Impact Story
Jan 9, 2024
Nine projects from around the world — showcasing climate solutions that are gender-just, community-driven, and sustainable — have been selected as the next round of recipients of the Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund:
Fondo Semillas team members and partners. Photo by Fonda Semillas.
Launched at the Generation Equality Forum in 2021, the Gender-Just Climate Solutions (GJCS) Scale Fund is a re-grant collective that seeks to respond to the challenges described by the solutions highlighted through the GJCS Awards Program and provide another avenue for flexible, feminist funding.
The November 2023 round of GJCS Scale Fund solutions are supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the Irish Government. The awardees represent nine multifaceted solutions from Kenya, Nicaragua, Uganda, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Mexico, and the Carteret Islands.
The GJCS re-grant collective builds on decades of feminist mobilizing for climate solutions to provide access to direct funding opportunities for solutions to scale up current programming and offers technical assistance to address institutional capacity, such as fundraising and advocacy mapping and developing communications materials. The small re-grants are intentionally flexible and need-driven, supporting a wide array of activities.
Learn more about the awardees below.
ALDEMA is an organization committed to the sustainable ecological and social development of families and communities in nine municipalities in the department of Madriz, Nicaragua.
ALDEMA Project team. Photo by ALDEMA.
The organization plans to use the Scale Fund grant to expand the coverage of two projects: conserving forests and harvesting water in indigenous communities of Totogalpa, and providing technical support to micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) on business management in 14 municipalities of Nicaragua’s dry corridor.
Bindu is a grassroots- and women-led organization working at the intersection of women’s rights, climate justice, and resilience. Through its projects, Bindu provides climate and resilient agricultural education and capacity strengthening to women, while advocating for women’s participation in decision-making spaces.
Members of BINDU, which promotes women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and resilience in Bangladesh. Photo credit: BINDU.
Bindu plans to use their grant to formalize and strengthen their organization, including by applying for an NGO bureau registration; developing a monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework; and developing new communications materials.
CAMGEW promotes inclusive forest regeneration and women’s livelihoods. As of October 2023, CAMGEW has planted 121,604 native trees to regenerate the forest, while empowering 3,000 women to benefit from non-timber forest products, particularly in the honey and medicinal plant value chains.
Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki speaking at the event ‘Funding Transformation: An Evening Celebrating Feminist Climate Solutions.’ Photo by Neha Gautam | Survival Media Agency.
The organization will use its Scale Fund grant to organize a networking and knowledge-sharing event on grassroots promotion of gender justice and conservation for 30 organizations across Cameroon, and produce a short documentary about the impacts of and lessons from their work.
Fondo Semillas is a women’s fund that mobilizes economic and strategic resources to strengthen the feminist movement in Mexico. The organization plans to work towards strengthening its work through a mapping of targeted donors, with a goal of having three new funding sources by the end of 2024.
Fondo Semillas Team. Photo by Fonda Semillas.
IDIWA’s mission is to empower women and girls with disabilities to maximize their potential and improve their standards of living.
“IDIWA visualizes an inclusive society in which women and girls with disabilities, and their families, are self-reliant, emancipated, and respected,” said Naigaga Damaliet, IDIWA Gender and Advocacy/Communications Officer. “The Gender Just Climate Solutions Scale Fund-supported project is titled ‘Promoting Gender Just Climate through using Storytelling.’ The scaling support from the GJCS Scale Fund will help to ensure increased participation and agency of women and girls with disabilities in natural resource management.”
Environmental defenders with the Kaliro District’s Natural Resource -Environmental Officer. Photo by IDIWA.
The Keiyo Women Trust (KWT) is an indigenous women-led organization that champions the rights of women and girls among indigenous communities by strengthening and supporting their capacity and agency to influence policies and decision-making processes, as well as addressing harmful cultural practices while promoting positive culture.
KWT will use its grant to advance outreach and advocacy efforts within its “Voices for Gender-Just Policies (VGJP) initiative — a program to drive gender-just policy change, including by organizing trips for community representatives to meet with policymakers.
KWT participants. Photo by KWT.
PSYDEH believes that grassroots, experiential education—that is equity-centered, rights-based, process-oriented, and relationship-driven—leads to empowered women and communities organizing for sustainable economic, social, and environmental impact. PSYDEH’s initiative serves women in isolated communities, ages 18-77, through skills-based workshops, mentorship, sustainable development projects, and an income-generating cooperative network.
“In the coming years, we aim to expand our network of women-led cooperatives and solar-based digital resource centers across Mexico and beyond,” said Katie Freund of PSYDEH. “The support of the GJCS Scale Fund will be instrumental in addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with this expansion. In particular, funding will go towards developing a strategic five-year plan and a strong internal financial system for tracking, reporting, and budgeting our funding as we grow.”
Members of PSYDEH in Mexico. Photo by PSYDEH.
Sindh Community Foundation (SCF), Pakistan
Sindh Community Foundation is working for the protection of labor rights and decent working conditions, while also addressing climate change impacts on the health of women cotton pickers. More than a million women cotton workers are involved in cotton picking in Sindh.
“SCF envisions 10,000 women cotton workers with decent working conditions, socio-economic and climate resilience in [the] next five years,” said Javed Hussain. “The scaling support from the Scale Fund will strengthen SCF’s fundraising efforts to seek more funding by developing a funding landscape analysis and reaching potential diversifying global, regional, and national partners, including donors, government, and corporate organizations. The resource mobilization efforts alongside the consultant hiring and promoting the organization’s viability and communication on various social media platforms and in-person meeting/avenues [will contribute to achieving our] vision for gender just climate solutions.”
Tulele Peisa organizes community-led, voluntary relocation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Carteret Islands. The organization engages with host communities on the ‘mainland’ island of Bougainville to ensure adequate land, infrastructure, and livelihoods opportunities are available for relocated people.
The organization plans to carry out a strategic planning workshop to guide Tulele Peisa’s next phase of relocation efforts.
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