Climate resilience begins with the people who live closest to the land. Across Kenya, rural women are managing farms, conserving natural resources, securing household food supplies, and adapting to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. Yet despite their central role in sustaining communities, they remain underrepresented in many of the spaces where climate, biodiversity, and land management decisions are made.
To strengthen inclusive environmental governance, the Commission's Josephine Mwatibo participated in a three-day training under the Global Programme on Women Empowerment for Resilient Rural Areas (WE4R). The programme is designed to strengthen women's rights, representation, and access to resources within the implementation of the three Rio Conventions—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
The training enhanced participants' capacity in evidence-based advocacy, strategic communication, negotiation, diplomacy, coalition-building, and policy engagement—skills that are increasingly important as Kenya advances climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land management initiatives. Ensuring that women help shape these policies leads to more responsive, equitable, and sustainable solutions for communities on the frontline of climate change.
For the Commission, promoting equality means ensuring that women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other marginalised groups have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their environment, livelihoods, and future. Inclusive governance is essential to achieving climate justice, protecting natural resources, and building resilient communities where no one is left behind.
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