Dear Colleagues,
Addressing issues of climate change requires an intersectional approach that integrates the unique impact of climate stress on women and girls while placing them at the center of the conversation, ensuring that collaborative strategies can be developed to work alongside those most affected.
The situation has never been more dire. The second instalment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report released in March 2022 made it clear: climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health, and any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.
Thankfully women’s funds are consistently ranked in the top 10 climate funders in the world. Together through global networks, like WFN and Prospera, they are stepping up to resource critical climate work that centers those who are most affected: women and girls and gender expansive people.
For example, Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM), or The Central American Fund for Women, is the first and only feminist fund in Central America. Since 2003, they have been working for a Central America where girls, women, trans and non-binary people actively participate in the construction of favorable environments for their lives and their communities.
FCAM helped create the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), which connects the women’s rights and environmental and climate justice movements. Through the GAGGA network, more than 400 women-led community-based organizations across 30 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are supported to lead transformation action for gender, environmental, and climate justice.
FCAM is one of many feminist funders stepping up to address climate change in the here and now. My latest op-ed in Rachael Ray Magazine uplifts WFN members across the globe investing in women-led transformative climate solutions that center those most marginalized at the heart of climate solutions.
Read more: Want to Fight Climate Change? Support Women’s Foundations.
The impacts of our changing climate disproportionately hurt women and girls—but that’s exactly who’s stepping up to take action for our planet. Gender-just, inclusive and sustainable climate solutions already exist on the local level – it’s time to give them money.
In solidarity,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO