Remarks by
Ragne Birte Lund
Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh
At the launch of the “Reducing Vulnerabilty of Women Affected by climate change
through livelihood options”
19 July 2012.
State Minister for Women and Children, Dr Sirin Chaudhury, Mr Mesbah ul Alam ,
Secretary Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ms Naheen Ahmed, National
programme Manager and representatives of UN Women, Dr Atiq Rahman and
representatives of BCAS and Mr. Rezaul Kabir and representatives of BRAC and last
but not least the representatives from Shariatpur and Sunamganj Upazillas
Strong voices at the recent Rio +20 reaffirmed the crucial linkage between the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and sustainable
development and called for firmer action. No doubt this also brings all the partners in
this room together.
The rights, participation and influence of women are long established core elemets of
Norwegian foreign and development cooperation policies.
Gender equality and empowerment of women are preconditions for sustainable
development and is at the heart of our policy making. We are working with all our
cooperation partners whether governments, the UN system and other international
organisations or NGOs towards full integration of gender equality and empowerment
of women, and in any new development framework especially to include gender
sensitive targets and indicators.
Promoting women’s participation and gender equality is a priority area for Norway
also in Bangladesh. We highly appreicate the State Minister’s efforts to promote
gender equality and to strengthen the rights of women based on the UN Convention
on the Elimination of Deiscrimination agains Women, CEDAW.
Another priority support from Norway is through the Comprehensive Disaster
Management Program (CDMP Phase II, 2010-2014), which is the 2nd pilar of the
Bangladesh Government’s Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan (BCCSAP). The
programme is enhancing the Government’s capacity to address Disaster Risk
Reduction and Adaptation efforts and has a strong focus on women and children and
on building capacity at the local level disaster and climate risk reduction. Norwegian
institutions are furthermore partners with Bangladeshi institutions in these areas.
We fully support the UNDAF pilars both on gender equality and women’s
advancement and on Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction and
Response. The project being launched today brings these pilars together.
Two white papers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Norwegian Development
Policy adapting to Change and on Sustainable Develoment and Environment
endorsed by the Norwegian Parliament furthermore underline the need to address
climate change and integrate women’s rights and gender issues into climate change
responses. The message has been clear for Norway to actively promote the gender
dimension. Gender is recognized as a critical factor in order to understand
vulnerability to climate change as girls and women in many places are particularly
hard hit by environmental degradation, natural disasters and climate change. The
need to utilise their knowledge and competence to empower communities in climate
adaptation is especially acknowledged.
This is also strongly pointed out in World Bank’s Study Summary Report (March
2012, No. P125705) on Gender and Climate Change that despite women’s critical role
as users and managers of natural resources, they are largely absent from critical
decisions and not able to influence adaptation programs.
While significant progress has been made over the last decades in Bangladesh,
women are still among the poorest with limited mobility or access to resources,
information and formal instituions. Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the effects
of cyclones and flooding that are expected to rise with climate change. I have visited
local communities in Bangladesh who have been struck by immense disasters and
who are seeking new ways of fighting climate change. I have listened to stories told
by women and I have seen their work. We have a lot to learn from them yet there is
scope to do much more.
In this respect, the Norwegian Embassy is happy to collaborate with UN Women in
supporting the project “Reducing Vulnerabilty of Women Affected by climate
change through livelihood options” .
Thanks to the Norwegian Government’s additional funding for projects aiming at
better knowledge and effective responses when it comes to gender the Norwegian
Embassy is able to fund this project (18 million NOK , more than 3 mill USD).
The project goal is to enhance women's knowledge and expertise by providing skill
development training on pre- and post-disasters management. It will provide
livelihood opportunities for women at both family and community level. Alternative
livelihood options regarding climate change will be explored and introduced in the
project areas to empower local women and thereby the communities.
Furthermore, the project is expected to provide inputs through a gender specific
broad analysis to learn specific risks, vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity in different
hazard prone areas in Bangladesh and how the vulnerable households of coastal,
flood, and drought prone areas of Bangladesh will be more prepared to adapt and
act for mitigating the impacts of climate change.
It aims, therefore, to support the policy makers engender the Bangladesh's climate
change programme and strengthen the Government’s endeavours as stated by the
Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. It will inform also Norwegian
policies and practices and hopefully joint efforts of development partners to make
women change agents to influence policies on climate change adaptation and
mitigation measures for taking on viable livelihood alternatives.
The Embassy would last but not least like to welcome on board the two coimplementing partners, BRAC and BCAS (Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies)
who bring complementary value to the work. Their contribution in the prepartory
phase is greatly appreciated. Together with BCAS and BRAC, the UN Women in
cooperation with the Minstry of Environment and Forest is expected to breake new
ground and to contribute to filling a knowledge gap not only in Bangladesh but also
relevant for vulnerable communiteis in other countries that will involve local people
and ensure local women’s participation for continued sustainability.
As ambassador I am eager that the project now gets started and to follow the
progress, to visit in the field and to see how you from the local communities are
involved. I am hopeful that this work will contribute to transforming local knowledge
into global knowledge. Bangladesh has a lot to contribute internationally.
Thank you.