IKI Gender Community of Practice

A platform for exchange, networking, and new perspectives on gender

Group of women of various ages and ethnic backgrounds standing in a room showing their hands painted in different colors to the camera

The IKI Gender Community of Practice (IKI GCoP) is a format designed to support implementing organisations and enhance exchange of knowledge and lessons learned regarding the implementation of the IKI gender strategy and the promotion of gender justice within their projects. The IKI GCoP is a regular and interactive event open to all IKI implementing organisations. It is co-hosted by the IKI Office in cooperation with IKI implementers.

Since its launch in 2024 as part of the IKI Gender Action Plan, the IKI GCoP has regularly provided a forum for exchange, networking and knowledge-sharing. As gender touches on all aspects of international cooperation for climate and environmental protection, each event has a specific focus to ensure the details and interconnections between gender and project work are thoroughly explored. Since its inception, hundreds of IKI implementers have joined the IKI GCoP to network and share valuable experiences and best practices, with the aim of promoting gender equality in IKI projects.

An overview of recent GCoP events

Climate action and biodiversity conservation projects are more successful, sustainable and equitable when specific gender equality measures are embedded in the objectives and implementation of these projects. Based on this knowledge, we have created a platform that facilitates the exchange of experiences and global networking on gender and climate issues with the launch of the GCoP. The first edition of the GCoP was supported by CARE Deutschland, who provided insights on "Gender Equality & Inclusion Integration into Programming".
In the second round of the GCoP, we focused on developing specific Project Gender Action Plans (PGAPs). These plans are essential for translating knowledge from gender analyses into concrete project measures. We focused on the PGAPs for the IKI projects "Scaling-up Ecosystem based Adaptation in rural Latin America (EbA LAC)" and "Transformative Actions for Climate and Ecological Protection and Development (TRANSCEND)" of the GIZ, with additional input from the Mitigation Action Facility (MAF).
Women’s knowledge about the protection of biodiversity is often underestimated and/or overlooked. The third GCoP therefore focused on the nexus gender and biodiversity conservation. Six IKI projects – One Health (IUCN), BES-Net (UNDP), biodiversity finance (UNDP) – provided insights into their work, emphasising the importance of women's involvement in biodiversity conservation measures for project success.
The fourth GCoP was entirely dedicated to community building. There was a welcoming space where you could discuss your individual experiences of gender-related project work and share both the challenges you faced and your success stories.
In the fifth edition, the focus became more specific once again: We wanted to hear your thoughts on which tools support you in your day-to-day work and which approaches are the most promising for integrating gender into project work. The World Resources Institute supported this discussion with a spotlight on the Global Restoration Initiative, titled “Creating a Gender and Socially Equitable Restoration Economy”.
Gender approaches have the biggest impact when they are intersectional. Therefore, the sixth GCoP was conducted with the internal “IKI Youth” team, examining the intersection between youth and gender in IKI projects. Inputs were provided by two IMG projects: "Equipping young people for a just energy transition in Argentina", led by the Wuppertal Institute and "Partnership for a deforestation-free cocoa supply chain", led by Fairtrade.
Mobilising additional private funding is one of the key priorities of current climate policy. GCoP#7 therefore focused on the nexus between gender and climate finance. We were supported by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and Inclusive Climate Finance for Vulnerable Communities in Asia-Pacific (ICCAP), which presented their work based on their IKI projects "Inclusive Green Finance in Asia Pacific" and the “Inclusive Green Finance Project”.

Contact

IKI Gender Team

IKI-Gender@z-u-g.org

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Note

We would like to invite you to become co-host of a GCoP this year. If you are interested in co-hosting please reach out.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the GCoP. We are very happy to have received many requests of colleagues to be included in the GCoP. Please feel free to tell your colleagues who might be interested in joining the GCoP about it and share the information with them.

Mailing list

Do you want to become a part of the IKI GCoP? To do so, simply send us an email to the address given above. We will then add you to our mailing list and keep you informed about the next event and the topics covered.

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