Report on Pilot Project & Campaign: Integrating Gender into Food and Energy Nexus in South Africa

GenderCC Southern Africa is giving us an overview of the pilot project on "Integrating Gender into Food and Energy Nexus" in the cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane.

Since the food security in South Africa is struggling, due to high food prices, which deepens food vulnerability and loss of agricultural capacity to feed the population, it also deeply impacts women's food insecurity. That is why the project aimed the stimulation of income generating activities for women in order to grow them as entrepreneurs by assisting them to establish their own environmental-friendly and sustainable small business and forming Home and Communal Food Garden Projects. The approach was "Train the Trainer" to generate and strenghten knowledge and skills of the participating persons, especially home and community gardeners and to enable them to become assistant trainers themselves.

Furthermore, GenderCC South Africa planned to develop a Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency for Development (REEED) campaign in order to support civil society, communities and cities in the area of renewable energy, energy efficiency and development issues in the service delivery. This included the training of women champions as REEED advisors. The advisor's tasks were to interact with various departments within the cities, such as social and low-cost housing schemes, conduct information campaigns and train local officials, service providers, and professionals to make sure food gardening is integrated into all new developments of the cities.

The outcomes of the projects were quiet successfull, even though it didn't get any support from the cities or other local stakeholders, which demotivated many champions, because they didn't get the financial support needed. Nevertheless, the project managed to establish a community garden in an informal settlement and to improve two already existing gardens. It was also made possible to establish ten REEED businnesses and promoting renewable energy products. Raising awareness on climate change and gender issues was the most successfull part of the project.

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Kick-Off Meetings for New Pilot Cities

In October and November 2018 all partner countries organised Kick-Off Meetings for the new pilot cities who joined the project in July 2018.

In South Africa, Durban and Ekurhuleni will join the project as new pilot cities. The city of Mogale will join as associate partner and take part in some of the project activities. The All India Women's Conference will now also implement the project in Chennai and Kolkata and Indonesia will extend the project to Jember and Yogyakarta.

Moreover, the new partner organisation Equidad de Genero in Mexico organised the country-wide Kick-Off along with the training for the pilot cities Mexico City and Xlacala.

GenderCC International was present at all Kick-Off Meetings and trained the participants on the project tools and approach.


Stakeholder Workshops in India

In 2017, AIWC has organised successful stakeholder workshops for the Project in New Delhi and Mumbai. Organized with organizations such as the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Combating Climate Change (MGICCC,) these workshops brought together local citizens, policy makers, and other influential stakeholders to discuss the intersecting issues of gender and climate change as well as our part in them. The workshops were designed to be educational as well as empowering for participants. A special focus was given to the city's waste management as it is significantly contributing to Delhi's greenhouse gas emissions. A conflict appears when it is seen as women's responsibility to separate waste which is later mixed up by dustmen who are picking up the garbage. It was also recognised that climate change includes diverse gender entry points in many sectors and that firstly knowledge and sensitisation about the topic will be necessary. Further cooperation between the city officials, development and environmental NGOs and AIWC are planned. 


Stakeholder Workshops in South Africa

From June through August 2017, GenderCC’s office in South Africa held five workshops in the cities of Tshwane and Johannesburg to discuss climate change and climate solutions with stakeholders. Convening in groups of 25-150 community members, these stakeholders discussed their understanding of climate change and climate solutions, and then GenderCC worked to improve their knowledge and educate these women and citizens with regards to what they can personally do for climate change. More information is available here.


Stakeholder Workshops in Indonesia

In June and July 2018 Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice and Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) conducted a total of four workshops in their pilot cities Jakarta and Makassar City, each of which was attended by 20-25 village citizens and representatives of local organisations. The participants discussed the impacts of climate change to their cities and local projects that have already been implemented. For example, North Jakarta locals explained how the construction of dikes influenced fishing possibilities and the harvest of musses, ultimately reducing the possibilities of women to earn money as mussel peelers. Read more about their workshops here