West African Climate Leadership Program for Women (WAfriCLP)

Over the last decade, IDRC has supported several capacity building efforts in the field of climate change in Africa. Despite the significant impacts these programs have had, the representation of women in these efforts has been small, especially women from Francophone countries. This is due to weak technical capacity to compete in open calls, lack of confidence to compete with men on an equal footing, and language barriers, among other factors.

This project is a fellowship program designed to respond to the need for strengthening women’s capacities in climate change research, innovation, and policy in Francophone West Africa. The overall objective is to develop the climate change leadership capacity of 18 early to mid-career women researchers, innovators, and policy advisors in Francophone West Africa to advance and apply knowledge in climate change adaptation and resilience. It will offer experiential learning, education, research, and training opportunities, and support for those with climate change ideas that can be applied at scale and who have the drive and potential to become leaders in their fields. This will allow these women to develop and test their ideas and strengthen their leadership capacities. Each fellow will be mentored throughout her fellowship and the capacity enhancement of fellows will be monitored throughout the program.

The project will be jointly implemented by the African Centre of Excellence on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture of the Université Felix Houphouet Boigny in Ivory Coast, along with the University of Nairobi and the University of Dar es Salaam, which are currently implementing the Africa Climate Leadership Program on which this project is based.

The expected results include 18 women fellows moving to the next level in their careers with an increased capacity to use research evidence to shape climate policy and inform climate solutions; tested innovative climate solutions that enhance community resilience and inform policy and research; and enriched climate policies that draw on research evidence and guide climate action for effective adaptation.