Advancing Equitable Climate Change Adaptation and
Mitigation
Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program
(CCAFS) Gender Training and Strategizing Workshop
October 22nd -25th 2013
 To explore the what, why and how of developing
and/or strengthening organizational gender research
strategies that support gender transformative
approaches to tackling gender, climate change and
food insecurity.
Increased knowledge and understanding of:
 Key gender transformative concepts and approaches;
 What are the key elements to developing an effective,
transformative organizational gender research
strategy in climate change adaptation and mitigation; and
 How to facilitate and implement a process around
building and implementing such a strategy that
focuses on changing and challenging inequalities in
organizations and in research programming and its
impacts on supporting more equitable climate change
adaptation and mitigation.
 An institutional commitment, master plan and road
map for an organization and its staff and partners to
mandate & articulate a commitment and define the what,
why and how it will address gender and other social
inequalities as central to or integrated into achieving its
mission and vision;
 Should have internal operational and research program
dimensions;
 May be integrated into a broader organizational gender
research strategy or policy or may be stand alone. In either
case it must be clearly linked to the organization's raisond’être.
 Should be an organisational and research program
change process
 Such strategies are typically about how an organization
will ensure gender mainstreaming – making gender
issues central to all internal and program work from
planning, implementing to M&E, learning and impact.
 Why GM; despite 15 years of unexpected results, GM
still has the most transformative potential to address
deeply rooted gender inequalities.
 Vision statement or goal
and CC expertise worked in together.
 Approach (I.e. gender transformative)
 Justification
 M&E and learning system
 Objectives, strategies, activities and
expected results with internal and
research programming dimensions
 A conceptual framework or theory of
change (optional)
 Guiding principles (optional)
 Detailed breakdown of approach and
activities for internal and research
program dimensions
 Partnerships
 Roles and responsibilities –i.e Gender
 Communications strategy (optional)
 Action Plan and gender targets and
indicators of success for tracking
progress – should be SMART
 Budget
 Annexes with suggested research tools
(optional)
 Introduction
o Vision statement – should be linked directly and be central
to the organizational mission and vision
o Justification and rationale – why gender is important to
climate change, agriculture and food security agendas (I.e.
CCAFS Gender Strategy, pp. 4-7 and see Box 1).
o Goal (=vision) and objectives (best to have internal and
research program dimensions) (E.g. CGIAR gender strategy)
 Approach: E.g. Gender and Development, gender
mainstreaming or a gender and sustainable livelihoods
approach. Typically, it is about gender mainstreaming. In
this case, it is best to be twin-tracked and gender sensitive
to gender transformative.
Ex: World Fish gender strategy articulates from the
beginning commitment to a twin-track gender
transformative and innovative approach.
 Goal, Objectives, Interventions and Expected
Results – An overview of the whole change process
the strategy is supporting.
For example: CCAFS Gender Strategy Impact Pathways
Or
 Objectives and key research questions; i.e. in
World Fish’s gender transformative research strategy it
has objectives and research questions to guide gender
related research. Its Impact Pathways (=results
framework) is described in its M&E.
 Partnership strategy – with whom you will work to
achieve the goal and objectives and how you will work
together (See CCFAS GS Outcomes Pathway)
 Approach, methods and activities generally and then
for each objective or research theme– Examples of
approaches may be gender mainstreaming for gender
equality and women’s empowerment or gender analysis. For
example, CCFAS gender strategy proposes gender analysis
as the approach using a range of methods and tools such as
gender research to answer specific questions related to
gender inequality in the face of CC adaptation and
mitigation.
 Activities should consist of concrete interventions in
existing organizational and programming arrangements to
ensure internal gender capacity, skills, commitment and
systems and gender sensitive or gender specific and
transformative research projects and programming
 Ex: CCAFS refers to gender analysis, gender research ,
gender in the research cycle and specific “Theme-based
research activities for integrating gender (See pages 15-22)
 Roles and responsibilities – important to have clearly
outlined roles and responsibilities for all levels of the
organization from junior to senior levels to ensure
accountability for planning, implementing, M&E and
human and financial resource allocation .
 M&E and learning system – consists of the proposed
M&E system to track progress on meeting gender strategy
goal and objectives. It should outline how progress towards
meeting expected results will be measured such as
through quantitative and qualitative gender sensitive
indicators.
 Use of a theory of change or a results framework or what
CGIAR uses, a impact pathways diagram is important to
have a logical link between the pathway among objectives,
activities, time, indicators of success and means of
verification.
Action Plan and gender targets and
indicators of success for tracking progress with
means of verification; budget and human
resource allocation
Budget - allocation of appropriate human and
financial resources to support achievement of
the gender strategy objectives
 Approach – gender aware to transformative
 Communications strategy – best practice emphasizes the
need to have a strong communication strategy in place to
ensure gender remains front and centre and learning and
documentation is brought back into organizational gender
practice and into research programming and impact. Such
a strategy helps keep senior management, staff and
partners excited and clear on what gender sensitive or
specific research is about and why.
 Conceptual frameworks for measuring change = theory of
change
 Example: CARE’s Women’s Empowerment Framework
to Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
 What strikes you as the most important element(s) for
a strategy to have meaning in your organization?
 What strikes you as less important?
 Is there any thing missing?
 Other questions or concerns?
Preparing for your strategy development or
review of it
One example:
In a high mountain community in Tajikistan, food security was an
increasing challenge due to shifting seasons that were negatively
impacting women’s kitchen gardens. In dialogue with local men and
women, an INGO helped design a simple technology to adapt to the
changes.
Cold frames (small, greenhouses) were constructed to start vegetable
seedlings earlier in the spring and extend the growing season into the
fall. Project research found that there was increased household
production, crop diversity and nutrition. The project also worked with
women to promote food preservation so that surpluses could be safely
stored for consumption during the winter.
 Commitment - at




institutional and staff levels 
Leadership on gender
Policies – is there a gender 
policy? Is there for gender
and CC?
Systems – i.e. for learning 
Staff capacity – skills and 
knowledge. Is there needed
gender/CC expertise and
accountability structures?
Gender/CC training and
tools
Gender and recruitment –
is there gender balance in
staffing at all levels?
Communications
Practice – what actual
happens in practice?
 Gender analysis of local, national and international context in
which concerned research project/program is targeting. Is the
analysis a gender and CC lens? Is gender analysis applied for all
research projects and or programs?
 Gender integration into the research program cycle - To
what extent in planning, design, implementation, M&E and
learning?
 Gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation – is gender
disaggregated data collected and used to inform research? Does
research contribute to changes in women and girls’
empowerment and or to addressing gender and CC adaptive
capacity differences and inequalities for gender equality and
improved CC adaptation and mitigation? Are best practices
considered?
 Gender integration into the
issues into its research work?
research program cycle
 To what extent is it integrated?
 Is gender integration
mandated by your
organization for all research
projects and programs?
 Are gender equality and CC
goals and objectives
included in program planning
and design?
 Are women and men
consulted equally using
participatory methods from
program design to M&E?
 Does your organization use
best practices for
integrating gender and CC
 Does your research
programs/projects address
gender disadvantages, roles
and responsibilities and in
terms of the different social
relations women and men
have?
 Does your research change or
challenge unequal gender
norms and practices
influencing CC adaptation and
mitigation?
 Do they address the most
vulnerable and disadvantaged
needs and interests?
 Gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation
 Is gender disaggregated data collected?
 Is the gender disaggregated data used to improve and
adjust research programming?
 Does your organization's research contribute to women
and girls’ empowerment?
 Does it contribute to changing or challenging unequal
gender and unequal social relations for more equitable
CC adaptation and mitigation?
For example – understanding gender differences in what
kinds of climate-smart technologies would be best suited
for women and or men and contribute to gender equality
and CC agendas.
 Gender Audits – Examples are: InterAction’s Gender
Audit & ILO Participatory Gender Audit
 Gender and diversity assessments – less easy to find but
can use various tools together.
 Lighter gender assessment tools – SWOT analysis or light
gender audit from InterAction’s Gender Audit.
 Consider combining CC/environmental assessment tools
with gender specific questions adapted/adapted from
gender audit tools.
What are the lessons learned to draw from?
Step 1: Preparation phase
 First you need to know if your organization is ready for it.
Carrying out a light gender scan of where your
organization is at in advancing a gender and climate
change agenda is a good practice.
You may have to first ensure some human and financial
resources are available or that your leadership is
committed to making gender and CC a strategic priority.
 Gain buy in and leadership from senior
management to lead the strategy development and or
review.
 Leadership should clearly communicate to all staff that
this strategy is a priority.
 Set up or strengthen cross-organizational gender
and CC working group with senior management
representation (bring together the gender and CC
experts) to lead on the process
 As much as possible, create open “thinking outside
the box” facilitated discussions among all staff and
in smaller teams on what gender and CC means in
internal operations and in research programming. This
builds political will, ownership, accountability and
staff enthusiasm and skill in gender and CC.
 Consult with your allies inside and outside the
organization to understand where your organization is
in the gender mainstreaming process and in its
commitment to gender and CC.
 Consider conducting a gender and or gender and
diversity audit with CC issues integrated into
assessment questions. The audit provides the
roadmap for developing a strategy.
 The process itself of developing a strategy is as much
an opportunity to build staff knowledge, skill and
know-how on gender and CC as the final document.
•Step 2: Design and develop strategy
•Use audit results and recommendations
•Work with cross-organizational gender and CC
working group to review audit results and priorities of
organization
•Senior leadership should clearly communicate
importance of strategy development or review and that
all staff must give time to the process
•Conduct a consultative process with all staff to design
the strategy
 Consider hiring an external gender and CC
expert as facilitator and coach but working
closely with the gender and CC working group
 Review best practices and most appropriate
approaches, tools and methodologies. Consult
with different members of your research teams
and organization.
 Conduct a validation workshop for all staff and
partners to review the strategy document and
action plan on priorities with time frame, roles
and responsibilities and gender targets and
means of verification
 Senior management endorses it and communicates its
importance
Step 3: Follow up
 Regular M and E and learning
 Gender reviews every 2-3 years
 Need to create learning spaces for staff at all levels to
build ownership and to understand for themselves
their commitment to gender and CC;
 Cross-organizational group with senior management
representation should be in place from the preparation
phase
 Design a strategy that is integrated into everyday work
and bigger events
 Process means everything – it is about facilitating an
organizational, staff and personal change process
 Take a twin-track gender mainstreaming approach; if possible
consider making it a transformative agenda. (I.e. World Fish)
 Bring in strong external facilitator to lead discussions and
influence thinking and drawing from internal experts and gender
champions, esp. from leadership
 The strategy should be informed by what is working and not
working in your organization’s work on gender and climate
change
 Create a participatory consultative process to engage staff,
research subjects, partners and other external allies in defining
the key issues
 Build strategy based on what has worked and be innovative;
think outside the box
 “You are writing a terms of reference (TOR)
to present to your senior management for
designing your organizational gender
research strategy or a review of it, what do
you think are the most critical steps and
criteria for the success of the process from
the beginning to the follow-up stage?”
 Briefly discuss where your organization is at in gender
mainstreaming gender and CC into its work? Try to
bring together some key points based on a mix of your
various organizations (10 min)
 What are the critical steps you will take from the
preparation phase to follow up? (10 min)
 What will be your main approaches and research
methods? (i.e. gender mainstreaming, gender analysis
etc.)? (15 min)
 What will be the key elements in your strategy? (20
min)