REGIONAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS TRAININGS

Women of the DR Congo WECAN/SAFECO program walk between the savannah and their tree nursery

The WECAN International ‘Regional Climate Solutions Training Program’ offers both online and on-the-ground trainings which focus on creating place-based action plans to address local socio-ecological need, develop climate solutions, and support women in their role as key environmental stakeholders. Trainings and curriculum are designed region by region in collaboration with local grassroots leaders, experts, and organizations - and are presented as holistic programs including education, advocacy, hands-on training, and work to link local efforts to the global movement for climate justice.

WECAN Regional Climate Solutions Trainings center on analysis of the root causes of climate change and focus on long-term, systemic change; offer inspiration and a framework for collaborative efforts focused on and led by frontline communities and local organizations; and a provide a platform for demonstrating real alternatives and just solutions within even the most challenging political landscapes.

Regional Climate Solutions Trainings Focus Areas Include:

Why women are key to climate change and sustainability solutions; how they are impacted and what they can do to advance climate justice at a local and global scale.
Design and implementation of regional climate action plans, including specific solutions in water, energy, food, forests, and carbon emission reductions.
Women's leadership and capacity building.
Connecting regional and international advocacy efforts.
Sharing WECAN's rights-based approach to solutions and systemic change.
Developing tools and skills for successful climate justice advocacy.
Rights of Nature education and advocacy.
Collective visioning - What does transitioning to a clean and just energy future mean in your region? What women can do personally in their daily lives and in their communities?
Reconnecting with the nature and understanding the vital importance of living within the earth’s carrying capacity.

WECAN Democratic Republic Of Congo

Women prepare to plant diverse tree species by hand

A training at the women’s reforestation site

Since 2012, WECAN International has partnered with Neema Namadamu and her organizations’, Hero Women Rising and the Synergy of Congolese Women's Associations (SAFECO), to build a coalition of women to protect the rainforest of the Itombwe region, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Stretching across central Africa, the rainforests of the Congo basin are the second largest on Earth, (only the Amazon is larger) - with approximately two-thirds of Africa’s intact forest found in the DRC.

Our collaborative work centers in South Kivu Province, which hosts two very important forest sites: the Itombwe Nature Reserve and the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB), both of which have been listed as in danger since 1994 due to pressures from extractive industries and interrelated conflicts.

Through online trainings, on-the-ground workshops, and an ongoing reforestation program, WECAN International and SAFECO are providing a platform for local women to learn, strategize, build, and implement a plan for protection of the Itombwe Rainforest, their rich Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and their communities living in and around the rainforest.

To learn more about the DR Congo Women for Forests program please click here!

WECAN Middle East, North Africa (MENA) Region

Women from across the MENA region participate in the Global Women’s Climate Justice Day of Action

WECAN International launched its first training sessions in the MENA region in 2014, gathering active women leaders ready to build leadership skills, head environmental projects, confront the social injustice of climate change, and address the direct effects of global warming in the region.

WECAN MENA trainings provide key background in concepts of climate justice, women's rights, and local and global climate issues, as well as media and messaging skills, local action climate plan design, and exploration of Rights of Nature as a tool for systemic change.

Several trainings have been held since 2014 and participants continue to lead programs and projects locally.

We are thankful to work with Fadoua Brour, Imene Hadjer Bouchair and Soumeya Lerari, our WECAN Middle East/North Africa Region Co-Coordinators, to organize trainings and other efforts in this region. Meet the WECAN MENA team here.

Focus Areas Of The WECAN MENA Program Include:

Training in regional advocacy campaigning, climate outreach and messaging, including social media activism, blogging and media relations.
Women's leadership, rights, and capacity building.
Local solutions to water and energy issues; the importance of including women in the planning of water consumption; purification of waste-water; distances traveled to obtain clean water.
Biodiversity, food security and reforestation.
Sharing ideas, suggestions and proposals for on-the-ground projects to be implemented ongoingly in the MENA region.
Creation of adaptation projects throughout the MENA region to reduce the impact of floods, droughts, and deforestation, and other climate change crisis management planning.

Key Moments:

2014 - Online training with focus areas including - women's rights and leadership; media and messaging for climate justice; MENA region water crisis and solutions; tool for local action plan development; importance of green jobs and trainings; and tools for engaging local leaders and stakeholders.
2014 - On the ground training for women in rural Morocco, with focus areas including - effects of climate change on women; erosion, drought and desertification in MENA region; economic decline and emigration; youth movements and their role in the implementation of climate solutions; and gender injustice and climate impacts.
2015 - Online training, with focus areas including - women's rights and leadership; media and messaging for climate justice; MENA region water crisis and solutions; tool for local action plan development; importance of green jobs and trainings; and tools for engaging local leaders and stakeholders.
2015 - WECAN International was a partner for a four day on-the-ground training with 35 participants from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Topics included, renewable energy in the MENA region; climate outreach through networking, media, messaging and storytelling; and strategies for environmental campaigning; evaluating false versus real climate solutions; and regional climate action plan draft discussion.
2016 - Movement building amongst local groups.
2017 - WECAN MENA co-Coordinator, Fadoua Brour, leads events at COP22 climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco, and co-Coordinator, Soumeya Lerari, participates in and supports WECAN events in Morocco.
2018/2019 - Ongoing project development.

WECAN MENA Coordinators hold a training in collaboration with members of the Moroccan Youth Climate Network

WECAN Latin America/Caribbean (LAC) Region

WECAN International trainings in the Latin American/Caribbean region focus on the development of grassroots women's climate advocacy and media skills, with a focus on Indigenous women and frontline communities.

Women leaders from Bolivia stand together in action to draw attention to the regions receding glaciers

Focus Areas Of The WECAN LAC Program Include:

Analysis of local and global policies that lie at the root of climate change.

Exploring how women can play a key role in sustainability solutions, and building women’s leadership and capacities.
Protection of women land defenders.
Design and implementation of climate solutions projects in the various Latin American countries to reduce the impact of food and water shortages, floods, droughts and deforestation.
Acceleration of collective efforts in women’s networks to stop extractive industries and protect forests.
Discussion of how women of the Global South and North can work in stronger collaboration, and explorations of how to recognize and act upon the historic responsibilities of industrialized countries and wealthier communities.

We thank Carmen Capriles and Kiyomi Nagumo of Bolivia, who have served at various times as our WECAN Coordinators in the Latin America/Caribbean region.

Kiyomi accompanied the WECAN delegation to COP21 climate negotiations in Paris, France where she built strategic alliances with women and Indigenous peoples of Latin America, and raised her voice for climate justice and Indigenous rights in her region. Carmen Capriles has joined WECAN International delegations to the United Nations climate talks over various years, including the COP21, 22, and 23, during which she has advocated for climate justice in Latin America, and worked extensively with the UNFCCC Women and Gender Constituency.

Carmen Capriles and Kiyomi Nagumo of Bolivia strategize with WECAN Executive Director, Osprey Orielle Lake, during COP21 climate talks in Paris

Learn more about WECAN LAC Regional Climate Solutions Training programs via blog posts and videos: