A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

The analysis reveals a significant gap between the mention of gender in African NDCs and the implementation of substantive gender-responsive actions. While 90% of assessed NDCs reference gender, only 23% include gender-responsive budgeting and 32% are informed by a gender analysis. The paper highlights that high levels of climate finance mobilisation in countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Egypt have not translated into gender-responsive budgeting. Furthermore, private climate finance remains heavily concentrated in the energy sector (74%), which typically has lower female participation compared to the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sector, which received only 7% of funding.

• The majority of assessed African NDCs show low gender inclusion, with 48% meeting two or fewer of the assessment criteria, while only 23% were ranked as high for gender inclusion.
• There is a stark contrast between the superficial mention of gender and the use of evidence-based gender analysis; 90% of NDCs mention gender-related terms, but only 32% performed a gender analysis to inform their plans.
• Gender-responsive budgeting is severely lacking in African NDCs, with only 23% of the 31 countries assessed including it in their mitigation and adaptation actions.
• High levels of climate finance mobilisation do not correlate with gender intentionality, as major recipients of climate funding—specifically Morocco, South Africa, and Egypt—do not prioritise gender-responsive budgeting.
• Private climate finance is heavily skewed toward the energy sector, which limits the impact on women who are more prevalent in low-growth sectors like agriculture.
• Gender integration in high-level regional commitments remains minimal, as evidenced by the African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, where gender equality is addressed in only two of 69 articles.

APA

Munjal, K., Ampulire, J., Kamau, J., & Khan, A. B. (2023). A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NDC-Gender-paper-30.11.23.pdf

Chicago

Munjal, Kevin, Janine Ampulire, Joan Kamau, and Arjmand Banu Khan. A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). FSD Africa, 2023. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NDC-Gender-paper-30.11.23.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Munjal |first1=Kevin |last2=Ampulire |first2=Janine |last3=Kamau |first3=Joan |last4=Khan |first4=Arjmand Banu |title=A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) |publisher=FSD Africa |date=November 2023 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NDC-Gender-paper-30.11.23.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{munjal2023rapid, author = {Munjal, Kevin and Ampulire, Janine and Kamau, Joan and Khan, Arjmand Banu}, title = {{A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NDC-Gender-paper-30.11.23.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }