AfriLabs Webinar Recap: Women as Leaders in Climate Adaptation: Empowering Change

AfriLabs Webinar Recap: Women as Leaders in Climate Adaptation: Empowering Change In an engaging and impactful session held 5th December 2024, AfriLabs hosted a webinar highlighting the critical role of women as leaders in climate adaptation. The webinar served as a convergence point for a diverse panel of experts, women leaders, and innovators across diverse sectors to discuss solutions, challenges, and opportunities for empowering women to lead in the climate adaptation space. Opening Remarks: Highlighting the Impact of Women-Led Climate Action Representatives from the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Climate Investment Funds (CIF)—the funders of the Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge— provided insightful opening remarks. Gloria Gowal-Abiri from GCA emphasized their commitment to empowering African youth through initiatives like the YouthADAPT Challenge, highlighting “GCAs commitment to empowering the next generation of African youth through the youth pillar of the African Adaptation Acceleration Program” which enhances capacity through investor- readiness programs while fostering sustainable solutions. She highlighted how the program breaks barriers for women in climate adaptation by ensuring a 50% gender mainstreaming in the program, and over 60% of the enterprises supported are women. Moving forward the program will link enterprises to private sector financing to further scale their businesses. Joash Moitui of AfDB called for inclusive approaches to climate action, particularly by empowering women. Joash stated “the fight against climate change requires inclusive and innovative approaches that harness the potential of all, particularly women who are most impacted by climate change”. He noted that 3rd cohort of the YouthADAPT- supported entrepreneurs are all women, leading innovations in AI, IoT, and blockchain to tackle adaptation challenges. Emmanuel Kouadio from CIF stressed the importance of gender-responsive strategies, noting that women are both disproportionately affected by, and integral to climate resilience. He advocated for increased investment in gender-sensitive programs, citing CIF’s Gender Action Plan and its support of over 55 million people globally—51% of whom are women. He further expressed, “at the CIF, we firmly believe empowering women in climate adaptation is not just a moral imperative, it is also a social strategy for achieving resilience system development as women are the most hit by the effects of climate change.” Keynote: Women’s Role in Driving Climate Adaptation Olola Vieyra, Country Representative for Côte d’Ivoire at the Global Green Growth Institute, highlighted the unique vulnerabilities and strengths of women in addressing climate change. She called for gender-responsive policies, capacity building, and innovative financing tools, such as green bonds, to scale women’s participation in climate action. She showcased programs in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Uganda that empowered women through green jobs, solar energy, and leadership initiatives. Panel Discussions: Women as Drivers of Change The panel featured experts from various fields: Dr. Esther Onyango stressed education as the foundation for equitable climate solutions saying, “If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.” She emphasized building women’s agency to advocate for equitable and just climate solutions. She also called for strategies to integrate gender dimensions into national climate action plans, including policies like Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and called for integrating gender dimensions into national climate policies. Mandy Jayakody highlighted innovative financing models like South Africa’s Green Outcomes Fund that lower barriers for women entrepreneurs. Shahira Yousef addressed the underrepresentation of women in STEM and advocated for mentorship and financial access to scale their innovations. Nonhlanhla Cynthia Mhlongo showcased her biodegradable hand glove sanitizer, a practical, eco-friendly solution to plastic pollution and an example of women’s ingenuity. Celebrating Women Innovators The webinar also highlighted groundbreaking innovations led by women from the YouthADAPT cohorts. Gislaine Matiedje Nkenmayi (Cameroon) reduces post-harvest losses by valorizing indigenous vegetables, supporting smallholder women farmers. Dr. Rebecca Andeshi (Nigeria) pioneers circular agro-solutions and IoT research for sustainable livestock waste management. Lucy Wangari (Kenya) utilizes IoT and AI to optimize onion farming, improving productivity and empowering farmers with market opportunities. These women exemplify how women-led enterprises address environmental challenges, create jobs, and promote economic growth. Addressing Barriers and Unlocking Potential Panellists identified systemic challenges hindering women’s leadership in climate adaptation, including limited access to resources, underrepresentation in policy-making, and societal biases. Overcoming these barriers requires collaborative efforts to equip women with education, mentorship, and access to resources. AfriLabs’ Commitment AfriLabs continues to champion women in climate action through initiatives like: RevUp Women Initiative: Supporting over 500 women-led businesses with training, mentorship, and peer learning. Greenovations Program: Amplifying women-led solutions in renewable energy, waste management, and climate-smart agriculture. As AfriLabs Programmes Manager Oluwatoyin Oyeniyi summarized, “Women are at the core of shaping a sustainable future. Their resilience and creativity are a testament to the untapped potential that can drive transformative climate solutions across Africa.” Looking Ahead This webinar celebrated the invaluable contributions of women to climate adaptation while calling for continued efforts to break barriers and integrate gender perspectives into climate strategies. By empowering women, entire communities can thrive in the face of climate challenges. AfriLabs remains committed to fostering women-led innovation ecosystems and amplifying the voices of women leaders in climate action.  

African Youth Adaptation competition launches call for applications

Young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 are invited to submit their business plan through the official submission portal. Twenty winners will each be awarded $100,000 and will receive capacity-building training, mentorship and coaching. Abidjan, 14 September 2022 – The Global Center on Adaptation, African Development Bank and Climate Investment Funds have launched a call for applications for the second edition of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions (YouthADAPT) Challenge. YouthADAPT is an annual competition that invites young entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium enterprises in Africa to submit innovative solutions and business ideas that have the potential to drive climate change adaptation and resilience across the continent. The commercially viable business or product must not be in widespread use. The 20 winners will each be awarded $100,000 and will receive training, mentorship and coaching to support their climate change adaptation innovation in their communities and across Africa. The objective of the competition is in line with one of the pillars of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). AAAP is a strategic partnership between the Global Center on Adaptation and the African Development Bank. It aims to address the triple impacts of Covid-19, climate change and the economy. Applicants must be 18 to 35 years old. Their venture must be youth-led and deliver solutions that address a real-life challenge. They must be registered and operating in Africa, and able to show revenues for at least two years. 50% of the finalists will be women-owned or women-led enterprises. Apply by visiting the application portal. The closing date for applications is 4th October 2022.     About the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector. Founded in 2018, GCA operates from its headquarters in the largest floating office in the world, located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China.  For more information please go to www.gca.org   About African Development Bank  The overarching objective of the African Development Bank Group is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries, thus contributing to poverty reduction. The Bank Group achieves this objective by mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in regional member countries and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts. In 2015, all multilateral development institutions agreed on the same set of objectives, the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more: https://www.afdb.org/    About Climate Investment Funds (CIF) CIF is one of the world’s largest and most ambitious multilateral climate finance mechanisms for developing countries seeking to shift to low carbon and climate resilient development and accelerate climate action. Its launch in 2008 emerged from recognition by world leaders that climate change and development are inextricably intertwined and that climate-smart investment is needed at scale to deliver on the opportunities for green growth identified in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Learn more: https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/  Global Center on Adaptation Alexandra Gee Head of Communications Alex.gee@gca.org    African Development Bank (AfDB) Amba Mpoke-Bigg Communications and External Relations  African Development Bank  a.mpoke-bigg@afdb.org   AfriLabs Joshua Omena .A. Ecosystem Creative Media Manager joshua@afrilabs.com