AACJ-Ethiopia

General

The AACJ programme will be implemented in eight African countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia and South Africa. The AACJ consortium believes that building strong and inclusive movements for climate justice in these countries can be the engine for a powerful pan-African movement for climate justice. For the AACJ consortium, climate justice means all people have the right to live a decent and dignified life in a healthy environment. We believe that curbing climate change and enabling all people to build resilience and recover from climate-related shocks is key to break the vicious cycle of inequality and vulnerability. The impacts of climate change are not being borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations. The voices of frontline communities who both offer solutions to protect our climate and face the harshest consequences of the immediate impacts of climate change, are excluded from the policy debates shaping their futures. Their voices are often also isolated as opposed to aligned and lack the capacity to come together in unified front calling for action. The goal of our programme is to amplify and unite the voices in Africa demanding that women, youth and local and indigenous communities in the 8 target countries can defend and realize their human rights and live a decent and dignified life in a healthy and sustainable environment, within the context of the climate emergency. We will not only respond to power asymmetries within countries, but also challenge asymmetries of power between countries. We will connect with movements outside Africa, such as Climate Action Network Europe, jointly challenging unaccountable governments and unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Making these connections will help increase solidarity across communities and make the global climate movement more inclusive and legitimate. We will work from local to regional to global level, and vice versa. We will amplify local voices – communicating both struggles and positive experiences – to advocate for strong climate policies and national laws, and demand and monitor their implementation. We will use progressive frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement, the Africa 2063 Agenda and the SDGs to influence national governments and companies for positive changes in people’s lives The AACJ consortium believes that clear and compelling narratives play a crucial to increase the engagement of youth, women and local and indigenous communities in the debate and policy processes on climate justice. Taking people’s lived experience as a starting point, these narratives will play a key role in raising awareness, unveiling prejudices and stereotypes, debunking lies and rebalancing relations of power. The AACJ consortium will amplify African voices, encouraging environmental activists, indigenous leaders, women, youth, religious leaders, artists and opinion makers to share their personal experiences and contribution to addressing climate change. We will create safe spaces for traditionally sidelined groups to develop their own narratives which demonstrate their strength, resilience, innovative capacities and contributions to the climate crisis. We will ensure that these new narratives are shared and spread through climate debates and policy processes, connecting policy makers with people on the frontline of the climate crisis. With will connect activists, movements and communities with popular media (TV talk shows, radio call-ins and other interactive platforms) to enable exchange of ideas and information, foster understanding and increase public awareness on how women, youth and local and indigenous communities are experiencing and coping with climate change. The role of FEMNET will be indispensable to implementing Pathway 2 by creating counter narratives to help shift the discourse on changing the discourse on climate change

Objectives

The programme will contribute to the following impact areas Impact Outcome 1: Empowered indigenous and local communities and CSOs will provide a strong grassroots foundation to build national movements promoting and advocating for climate justice and community driven climate narratives. The AACJ consortium in Ethiopia will work with broad networks of local organizations to conduct regular outreach activities aimed at disadvantaged communities and empower community members, especially youth, to take up leadership roles (pathway 1). The consortium will create common understanding on influencing goals amongst more than 100 CSOs, and create new platforms for existing and new women-led alliances to jointly run popular campaigns to advocate for climate justice on national, regional and international level. The consortium will create awareness and space for disadvantaged communities to voice their views on climate change solutions and support community groups to create new climate justice narratives (pathway 2). Such narratives will be taken up by activists, journalists and influencers (including athletes and artists) and inform public campaigns, mobilizing support for gender-sensitive and inclusive adaptation solutions and realizing the NAP Impact Outcome 2: Improved mechanisms for the participation of vulnerable groups, allow indigenous and local communities and CSOs to engage effectively with climate decision-makers at national and sub-national level to develop policies and adaptation plans and claim environmental and social rights. Local and national policies and frameworks for climate justice are developed and implemented. The consortium will support community members, especially women, in understanding their rights under national and international legal frameworks (Pathway 3). Affected communities and individuals will be supported to securing land tenure and use of traditional lands. Strategic litigation will be used to challenge unjust policies and practices. The AACJ consortium will develop a monitoring framework to increase scrutiny over enforcement of environmental and land rights in Ethiopia. The consortium will establish new platforms and spaces and empower communities to engage in policy and legal reforms, engaging traditionally excluded communities (women, youth, indigenous communities). The consortium will facilitate joint CSO strategy and advocacy plans and build CSO and community capacity to engage with national and regional authorities to influence Ethiopia’s NAP and NDC- increasing inclusion, climate finance and aligning climate and development plans (Pathway 5). Recognizing the legacy of restricted civic space in Ethiopia, the consortium will create mechanisms to report and engage key stakeholders on civil, political and economic rights. The consortium will also increase capacity of frontline communities to use new ICT-based methodologies for community-driven climate action, facilitate community exchanges on innovative community-driven adaptation plans and models, and support multi-stakeholder dialogues with public and private sector to scale up emerging best practices and inform advocacy strategies (pathway 4). Lessons from national policy engagement and legal advocacy will further equip Ethiopian CSOs and representatives of youth, women and indigenous communities to take part in regional bodies (ICAD, AU) and global policy platforms around the Paris Agreement

Target Groups

FEMNET will work with her partner and member-Union of Ethiopian Women and Children Associations (UEWCA, a is a non-governmental, nonpartisan consortium of 80 women- and children-focused CSOs. We will work with women, youth and local communities – as well as other traditionally sidelined groups, such as people with disabilities