On Monday 6th October 2025, the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) in collaboration with UN Women launched Nigeria's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Gender Integration Toolkit & Strategy at UN House, Abuja. I was a major stakeholder at the event, which was follwed by two weeks of intensive training for technocrats in the public and private sectors in each of the thematic areas. I was particularly interested in the Agriculture, Water & Cross-cutting sectors. The 8 Sectoral Toolkits were launched simultaneously viz;
1) Agriculture, Forestry & Other Land Use (AFOLU)
2) Energy & Power
3) Water
4) Waste
5) Transport
6) Industry (IPPU)
7) Oil & Gas
8) Cross-sectoral MRV (& Climate Finance
In her opening remarks, the UN Women Resident Representative for Nigeria & ECOWAS, Ms. Beatrice Eyong's speech: 'Framing Nigeria's NDC 3.0 & role of gender integration' acknoeledged the fact that the launch of the Toolkit captures our collective response to making climate response inclusive. 80% of those displaced by climate change (CC) are women. Climate-related disruptions are noticeable in agriculture among other sectors. Women are often excluded from climate-relevant decision-making. They need to be included for gender-sensitive climate response. UN Women has worked assiduously on climate matters. We are alligning CC efforts with national priorities. The UN Women Technical Working Group shall continue to partner with NCCC. NDC 3.0 has sector-specific recommendations while emphasising the inclusion of women. These Toolkits offer Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) tools for action. I implore you to integrate them into your strategies and programmes. After this formal launch, there'll be intensive training on all the 8 identified sectors over the next 2 weeks. Climate action is strogest when it's inclusive. The time to act is now. With just 5 years to 2030, every decision we make matters...
Barr. (Mrs) Tenioye Majekodunmi (DG NCCC) commended the work of the Consultant to the project, Ms. Ugochukwu Dorothy Ukemezia. All the aspirations of Nigerian women for inclusion are eloquently expressed in NDC 3.0. Women and men experience climate impact differently. Women bear the burden of food insecurity. Gender equity and indeed equality, is not just a social imperative, it's a necessity for the fair mitigation of CC impact. To be sure, the Toolkit encompasses low emission development strategy, budgeting & reporting, tracking of results through the MRV (Measurement, Reporting & Verification) tool, etc. The Toolkit is about ensuring that no gender decision is made without considering climate impact. It is a living guide for accountability. When gender equity guides climate action, access is assured.
Representative of the Minister of Women Affairs - Prince Xavier Eyamba (STA to the Minister on CC) explored the nexus betweem social inequality and CC. CC is not gender neutral. Gender equity should be at the heart of our response to the climate crisis and this aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI). The Toolkit contains practical and actionable guidelines for MDAs. Gender equity is not just a moral imperative, it's a strategic advantage...
Representative of the Minister of Budget & Economic Planning - Mrs. Grace Ukpabi (Director, Sustainable Development) emphasised the fact that information and a data are needed for effective planning. Relevant information and data can be retrieved from:
-Unpaid Care Work: Validation & Time Use Survey
-Toolkit & Strategy for NDC
If we had NDC 3.0 as at the time of writing the above reports, gender would have been better mainstreamed into them. With NDC 3.0, I promise that the National Development Plan: 2026 - 2030 will be positively different. Gender will be adequately mainstreamed...
Ms. Ugochukwu Dorothy Ukemezia (National Consultant for UN Women on Gender Mainstreaming for NDC 3.0 & LT-LEDS). We need to understand the architecture of the 8 Sectoral Toolkits, MRV (Measurement, Reporting & Verification) and Climate Finance.What we are launcing represents the integration of gender into planning, monitoring and evaluation. Gender analysis should be across all sectors. Nigeria's enhanced climate commitment (Paris) is based on sectoral analysis. Why's gender so central to Nigeria's MRV. We note that the President just appointed the first woman as DG NCCC. We should remember that there's feminisation of poverty. Gender integration is not optional, but essential for climate solutions. We should translate policy vision into sector-specific solutions. Gender should be mainstreamed across all sectors.
The ETF (Enhnaced Transparency Framework) enables Parties submit the mandatory information and data in the agreed format, which would then allow for comprehensive analysis, review and collation at the designated collation point. Susequently, we shal undergo sectoral diagnostics during the training sessions with me. You shall be exposed to budget-tagging tools. The partnership playbook aims at correcting gaps in gender finance. We all need to align with the net zero emission target of 2060. We need to be able to classify gender expenditure via the partnership playbook for all sectors - CSOs, private sector, women's networks, etc. There should be inclusive procurement, investment in women-led enterprises, targeted funding for women, assistance to MDAs for Climate Equity, inclusive governance, green innovation, entrepreneurship, capacity building for gender focal persons. We should keep in view UN Women's 'Global Economic Recovery Strategy.
Then came the launch of NDC Gender Integration Toolkit 3.0
Lorenzo Rovelli (UN Women's Regional Specialist on CC) delivered his paper: "Financing gender equity in the green transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Toolkit. Here, he explored the nexus with gender in the key sectors between at the regional and national frameworks. He noted that since the national determined contributions (NDCs) are more specific than the regional frameworks which describe in more general terms.
For two weeks the intensive training continued at UN House, Abuja. If all participants use the Toolkit effectively as directed by the 'manufacturers' - UN Women and NCCC, then the time, money, manpower, etc. entailed in its production would not be in vain. Bravo to NCCC and UN Women Nigeria for this bold initiative...
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