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Workshop on incorporation of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion across the outcomes and outputs of the GCF NAP Project on Building Flood Resilience Capacities in Rwanda

27th Oct 2020 , GGGI as the delivery partner and Rwanda Environment management Authority (REMA) as the National Designated Authority for Green Climate Finance (GCF) in Rwanda , collaborated in organizing the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Workshop for the GCF National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Readiness and Preparatory Support for Building Flood Resilience Capacities in Rwanda. The workshop took place at the ONOMO Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda with participants from MININFRA, MINALOC, REMA, RWB, Meteo Rwanda, GMO, FONERWA, RLMUA, City of Kigali, Rwanda Women Network, IDEA Rwanda, Rwanda Young Water Professionals, HoReCo, The Green Fighter, NPD Ltd.

The GCF NAP Readiness aims to build flood resilience capacities in Rwanda in line with governmental policies, strategies and priorities, and enhance Rwanda’s capacity to respond to climate change in high risk zones by implementing a National Adaptation Plan for integrated flood and landslide management in urban areas. A critical component of this NAP is carrying out a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) assessment to inform the development of an action plan to effectively mainstream GESI into the project’s outcomes and outputs. The analysis involves a review of strategic documents underpinning GESI integration, a close collaboration with public, private and civil society institutions related to the project’s areas of focus as well as consultations with members of the communities living in the catchment areas of the project.


During his opening remarks Deputy Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority , Mr Faustin Munyazikwiye welcomed all the participants and acknowledged GGGI for their role and support in the GCF NAP project and explained that ‘the workshop is intended to stimulate open and participatory discussion and debate about how gender equality and social inclusion can become intrinsic to building urban resilience.”

He provided background context and outlined that as a critical component of achieving the GCF NAP Outcome 1 (capacity and coordination strengthened for main institutions to effectively mitigate floods and prevent landslides), the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) assessment will be carried out and an action plan developed to better incorporate gender-based vulnerabilities of climate risks, especially flood and landslides. This will focus on women’s needs and positive contributions to adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management in an endeavor to guide gender mainstreaming and social inclusion throughout the project.

The GESI workshop had specific objectives set out that include:
a collaborative review of the strategic documents underpinning GESI integration;
• an introduction of the methodology for GESI mainstreaming across the projects outcomes and outputs;
• stakeholder engagement to elaborate preliminary observations for consideration during the assessment and elaboration of the action plan.
This will introduce a focus on the selected sites with a preliminary highlight of the constraints and opportunities for GESI mainstreaming.


GGGI Rwanda Lead Programme Cordinator, Mr. Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya presented further context to the workshop discussion stating that “the GCF NAP aims at strengthening the coordination of actors and GESI is one of the principal areas of focus. GESI considerations go beyond the number of women served, included or consulted”.

He added that this process will involve clarifying the institutional capacity and existing structures supporting GESI with the consolidation and assessment of disaggregated data also informing this process. It will provide targeted interventions extending opportunities to both women and men equally and not purely defined by their gender roles. Citizen participation is at the core of the project activities in terms of site contexts i.e. the approaches to adaptation to flood as observed during the site visits-channels for water flow, sandbags for water buffering, tree and bush planting etc. Long-term resilience must be founded on community based strategies. These will ensure the success of governmental and private sector efforts.

It was mentioned that climate change and related disasters affect men and women differently resulting in a varying range of vulnerabilities in the aftermath of flooding. It is therefore crucial to identify and prioritize the vulnerable and marginalized. Pre-existing inequalities and risks may be further exacerbated by the impacts of flooding and landslides. Resilience building initiatives need to be tailored to the context in which these women and men live in. Without GESI considerations, the interventions would not respond properly to the needs or, worse, reinforce inequalities.


Liliane Uwanziga Mupende the GGGI GCF NAP Project Coordinator gave an overview of the GCF NAP Readiness and Preparatory Support for Building Flood Resilience Capacities in Rwanda and elaborated that subsequent to the official launch of the Project and 1st Project Steering Committee Meeting which took place on 18th June 2020, several activities have concurrently commenced.
She indicated that such activities included the elaboration of the scope of the technical studies which involved site visits to the selected sites; capacity needs assessment; mapping and elaboration of stakeholder engagement strategies for the development of the concept notes as well as the Gender assessment.


Mr François Xavier Tetero Green City Development Expert-GGGI GCF NAP elaborated the constraints and opportunities presented by each of the selected sites with a focus on infrastructural as well as Nature Based Solutions that could be applied for flood and landslides management.


Ms Roberte Isimbi the Gender Expert-GGGI GCF NAP started her presentation by introducing GESI in the framework of NAP and the methodology for its mainstreaming. She went through the current situation and capacity for GESI mainstreaming and then described preliminary observations for consideration during the assessment and elaboration of the action plan. Through an interactive session, she obtained insight on stakeholders’ institutional efforts towards GESI mainstreaming in their respective sectors.

The workshop forms part of a series of workshops with selected delegates from stakeholder institutions targeted at capturing information as well as capacity enhancement of participants. Alongside the review of existing documents, a self-administered open-ended questionnaire will be completed by identified staff of relevant stakeholder institutions and one-on-one interactions held with representatives of selected institutions.