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Commitments in Action: Direct Funding to Empower Indigenous Women in Climate Resilience
October 22
Context/Background:
Indigenous Women have long been recognized as stewards of the environment, holding Indigenous Knowledge critical to biodiversity conservation and climate resilience. Their leadership in preserving ecosystems, managing natural resources, and implementing climate adaptation strategies is indispensable. Yet, they remain systematically marginalized and excluded from accessing resources. This exclusion results from multiple barriers, including structural inequalities, exclusion from decision-making spaces, limited financial literacy, and insufficient
gender-responsive financial instruments.
The $1.7 billion climate pledge made during COP26 was aimed to address these inequities, but progress has been slow. As of 2022, only 7% of the total funding reached Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), with just 2% being directly channeled to Indigenous-led organizations. Most climate finance continues to flow through intermediaries such as Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) like the World Bank Group, IMF and commercial financial institution. The climate finance access mechanism is ridden with complex bureaucracy, limiting the direct access of Indigenous Women and their communities. Without direct access to climate finance, Indigenous women face challenges in scaling their climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, which are critical to both local and global climate goals. Furthermore, the recent study conducted by IFIP and FIMI shows that of the 28.5 billion philanthropic grants given from 2016-2020 to supporting women and girls, only 392 million (1.4%) was allocated to organizations benefiting Indigenous Women.
As global climate finance continues to expand, there is a critical need to address these structural barriers and ensure that Indigenous women have the resources required to scale their work effectively. Philanthropic organizations have a crucial role to play in filling funding gaps and supporting Indigenous women-led initiatives through targeted funding mechanisms.
Objectives
• Assess the current Status of Climate Finance and the gaps in existing financial mechanism, particularly in ensuring direct, funding to Indigenous Women
• Discuss pathways to create more inclusive, equitable, accessible, and direct climate finance models to close the finance gap.
• Foster collaboration among funders to scale up financial support for Indigenous women’s climate projects.
Key Outcomes:
• Amplify understanding of Indigenous Women’s contributions to climate resilience and their critical need for climate finance to support their leadership.
• Identify key gaps preventing direct funding access for Indigenous women.
• Strengthened commitment from funders to implement and support financial models that prioritize direct, equitable funding for Indigenous women-led climate initiatives