Story: Ensuring Gender-Responsive Approaches in Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Plan - Niagara College's Institute for Global Education and Training

Story:

Ensuring Gender-Responsive Approaches in Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Plan

Saint Lucia

Policy, Institutional and Technical Analysis, Diversity and Inclusion

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

Virtual

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Department of Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation, Government of Saint Lucia (GoSL)

2021; One Year

Saint Lucia is one of nine Caribbean countries benefiting from the regional project, Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience (EnGenDER) (United Nations Development Programme, UNDP).
This project supported the efforts of the government to close existing financing gaps and to leverage sustainable and diverse sources of climate financing with specific attention for gender-responsive and inclusive climate action.
The opportunity was to conduct sector-wide analysis in order to support Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Planning (NAP), that has been defined as a 10-year process (2018–2028), consisting of priority cross-sectoral and sectoral adaptation measures for eight key sectors/areas. The ultimate goal of the NAP is to strengthen Saint Lucia’s resilience to climate change and to support the implementation of the country’s Climate Change Adaptation Policy (CCAP).
The NAP document is complemented by eight Sectoral Adaptation Strategies and Action Plans (SASAPs) that cover the country’s priority sectors and thematic areas, alongside several other strategies and policies for adaptation financing, action, and communications.

Collaborated with the Government of Saint Lucia to support the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) project, Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience (EnGenDER)
Conducted institutional and policy reviews and gender assessments of six sectors/thematic areas:
- Health
- Education
- Tourism
- Resilient ecosystems
- Energy
- Infrastructure and spatial planning
Focused institutional and policy reviews and gender assessments on:
- Identifying the intersection of gender and climate change in each sector
- Assessing the institutional capacities and gaps in addressing gender-responsive sector planning
- Developing relevant gender-responsive guidelines and tools for use in the development of Sectoral Adaptation Strategies and Action Plans (SASAPs)

The analyses and assessments yielded recommendations on how to prioritize, implement, monitor, and evaluate gender-responsive climate action. The new SASAPs to be developed in the next reporting period will incorporate the recommendations and support Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
An overall baseline analysis found that the Government of Saint Lucia has demonstrated commitment to inclusive decision making (UNDP, n.d.-b). Saint Lucia’s NAP speaks to promoting gender equality in decision making.
- The draft National Gender Equality Policy Statement prioritises equitable participation and states the objective to create institutional mechanisms and systems that mandate and facilitate effective dialectic and inclusive participation, collaboration and consultation with various stakeholders (including civil society organisations, youth, private sector, academia, vulnerable groups and the media).
The project report also found that inclusive and equitable decision making is supported by a National Mechanism for Gender Equality within the Department of Gender Affairs. Sectors and thematic areas may draw upon that department to assist in establishing an inclusive and consultative process as part of their internal planning mechanism for the development of their SASAPs.

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