Africa-EU Green Talks - Women’s Leadership for Climate Action: Unlocking the Power of Cross-Continental Collaboration

Africa carries little responsibility for climate change, but the continent is bearing much of the burden as it is afflicted by extreme climate events, from droughts and desertification to flooding and rising sea levels. African women are particularly hard hit, given their crucial role providing food and water for families and communities. However, an Africa-Europe Foundation debate Wednesday heard how women are increasingly taking a leadership role in the fight against climate change in Africa.

“Women are in a unique situation to be agents of change … Women are in a special position to carry out the changes our societies need,” (11:18) Madalena Carvalho Fischer, Director General for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, told the online exchange.

She emphasised the importance of Europe working with Africa to help women through sharing experience, technology and educational opportunities. “The key word is education,” Carvalho Fischer continued. “We really need to open new opportunities for this young generation of girls and women, so that they can really be the change-makers, so that they can really bring change to their communities and to their families.”(13:58)

Carvalho Fischer was one of several high-profile speakers from both Africa and Europe who addressed stakeholders from government, business, academia and civil society in the 90-minute discussion. The debate fits into a series of ‘Green talks’ in the lead up to the EU-Africa High Level Green Investment Forum to be held in Lisbon on 23 April 2021.

In partnership with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Africa Union Commission, the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Africa-Europe Energy Partnership, the talks are aimed sharing experiences, innovative approaches, and opportunities to mobilise capital and expertise to promote the Green Transition in Africa and in Europe.

Addressing Wednesday’s debate, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown and Member of the Africa Europe Foundation Women Leaders Network (WLN), had a stark message: as well as investments to hold back the advance of climate change, there’s an urgent need to focus on adapting to global warming’s ongoing impact on Africa.

“What we’re having to cope with, isn’t just climate change and wanting to stop that, clearly, but also recognising that climate change is here and whether it’s heavy rainfall, it’s flooding, coastal floods, these are things that are affecting our residents now,” (40:59) she said. “That conversation clearly needs to be had as well …  not just stopping climate change but dealing with what’s impacting us right now.”

From her experience running the capital of Sierra Leone, Aki-Sawyerr underscored the importance of working on a local scale with effective communications to show citizens the importance of climate action that can bring tangible improvements to their daily lives.

Madji Sock, Partner, Dalberg Advisors, cofounder of the Women’s Investment Club Senegal (WIC) and member of the Africa Europe Foundation Women Leaders Network (WLN), focused on entrepreneurial investment as a tool for empowering women and fighting climate change. She explained how WIC investments are helping women-led start-ups move up to the next level, giving as examples a Senegalese business that recycles tyres and a bakery using local grains.

“Women invest with more criteria in mind, beyond the financial ones, women will ask more questions … women also think about the sustainability of investments,” (1:06:06) she said. “We need to put more capital in the hands of women, so that climate considerations become a top criteria, if not the top criteria, in investment decisions.”

Turning to rural Africa, where women make up the majority of agricultural smallholders but often lack access to inputs like seeds and fertiliser, and face income gaps of over 60% compared to men doing similar work, Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, Director, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) argued for policies and investments that address both climate issues and gender inequalities.

“If you really want to address climate change in Africa, you really must effectively address the needs and priorities of African women … African women really are bearing the brunt of climate change on the continent, but most importantly they really are the face of the solution,” (16:34) Kamau-Rutenberg said. Care is needed to ensure African farming becomes part of the climate-change solution, rather than adding to the problem.

“Agricultural production is a big part of the way Africans are experiencing climate change because so much of our population is involved in agriculture,” she added. “If we are not careful, agricultural production in Africa could end up being a major contributor to greenhouse gases in a way that it is in many parts of the world.” (17:40)

In terms of the Europe-Africa relationship, a paradigm change is needed in development dynamics, argued Diane Binder, Founding Partner at Regenopolis, member of the Conseil Présidentiel Pour L’Afrique, and European Young Leader (EYL40). She called for a greater focus on locally created, women-led initiatives supported by the international community as partners in a way that builds on the ‘incredible spirit of innovation, of resilience, of entrepreneurship’ in Africa.

Change also needs to come at a broader level, she contended. “The current system of governing patriarchy has determined our way of thinking and acting for the past thousands of years, and now this system is cracking. People are waking up, people are conscious of the costs to our planet, they are aware of the sacrifices on our everyday life,” (30:24) Binder said. “Decisions have always been made by men in a business-as-usual approach … and we cannot afford business as usual any longer.” (31:34)

One clear example of where women’s voices need to be heard in the fight against climate change is clean cooking, argued Nadia Gullestrup Christen, Climate Activist and, Denmark’s Youth delegate to the UN for COP26. She pointed out that 2.6 billion people still don’t have access to clean cooking methods, many of them in Africa, and that as a result 2.5 million people die prematurely, mostly from inhaling cooking smoke.

“Global decision-makers have consistently failed to prioritize access to affordable clean cooking fuels and technologies,” (1:10:21) she said. “If women were included more in taking these decisions, I fundamentally believe problems like clean cooking would be addressed in a more efficient way, not because women are better at taking decisions than men, but because diverse groups of decision makers are better than non-diverse groups.”