UNU-GEST Short Course: Gender and Climate Change in Uganda

Last week, UNU-GEST in partnership with the Ugandan Government; Climate Change Department and Makarere University with the support of the Icelandic Foreign Ministry, conducted short training course of Gender and Climate Change  in Mbale town, Uganda. The training was attended by 30 specialists from Karamoja region, Bududa and Mbale representing different sectors within district local governments, and representatives of CSOs. The training was led by the Course Development Team which consisted of Beatrice Mukasa from Makarere University, Lawrence Aribo and Bob Natifu from Uganda Meteorology Authority and Uganda Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Water and Environment and Maria Nandago, UNU-GEST coordinator.

The short training course of Gender and Climate Change builds on the curriculum and training initiated, developed and piloted in partnership with the UNU-GEST Programme at the University of Iceland, and the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University in Kampala. This effort was part of a larger umbrella partnership between the Government of Uganda (GoU), the Ministry for Water and Environment (Climate Change Unit) and the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development in Uganda, and the three Nordic development partners in Uganda; Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

The short course is designed to bridge the gap between the acknowledgement that climate change has gender specific-effects and impacts and the importance of adopting a gender approach to finding solutions to the causes and effects of climate change. The main intention of the short course, therefore, is to provide a comprehensive link between gender and climate change and to advance gender-responsive policy and practice when addressing the challenges of climate change. An external evaluation conducted in 2013 deemed this short course highly successful, with positive impact beyond the planned outcomes, recommending that development partners should further explore initiatives related to the short course, both within and outside of Uganda. 

This year, in partnership with the Government of Uganda, the Climate Change Unit and Makarere University, and with the financial support of the Icelandic Equality fund and the Government of Iceland, the CDT team has updated the curriculum, and aims at implementing two training courses during the next few months, having completed the first one successfully last week.