Largely, discussions around climate change and efforts to mitigate its impacts center on the urgent need to reduce emissions, keep the average rise in global temperatures below 2 Degrees Celsius, all while regulating transparency in carbon markets.

These global reflections centered around emission-reduction are crucial and urgent, yet particular attention should be paid to the dire impacts of climate change on women and girls - especially in lower income countries - and the ever-evolving mitigating role community based organizations can play.

Africa accounts for only 2-3% of global CO2 emissions, yet suffers the outsized impact of climate change as it faces increased instances of famine, drought and floods all contributing to further increasing the poverty index over time.

What does climate change adaptation and mitigation actually look like in the global south?

At AMPLIFY GIRLS, we recognize that community-based organizations, especially girl-serving organizations, are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. They are constantly innovating to deal with the repercussions and keep girls healthy and in school.

In Baringo County in Kenya, Dandelion Africa (an AMPLIFY GIRLS Community Partner Organization) battles the notion of girls as currency. In an interview, their CEO - Wendo Aszed unpacked the intricacies of girls being the first casualty of climate change.

Community organizations like Dandelion have to go above and beyond their usual duties to institute measures of getting girls back to school through dialogue, awareness sessions and physical visits to the girls’ families to follow up on their whereabouts.

Advocacy towards local/ county governments is also key to ensure that resources are allocated, and plans are made to cater for the community in instances of anticipated floods or calls for provision and dissemination of relief food in anticipation of prolonged drought period.

The story in Tanzania is similar. The CEO of one of our partner organizations, Young Strong Mothers, Jackie Bomboma – explains that:

“Climate change in Morogoro affected the lives of girls and woman in so many ways. In the year 2021, the dry session was longer than normal. There was scarcity of water because the wells got dry, and girls had to fetch water from a far distance. Some of the girls faced sexual abuse because they couldn’t fight the men/boys who waited for them on the way or when they are washing at the dam sides. We experienced the rise of prices for basic needs and menstrual hygiene products that led to most of the families failing to provide basic needs for their girl children. The girls had to adapt by being in a relationship to get support for their needs (transactional sex) because of the changing financial situation most of parents even encouraged their daughters to be in sexual relationships and get married for the family to get support and materials. During the menstrual process, there was little access to water fueling minor infections. There was little or no access to clean water, sometimes no water at all as such, girls could not go to school.”

The Young Strong Mothers Foundation had to evaluate how to utilize unrestricted funding to provide community sensitization forums for both community elders and local law enforcement and governments to protect girls and ask families (and girls themselves) to hold on despite the tough times.

It’s a difficult conversation to have when people are hungry and just want to eat, but it’s important to provide a tunnel to hope. Hope keeps people alive. The emotional well-being of the people is very important in managing community crises and initiating community projects.

Many times, national, regional and international NGOs use community organizations to create community buy-in for projects. It is important that moving forward, we recognize that there is a climate change crisis in the global south and local organizations are managing the outsized impact in creative and sustainable ways.

Community-driven organizations like Dandelion Africa and Young Strong Mothers, provide holistic services to keep girls in school, and while many would argue that the girl centric programming and climate change are separate spheres , the truth is that the lack of an intersectional lens is not only hindering progress but also putting girls at risk.

Failure to do so means we are excluding some of the brightest ideas and solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

We consistently seek silver bullet solutions, too often developed in the global north, when in fact we must recognize that to address climate change we must be inclusive of the communities and solutions who are most impacted.

This article serves to chide the global north community and the global youth climate movement that has by design influenced the conversation mainly towards emissions and has not centered locally driven interventions in the global south.

Community-driven organizations deserve a seat at the global policy tables. As we call the global community to action, it important that African Union & governments and its partners like UNECA and the African Development Bank do more in resourcing ministries of environment & local actors focusing on the intersection of education, gender and climate change in the continental policies.

Resourcing of climate change in Africa was agreed upon by governments in recent COPs to go through National Implementing Entities who then are supposed to equitably redistribute climate change resources to government entities, civil society and community organizations.

Again, the trickle-down effect has not properly materialized as in the Grand Bargain where only 3.1% of development assistance reach local actors as opposed to the 25% committed to in 2016.

The resourcing of adaptation and mitigation measures of climate change in Africa is still lacking, and the proposed plan of implementation through National Implementing entities has left many areas needing dire support.

Community organizations are at the front lines championing and advocating for climate change mitigation and adaptation, but they are severely under-resourced. To be able to consistently keep girls in school, we must think about structural barriers that inhibit their attendance and continue to get more challenging by the day, often due to climate change.

In all our global convenings, let us not dominate emissions alone as a discussion but also remember the lived realities of the global south. Being intentional about intersectionality means recognizing and acknowledging that there is a conversation that should be inclusive of everyone.

Let us truly #leavenoonebehind in the climate change conversation.