, a locally led initiative of the Mbiame women in Northwest Cameroon. This project’s vision centers on restoring and protecting degraded community watersheds and farmlands leading to a more resilient landscape that reduces climate change impacts, increases crop and livestock yields, and improves income levels of the villagers thereby contributing in poverty alleviation and community development. The Scale Fund support will support capacity-building activities as well as information gathering and sharing to gain recognition and visibility for the women restoring and protecting the environment.
The CCIMCAT team.
CCIMCAT works with rural, indigenous and urban women and young people in Tarija and the south of Bolivia to contribute to gender justice. With Scale Fund support, their vision is to create and implement an institutional Strategic Plan aimed at deepening the processes for women’s economic autonomy and life care; influence public policies for the democratization of care work; and strengthen team skills for the development of increasingly clear processes for environmental justice and gender justice.
DASTAK Foundation
The Scale Fund would empower DASTAK Foundation to address women’s reproductive health and rights in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The fund will help DASTAK sustain a holistic health and wellbeing framework to improve pregnant women’s access to essential healthcare services in harder-to-reach localities that are away from the center during emergencies and crises. The intervention would scale their work by providing local midwives with knowledge, tools and skills in midwifery education to practice safely and skillfully amid disasters and by building a network of well-being and care in far-flung villages. Consequently, the program strengthens the collective ability to mitigate health risks and support the ongoing advocacy efforts to defend the defenders and reproductive health of women, especially in climate-vulnerable environments.
The HEAD Nepal team having a training on climate change.
HEAD Nepal envisions a future where the marginalized communities in the Himalayan region, particularly women, people with disabilities, and indigenous people, are empowered to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change, leading to a sustainable and equitable future. The Scale Fund support will allow HEAD Nepal to scale up existing initiatives; pilot innovative climate change solutions, like community-based renewable energy projects or climate-smart agriculture practices; strengthen organizational capacity; and foster partnerships. By focusing on these strategic priorities, HEAD Nepal can play a vital role in building a climate-resilient and inclusive future for the marginalized communities of the Himalayan region.
MONES
MONES works to effectively foster feminist movement-building in Mongolia by mobilizing funds, resources, knowledge and capacities. With Scale Fund support, MONES aims to amplify its impact by enhancing visibility and advocacy for gender-responsive climate solutions. MONES’ goals are to empower rural women in Mongolia, strengthen their resilience against climate change, and drive systemic change for gender and climate justice.
Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Sociales y Ambientales
The Latin American Network of Women Defenders of Social and Environmental Rights works to defend community rights, social rights and nature, which are violated by extractive mining projects and that directly affect women. Through the Escuelita por la Justicia Climática Feminista (Little School for Feminist Climate Justice), they offer virtual ecofeminist climate justice trainings across four countries in Central America that encourage women’s leadership in decision-making for their communities. With Scale Fund support, they plan to expand the school to Mexico, offer in-person trainings, and reach areas of Guatemala and Central America with connectivity difficulties.
Women’s Environment
& Development Organization
