Rosebell Barbara

Nairobi, Kenya | 9 October 2026- Climate finance must move beyond policy commitments to deliver measurable improvements in the lives of women and girls. This was a central message from Unlocking Climate Finance for Gender Equality, held 5 to 7 October 2026 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), which brought together climate finance institutions, policymakers, development partners, and civil society to examine pathways to gender-responsive climate action. The 2026 pre-COP31 convening, organized by UN Women, UNEP, the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), and other partners, explored access to international climate funds, private sector investment, domestic resource mobilization, and the implementation of gender-responsive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). For the African Center for Health, Climate and Gender Justice Alliance (ACHCGA), the discussions were timely, as they underscored a persistent gap between climate finance commitments and the realities facing women, girls and frontline communities. Speaking during the preliminary sessions, Imali Ngusale, Strategic Lead at ACHCGA, said, “Women and vulnerable girls remain underserved, and many cannot access climate finance, despite experiencing disproportionate climate-related risks.” Ngusale stressed that the Belém Gender Action Plan must be adequately financed to turn its commitments into action and deliver the UNFCCC gender-responsive indicators’ intended outcomes. “Without dedicated resources, measurable targets and accountability, gender equality risks remaining an aspiration rather than an outcome of climate policy”, added Ngusale while commenting on the intersections of violence against women and girls and climate change. The discussions also highlighted the intersectionality between climate change and gender-based violence, pegged to a 2026 report that underscored that climate disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, and extreme heat affected over 5,000 women and girls in Kenya, Bangladesh, Peru, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. Accordingly, Janet Odhiambo from Safe Online Women said, “Data on climate change and sexual and gender-based violence must not be ignored.” Odhiambo insisted that meaningful youth engagement is more than tokenism or listing young women and girls as statistics in publications. Her concerns not only mirrored a 2026 survey report on the status of girls and young women aged 15–24 in Kenya, Bangladesh, Peru, Senegal, and Zimbabwe, but also reflected the vulnerabilities African women and girls are exposed to. The findings from the 2026 Change Her Forecast report sharpen the urgency. Notably, one in 10 respondents had experienced an unintended pregnancy following a climate-related event, while 28% reported observing increased violence against women and girls after such events. These figures underscore why climate finance cannot be separated from sexual and reproductive health and rights, protection from gender-based violence, and the safety of women and girls. Women-led enterprises and grassroots activists at the Nairobi convening examined opportunities to mobilize funding through the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Climate Investment Funds and Global Environment Facility. However, access to international funds alone will not close the gap. Governments must therefore work collaboratively with domestic investors and mobilize domestic resources, strengthen gender-responsive budgeting, and ensure public and private investments address the interconnected impacts of climate change on women’s health, livelihoods, and security. As African countries advance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and prepare to implement the Belém Gender Action Plan, the central question is whether financing, measurable targets, and accountability will match these commitments. The Belém Gender Action Plan now faces a defining test, will governments and climate finance institutions fund the change they have promised, or will African women be left confronting the consequences of climate change while waiting for commitments to become reality?