MAKING AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

The report analyzes the intersection of climate-resilient infrastructure and gender disparities in 19 African countries. It identifies how climate change disproportionately affects women—increasing labor burdens for food, water, and energy—and how inadequate infrastructure exacerbates these vulnerabilities. The document provides detailed socioeconomic profiles for several countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria, highlighting gaps in education, financial inclusion, and political representation. To mitigate these risks, the ICRF proposes a three-component strategy involving blended finance, capacity building, and policy interventions, with specific entry points for gender mainstreaming such as prioritizing women-led companies in procurement and collecting sex-disaggregated data.

• Climate change disproportionately increases the labor burden on women in Africa, specifically regarding the provision of food, water, and energy at the household level, which limits their time for economic and social activities.
• Women and girls are significantly more vulnerable to fatal impacts during natural disasters than men, with some data suggesting they are 14 times more likely to die.
• The Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF) is designed to provide concessional equity and parametric insurance to finance climate-resilient infrastructure in 19 African countries, focusing on transport, energy, economic zones, and telecommunications.
• In Benin, there is a significant gender gap in education and employment; 59.4% of women have no formal education, and women are more vulnerable in employment (91.1%) compared to men (71.9%).
• In Cameroon, rural women face severe challenges in marketing agricultural produce due to a lack of resilient roads, often forcing them to carry crops over long distances, which leads to heavy post-harvest losses.
• Chad exhibits extreme gender inequality, ranking 160th out of 162 on the Gender Inequality Index in 2019, with very low primary school completion rates for girls in several provinces.
• In Nigeria, the energy sector is characterized by a heavy dependence on traditional biomass (85% of people), which disproportionately harms women who must travel long distances to collect firewood.
• Rwanda leads the world in women's parliamentary representation, with women holding more than 61% of seats in the Chamber of Deputies as of 2019.
• In Sierra Leone, gender-based violence is a critical issue, with 62% of women aged 15-49 reporting physical or sexual/emotional violence according to 2019 data.
• Togo's energy access shows a stark urban-rural divide, with 87% access in urban areas compared to only 7% in rural areas.
• Zambia has implemented a 30% gender equality rule for elected and appointed positions via its 2016 Constitution, though women's parliamentary representation remained at 14.9%.
• The ICRF's gender mainstreaming strategy includes prioritizing women-qualified consultants, supporting women-led companies in procurement, and integrating gender-sensitive approaches into baseline surveys.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2023). MAKING AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp205-gender-accessment.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. MAKING AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE. 2023. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp205-gender-accessment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=MAKING AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE |date=16 March 2023 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp205-gender-accessment.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2023making, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{MAKING AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp205-gender-accessment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }