To commemorate the 2022 International Women’s Day which is celebrated under the theme, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, GWP -Central Africa spotlights three women who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all. We asked them about what inspired them as women, to join the fight against climate change in their different scope of work plus their contributions so far to climate adaptation. Here is what they had to say.

Following the Adaptation Fund’s approval in June 2021 of the pre-concept note for the “Integrated Water Resources Management and Early Warning System for climate resilience in the Lake Chad Basin” project, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), in collaboration with the GWP-Central Africa (GWP-CAf) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) organized a hybrid session of the first regional stakeholder consultation workshop in N’Djamena from February 21st – 22nd 2022.

Reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by 35% and reinforcing climate adaptation is a part of Cameroon’s main 2035 emergence agenda. The country’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP) which was adopted in 2015 is pivotal to the achievement of this objective and after the first five years of its implementation, an end-of-phase evaluation was carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) in collaboration with GWP-Cameroon.

The Chad Country Water Partnership (GWP-Tchad) becomes the 5th and final Country Water Partnership within the GWP- Central Africa Network to be accredited.

His name is Djibrilla MOHAMADOU, a Cameroonian who hails from the Northern part of the country.

The Presidential Decree N°2021/754 of 28th December 2021, makes Cameroon the 6th African country to adhere to the 1992 Helsinki Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.

The GCF 2021 Readiness Country Proposal for the Central African Republic has been approved by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with a grant of USD 443.130 awarded to the government to advance the country's programme by supporting the National Designated Authority (NDA) and country stakeholders in program development for climate finance.

The Cameroon Country Water Partnership (GWP-Cmr) organized a regional workshop in Douala from December 14th -15th, 2021 to mobilize partners at the national and transboundary level, notably the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) for the prevention of dental fluorosis in the Lake Chad Basin area.

Over twenty-one multi-stakeholders met in Yaoundé on December 10th, 2021, to analyze the end of phase implementation of Cameroon’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP) which ran from 2016-2020, to propose guidelines to be considered in the updated, gender transformative NAP.

Thirty members of women-led organizations in the Central African Republic have been trained on water security and management, gender, and climate resilience.