As part of its celebration of Earth Day 2023, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced today five new awards of the Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) Challenge.
The winners will receive a total of $1.85 million in grants from USAID to address gender-based violence (GBV) in the environment sector. The five local organizations - across Central America, Eastern and Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia - will address GBV in the context of environmental conservation, resource use in climate-vulnerable settings, and the protection of Indigenous women environmental human rights defenders.
These projects include:
- Mexico: In Mexico, ecotourism landscapes remain under stress due to competing land use activities, contamination of water resources, and climate change. This has contributed to increases in social tensions and marginalization that exacerbate physical and sexual violence at the family and community levels. Espacio de Encuentro de las Culturas Originarias, A.C. (EECO) is partnering with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Mexico under the RISE grants challenge to address the prevalence of gender-based violence across the tourism sector within three protected areas in the Yucatán Peninsula and Oaxaca.
- Kenya: As women experience physical and psychological abuse as a result of their engagement in conservancy governance and related economic activities, the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) is continuing work through a second RISE grant in partnership with the Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) on preventing gender-based violence and promoting gender equality in Kasigau conservancy in the Taita Taveta landscape.
- Zambia: ActionAid Zambia and their implementing partner Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) will address drivers of sex-for-fish exploitation by working with the local legal system; establishing and training women's watch committees to build women's collective action and agency to prevent gender-based violence; and promoting the sustainable management of fisheries resources in three rural districts in the Western Province (Nalolo, Sesheke, and Mongu).
- Cambodia: Women are increasingly taking on leadership roles in forest management and patrolling, with the support of organizations like the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC). To improve women's full, effective and safe participation in Cambodian Community Protected Area (CPA) networks and forest management, RECOFTC is partnering with Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC) to work with the Women's CPA Network, the CPA Network, and local communities to address social norms and build awareness of and capacity to respond to gender-based violence and environmental linkages - including via male engagement as a prevention strategy.
- Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines: The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is partnering with the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), the Persekutan Perempuan Adat Nusantara (PEREMPUAN AMAN), and the Network of Indigenous Women-BAI to empower and elevate the voices of Indigenous women environmental human rights defenders to self-determine their priorities and strategies to end gender-based violence as a barrier to their defense of the environment. The project provides a regional platform for knowledge sharing, capacity strengthening, and solidarity building for Indigenous women as they lead and disseminate their own research on the impact gender-based violence has on their activism, human rights, and environmental contributions, with the support of a safety plan and fund.
About the RISE Challenge
The Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge is a first-of-its-kind fund available to organizations working to address gender-based violence in environmental programming and climate-vulnerable contexts. It is a direct response to key research findings by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on gender-based violence and environment linkages and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The RISE Challenge invests in partnerships between environmental, gender equality, and community-based organisations and leaders working to address gender-based violence in developing countries around the world.
