Overview

Small-scale approaches can power large-scale transformation.

Feminist solutions to the climate crisis exist throughout the world. These solutions have the potential to catalyze transformative change in our interactions with our environments and our communities—but they are under-recognized, under-valued, and under-supported.

Achieving our vision of a “just world that promotes and protects human rights, gender equality and the integrity of the environment” requires that locally led, “gender just climate solutions” that center human rights are scaled and replicated appropriately.

Supporting locally led approaches is a proven solution to our global climate crisis that is just, equitable and sustainable. This support is part of a larger vision of feminist climate finance that challenges top-down and market-based approaches.

Impact

The Gender Just Climate Solutions (GJCS) initiative responds to the imperative to value feminist solutions through a variety of programs to identify, showcase, support, and scale community-led solutions that center gender equality within a just approach to climate action.

In 2015, The Women and Gender Constituency—which WEDO helps co-convene—launched the annual GJCS Awards. Since then, the scope of this work has evolved to respond to the requests of grassroots organizations as well as to inform those seeking to better understand and fund the breadth and depth of feminist solutions.

In addition to the annual flagship awards, this initiative now includes ongoing capacity strengthening for past GJCS awardees; a re-grant mechanism to further fund and scale promising initiatives; and the provision of broader support—opportunities for funding, tools, and/or resources—to all GJCS solutions. These efforts, and the advocacy that they inform, contribute to the creation of a new feminist funding ecosystem.

Gender Just Climate Solutions Awards & Capacity Strengthening Program

Led by the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) and coordinated by Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF)

Since 2015, the Gender Just Climate Solutions Awards welcomes applications from around the world to showcase three locally driven solutions at an awards ceremony during the annual climate negotiations (UNFCCC Conference of the Parties – COP). Each winning solution is awarded prize money and a trip to COP for one of their individual team members. The three awarded solutions and up to thirty annual honorees are described in a publication that is distributed in English, French, Spanish, and now Arabic during COP, and all solutions are added to the online public directory of over 150 solutions.

All previous GJCS Awardees are also eligible to receive ongoing support through regular dialogue, peer learning, and training opportunities. Selected awardees are provided travel and logistical support to attend an in-person, multi-day capacity-strengthening workshop at COP.

Who can participate?

Any individual or organization currently implementing a project or program at the intersection of gender and climate justice is eligible to apply for the GJCS Awards; former honorees may apply again for an award. GJCS awardees from each year are invited to join the capacity strengthening program; as of 2022, there were 21 awardees from the six years of this program. (The awards were paused in 2020 due to the pandemic.)

Who else contributes to this work?

The WGC constitutes a jury from its network, representing a variety of experiences and gender-climate expertise, to review applications in their original languages and collaboratively select the solutions to award and highlight. CTCN is a key partner with WECF in facilitating the two-day workshop at COP, as well as some other trainings. WECF also ensures WGC members are connected to the awardees at COP, engaging some in the workshop as appropriate.

Where can I find more information?

Information about the annual call for application as well as previous awardees is available on the Women & Gender Constituency website, which includes a full GJCS directory of solutions.

Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund

Led by the Re-Grant Collective of WEDO, WEP, FEMNET, and WECF and coordinated by WEDO

Launched at the Generation Equality Forum in 2021, the GJCS Scale Fund seeks to respond to the challenges described by the solutions highlighted through the GJCS Awards Program and provide another avenue for flexible, feminist funding. With pooled resources from women’s rights organizations and groups, this re-grant collective operates through two to three application cycles a year to provide direct funding to amplify and scale recipients’ work and offers technical assistance to grantees to address institutional capacity, such as proposal writing and developing communications materials. The grants are intentionally flexible and need-driven, designed to address the barriers to a solution’s scaling and/or replication, and thus support a wide array of activities from strategic planning to communications and media support to administration.

Who can participate?

The first several rounds of funding and/or technical assistance have been via invitation only to selected pools of past GJCS awardees and honorees and select WORTH Initiative, GAGGA, and Disability Rights Fund (DRF) grantees working at the intersection of gender, climate, and disability justice. Applying to the GJCS Awards is the best chance of being invited for these select opportunities.

Who else contributes to this work?

WECF, WEP, and FEMNET support WEDO as part of the GJCS Scale Fund Advisory Committee, which convenes to review the scope of each funding round, confirm awardees, and reflect on each round to inform the evolution of the fund.

Where can I Learn More?

Funding Transformation & The Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund

New Round of Awardees of the Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund Announced at COP27

Eight projects from around the world have been selected as the next round of recipients of the Gender-Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund. Selected projects showcase climate solutions that are gender-just, community driven, and sustainable. Launched at the Generation Equality Forum

Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund: Second Round Awardees

Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund: 2021 Pilot Winners

Launched earlier this year at the Generation Equality Forum, the Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund supports the scaling, replication and ambition of gender just climate solutions globally. With pooled resources from women’s rights organizations and groups, this re-grant collective

Gender Just Climate Solutions Support Facility

Led by the Women and Gender Constituency and coordinated by WEDO

The GJCS Support Facility is an evolving program that aims to provide broader support—opportunities for funding, tools, and/or resources—to all GJCS solutions, which includes applicants, honorees, and awardees, as well as the WORTH Initiative grantees. Activities include but are not limited to virtual webinars and communique related to advocacy, communications, and funding. The support facility aims to build a network of solutions learning from and with each other, based on regional, thematic, and programmatic similarities.

Who can participate?

The Support Facility works to reach anyone who may be interested in strengthening their work at the intersection of gender and climate justice. All previous GJCS and WORTH Initiative applicants receive periodic email round-ups of funding opportunities, while training and capacity-strengthening opportunities designed by the WGC, such as the communications and funding webinar series, are shared to this list as well as the WGC listserv.

Who else contributes to this work?

The WGC members contribute their expertise, such as APWLD sharing their communications curriculum for part of the communications webinar series, and information on upcoming training or funding opportunities is welcome from anyone.

Where can I find more information?

Previous training offerings, including the women’s entrepreneurship course, advocacy webinar, and the communications and funding webinar series, are available on the WGC website under GJCS Resources.

Click here to view this information as a PDF in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

WEDO GJCS point of contact: Alexandria Gordon, alex@wedo.org

Gender Just Climate Solutions

Who can participate?

Who else contributes to this work?

Where can I find more information?

Who can participate?

Who else contributes to this work?

Where can I Learn More?

Who can participate?

Who else contributes to this work?

Where can I find more information?

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