A Road Map to Mainstreaming Gender considerations into Ghana's REDD+ Process

Summary

The Forestry Commission of Ghana partnered with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to develop a roadmap that would guide the design and implementation of a gender-sensitive REDD+ strategy in Ghana. This initiative was facilitated by IUCN as part of their ongoing Pro-Poor REDD+ Project, funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and has been replicated in other pilot countries of the project; Cameroon and Uganda. The Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) and the Participatory Development Associates (PDA) were also very instrumental in the organisation and facilitation of the processes which led to the development of the roadmap.

The Gender and REDD+ roadmap is a product of multi-stakeholder workshops, organised between 5th – 9th September, 2011, which brought together women’s organisations, gender experts and national level policy makers. The first three days were devoted to the training of gender officers from key government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), as well as representatives from traditional authorities / communities, civil society and women organisations working in the environment and forestry sector. This was followed by a two-day workshop for policy level stakeholders from government, civil society and the media. These workshops allowed for participants to enhance their knowledge on gender and REDD+, discuss country-specific gender issues related to forest management, and identify entry points for mainstreaming gender considerations into the Ghana REDD+ process. The roadmap was then defined as a means of achieving this.