Gender and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming in ACT: an overview March 2019

Why is this important? Equity and rights Instrumental Compliance Everyone deserves to benefit from climate adaptation policy Instrumental Climate adaptation works better by bringing in a range of knowledge and practice Compliance Increasing obligations

The Challenge GESI mainstreaming in a policy-oriented programme is fundamentally different from working at ‘project’ or ‘community’ level Fewer tools and documented approaches Often involves combining GESI advocacy with climate advocacy Getting GESI into policy and planning rather than focus on project- level equity, access, and participation Challenging to monitor, measure, and attribute change: downstream or future beneficiaries not always visible or countable

How did we work? Understanding the political as well as social, economic, and climatic context ACT’s Location Team Leaders deeply embedded in these realities Local Gender Experts with strong contextual understanding implement locally Thinking and working politically: understanding how to navigate local political economies Supra-locational technical team provided high-level steering and ensured regional linkages and learning capture

What: Six Action Areas and selected examples Policy research and recommendations Research and policy development into climate-proofing agricultural value chains in Bihar and Maharashtra recognised the key roles of women in these livelihoods Climate integrated planning National and state-level action plans for climate change supported by ACT teams in Nepal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Odisha, incorporating GESI perspectives Decision support tools In Kerala and Odisha, heat island action planning incorporated a focus on women’s particular vulnerabilities

What: Six Action Areas and Selected Examples Training and capacity building GESI mainstreaming guides, toolkits, and training curricula have been produced in several ACT locations; trainings provided proactively targeted women Climate finance and budgeting In Chhattisgarh, ACT has supported development of a proposal for India’s National Adaptation Fund. Expected to reach more than 10,000 people, most of whom are marginal tribal farmers, fishermen, forest dwellers. Governance and institutional development The Assam Climate Change Management Society will be using an ACT-developed GESI Training Module for capacity building initiatives in the state. Climate change cells have been developed and supported by ACT in multiple programme locations.

Learning by doing: 8 key lessons Start early Choose the right fruit Negotiate different commitment levels Decompartmentalise GESI and climate adaptation Set up cross-platform learning and build the evidence base Embed change for multiplication and sustainability De-link GE and SI Tell the story differently

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