For many years, the lasting effects of climate change have severely affected the world through short-term disasters like landslides and floods and long-term impacts like gradual environmental degradation. Areas such as agriculture, energy, human health, biodiversity, ecosystems, and water resources continue to feel these effects. Among the most vulnerable and marginalised in many of these areas, women experience the most profound impacts. They constitute the majority of the world’s poorest and are more dependent on the natural resources that climate change threatens the most. Women also face unequal access to resources and decision-making, especially where structural barriers to gender equality such as division of gender roles in households/communities and dependence on natural resources prevail.

At the same time, they are influential contributors to change and contribute profoundly to climate action at all levels. They have proven to be leading the way towards more equitable and sustainable solutions to climate change to build a more sustainable future. 

In the National Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs), Enabel is has applied the following gender strategies to respond to the challenges caused by climate change.  

Renewable energy
Energy, particularly renewable energy, is often cited as a critical climate change mitigation strategy. In Uganda, like many countries, energy is looked at in terms of electricity, gas and oil. However, the role of women in energy issues is still unclear. Women are presumed unable to operate sophisticated energy mediums, excluding them from playing a crucial role in discussions about energy and contributing to critical climate change mitigation decisions.

In the National Teachers’ colleges, women play a central role in the day to day operations of sustainable renewable energy sources such as biogas and the use of wood saving stoves which contribute significantly to environmental conservation. Biomass fuel being the most dependable energy source, women often are left with the burden of operating this energy source for cooking, lighting and heating. With renewable energy sources, college cooks enjoy efficient smoke-free cooking by using solar water heaters, wood saving stoves, and biogas that significantly impact their health, the environment, and the climate. 

To the NTCs, a reduced need for firewood by over 50% (from 8 to 4 truckloads) per term is ideal for saving money. However, for the cooks, the problems caused by biofuels like firewood are solved. There is a reduction in the workload and green gas emissions, resulting in healthy living conditions. 

“My eyes were greatly affected by the smoke emissions from our old kitchen. With the new wood-saving stoves and biogas cookers, cooking is cleaner and faster, giving us ample time to perform other tasks”. Nakato Mary- college chef, NTC Mubende.  

Integrated and sustainable water management.
In rural Uganda, women usually face the burden of fetching water for their families. They spend significant amounts of time commuting to and from distant water sources, putting them at risk of violence. In addition, water from these sources is often unsafe and can barely meet their daily needs. With Climate change, significant impacts on freshwater sources continue to affect its availability for domestic and productive tasks. It also impacts agricultural production and livestock care and increases the labour required to collect, store, and distribute water.

In NTC Kaliro, the case is not any different. The area suffers from prolonged drought, which significantly impacts access to water. Enabel has taken an environmental protection approach that promotes easy access to a water supply by constructing facilities that cater to rainwater harvesting. Additionally, a solar-driven water extraction and transfer system for quality water are in place. The water sources will enable easy access to clean and safe water for students, predominantly female and protect them from the risk of violence. It will also prevent them from contracting diseases caused by contaminated water, such as arsenic disease, resulting in fatal complications and stigmatisation in society due to their appearance.

Climate responsive infrastructure
Uganda already faces significant impacts of climate change. Temperatures are rising, drought and wildfires are starting to occur frequently, and rainfall patterns are shifting. These climate changes have a social-economic impact that makes communities vulnerable. Enabel has set up sustainable infrastructure to facilitate teaching and learning in an energy-efficient manner. The facilities enhance environmental protection by reducing the carbon footprint through sustainable energy and waste management in the NTCs. 

In these facilities' planning and design process, Nalubega Josephine, an architect at Enabel in Uganda, says that the facilities at the colleges are designed to suit the regional climate. "The focus is to ensure that learning spaces have adequate ventilation and natural lighting. Local materials such as bamboo have been incorporated in the design of most facilities because they are sustainable and allow for classrooms to accommodate many students at a time," she says.

Apart from the actions above, Enabel is doing the following to promote gender equality in climate change for a sustainable tomorrow.

1. Students in the NTCs are trained and equipped with green skills as part of their initial training. Such skills include the production of renewable energy sources like briquettes and biogas. These skills are essential in empowering students to create alternative, environmentally friendly energy sources.
2. Enable supports the NTCs in digitising teaching and learning processes. With this initiative, NTCs have reduced their need for paper and adopted a hybrid approach to teaching, learning and management practices. 
3. Students are sensitised to perform actions geared towards environmental conservation in their day-to-day. Such activities include the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Additionally, recycling bins are in place to encourage students to practice waste segregation. Hajirah Naigaga, a lecturer at NTC Kaliro, says, “We have done much sensitisation for our students in the NTCs, and we believe that they will carry on the same knowledge to their students.”

Climate change represents the most complex challenges of our time – it requires a concerted, proactive and holistic response. However, gender inequality may dramatically limit communities' resilience and adaptive capacity, which restricts options for climate change mitigation. At Enabel, we address both women and men with our climate change actions. We incorporate gender issues and foster the participation of women in the decision-making process of our initiatives.