The coalition, under the auspices of the Development Research and Projects Centre, expressed concern about the need for clear monitoring and evaluation performance indicators for line Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, and high-level government stewardship around the intersectionality of climate action and the health, agriculture, resilient food systems, education, and security sectors.
In a statement signed by the coalition’s coordinator, Mrs. Ruth Agbor, who is also the President of the Association of Women in Agriculture and Trades, it commended the government for recognising the severe and disproportionate impacts of climate change on women’s health, their well-being, and livelihoods.
It also commended the government for signing the Declarations at the recently concluded COP28 Dubai.
The women’s economic empowerment coalition noted that the COP28 declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action, as well as the COP28 declaration on climate and health.
“Women’s civil society organisations are ready to play a vital role, contributing to the realisation of government’s COP 28 commitments at all levels. Women’s groups are prepared to share lived experiences about the impact of the climate crisis.
“They are indispensable to processes of formulation, implementation, and evaluation of climate action policies and projects in key sectors such as health and agriculture. We are therefore calling on the Nigerian government and particularly the National Council on Climate Change to actively engage and collaborate with women’s CSOs in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of climate action policies, programmes, and projects,” the statement noted.
The group also urged Nigerians to join hands with the government to ensure that the policy and political value accrued from the just concluded COP28 is utilised to effectively increase the capacity of Nigerians, especially the more vulnerable, women and girls, to adapt to the climate crisis which is now upon humanity affecting livelihood, health, and survival.
