Paris Agreement: Gender mainstreaming in NDC Enhancement in South Africa

Arising from the Paris Agreement and Katowice outcomes, Parties noted that gender responsive implementation and means of implementation of climate policy and action can enable Parties to raise Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) ambition and enhance gender equality. Under the Lima Work Programme, Parties have been requested to appoint a national gender and climate change focal point for climate negotiations, implementation and monitoring. UNDP’s Climate Promise supports more than 100 countries to enhance their NDCs under the Paris Agreement.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) has been appointed as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) focal point for South Africa. OneWorld provided support, funded by UNDP, to ensure gender equality aspects are factored into NDC processes.

This support was facilitated through five main services lines, namely: (i) reviewing, aligning and updating existing climate change targets, policies and measures to include gender considerations, (ii) building political will and ownership at national and subnational levels for gender-responsive climate action, (iii) assessing costs and investments opportunities for gender mainstreaming in NDCs, (iv) monitoring progress and strengthening capacity through training on sex-disaggregated indicators in key sector departments; and (v) engaging in communications and learnings through public awareness activities on gender and climate change.

This included the development of a Gender Action Plan for DFFE; targeted training for key departments on the developments of sector-specific gender action plans, and gender tracking and monitoring for climate change-related activities; undertaking outreach with vulnerable rural communities and developing a set of targeted gender and climate change awareness materials that can be used by DFFE going forward.