Driving Inclusive Climate Action: Advancing Gender and Social Equity in South Asia

Efforts to integrate gender considerations into climate-resilient development across South Asia have focused on agriculture, water, and transport sectors. These efforts involved engaging national and provincial government officials, National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points, and Sectoral Focal Points from relevant ministries in each project country. Sectoral policy assessments were conducted through a gender lens to identify existing gaps and opportunities for integrating gender considerations.

Gender landscape mapping was carried out based on stakeholder insights, documenting best practices and facilitating stakeholder validation workshops that refined findings and outlined a strategic way forward. A comprehensive capacity needs assessment identified gaps in knowledge, skills, and resources among government stakeholders.

Targeted sector-specific training programs were implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan—achieving over 50% female participation across seven trainings on climate-smart agriculture, gender-responsive climate budgeting, and climate-resilient infrastructure. Around 200 government officials from national and provincial institutions in the three countries received training, while 30 public institutions—including key ministries and departments—were actively engaged in climate-focused capacity-building.

Sector-specific Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) toolkits were developed to help government officials integrate gender equality and social inclusion into climate policies and programs. These outputs have the potential to influence future policy and institutional reforms, ensuring gender inclusivity and alignment with national commitments such as NDCs, NAP, and SDGs.

• Reviewed 20+ policy documents per sector for actionable gender-responsive policy recommendations.
• Analyzed agriculture, water, transport, and policy planning & finance sectors for gender inclusion and climate resilience.
• Trained over 200 government officials across Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, with 30+ public institutions engaged.
• Achieved over 50% female representation in seven sector-specific training programs.
• Conducted gender landscape mapping and developed sectoral policy review reports and briefs.
• Developed and implemented country-specific GESI toolkits tailored for agriculture, transport, and budgeting sectors.
• Successfully mainstreamed gender considerations in Nepal’s transport policies using the Gender Integrated Continuum Framework and DPSIR model.
• Strengthened institutional accountability through mandatory gender-sensitivity training across ministries.
• Mapped best practices for gender-inclusive projects to support scaling and replication.

• Leveraging disaggregated data (gender, age, disability, ethnicity) informs inclusive climate resilience planning.
• Gender-responsive budgeting frameworks improve equity in climate financing.
• Institutional capacity building equips officials with tools to integrate gender in policies and programs.
• Mapping and sharing best practices support scalable gender-inclusive models.
• Embedding gender sensitivity training within ministries enhances policy accountability.
• Gender mainstreaming in climate-smart agriculture ensures women’s leadership in sustainable innovations.

Nepal

• Lack of coordination between federal, provincial, and local governments, each with different goals and resources, makes collaboration challenging.
• Weak coordination among ministries such as agriculture, transport, water, finance, and climate change leads to overlapping efforts.
• Lesson learned: use existing structures like the Technical Working Group (TWG) to build skills and improve cooperation.

Bangladesh

• Fragmented policy ownership and limited institutional coordination hinder gender-responsive climate action.
• Lack of synergy between key ministries, such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), hampers integration of gender considerations.
• Limited technical capacity and absence of gender steering committees weaken gender mainstreaming initiatives.

Pakistan

• No standardized approach to collecting sex-disaggregated social and gender data; weak implementation reduces gender integration in sectoral planning.
• Limited collaboration among federal ministries and provincial institutions undermines policy coherence.
• Lesson learned: establish coordination mechanisms such as gender focal points and advisory groups; address women farmers’ limited access to CSA knowledge, technology, credit, and leadership roles.

• Policy Integration & Institutional Commitment: Embed gender-responsive policies into national frameworks with clear mandates, coordination, and funding.
• Capacity Building & Training: Institutionalize gender-sensitivity training in ministries; use GESI toolkits for continuous learning.
• Monitoring & Data Utilization: Develop GESI-focused monitoring systems with clear indicators; strengthen disaggregated data collection.
• Leadership & Representation: Promote women and youth into leadership roles; integrate gender experts into government structures.
• Scaling Best Practices: Expand successful GESI-inclusive projects; adapt training toolkits to specific contexts.
• Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration: Strengthen coordination among government, civil society, donors, and the private sector; hold workshops to refine policy recommendations.