Gender, climate change and sustainable development – November 2011

Making every voice count!

This  concept details GL’s  planned activities in the run up to, during and after the United Nations 17th Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 17) taking place in Durban from the 28th of November to the 9th of December 2011. Gender Links, (GL) and the African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWCFS) plan to train journalists from media houses in 18 Southern and East African countries to produce a series of gender aware articles on climates change, provide platforms for robust debates on gender and climate change as well as produce radio content on how communities are adapting to climate change pressures.

This project complements the Centres of Excellence for Gender in the Media project that aims to work with 100 media houses on gender mainstreaming package between 2011 and 2014. This will also provide a springboard for a civil society campaign for an Addendum to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development on Gender, Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Activists argue that whilst climate change can be read into the existing articles in the SADC Gender Protocol, it is far too important to be left to chance. Gender Ministers in the SADC region are already taking a stand on this issue. This project therefore provides an important building block for further lobbying and advocacy.