, in partnership with UN Women, has launched Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution){kind=link}
The National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), in partnership with UN Women, has launched Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Gender Integration Toolkit and Strategy Workshop to strengthen the country’s commitment to gender-responsive climate action and governance.
The initiative, launched in Abuja, the nation’s capital, aims to provide practical tools and strategies that ensure women, men, and vulnerable groups are fully integrated into the planning and implementation of Nigeria’s climate commitments.
The UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Beatrice Eyong, described the launch as a milestone aligning gender equality with Nigeria’s climate ambitions.
“Today is not just the unveiling of a technical resource; it is the reaffirmation of our collective commitment to ensure Nigeria’s climate response is inclusive, equitable, and effective. Gender equality is not an add-on but a critical driver of resilience, innovation, and sustainable development. We cannot achieve our climate targets without putting women at the centre of climate action,” she said.
Ms Eyong explained that UN Women played an active role in the NDC 3.0 Technical Working Group, which generated sector-specific recommendations to enhance women’s inclusion, empowerment, and leadership across multiple sectors.
“We are glad to see these recommendations have been integrated into the NDC 3.0 document. The eight sectoral toolkits we are launching provide practical guidance on mainstreaming gender across energy, agriculture and forestry, water resources, waste management, transport, industry and manufacturing, oil and gas, and health, while also addressing cross-cutting areas such as climate finance, governance, technology, and cultural protection,” she noted.
The UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS further said that the initiative introduces a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) and Climate Finance Toolkit to help ministries and agencies translate gender commitments into measurable climate actions across all sectors.
“Women have something they can bring to the table to make sure that whatever we’re doing within the climate space is inclusive, rich, and equitable. These realities underscore why gender considerations cannot be treated as an atom—they must be fully integrated into every aspect of climate planning, financing, and implementation. The time to act is now. With strong political will and collaboration, Nigeria can lead Africa in showing that climate action and gender equality are two sides of the same coin,” she stated.
Ms Eyong also disclosed that sectoral training sessions would take place from 7–17 October 2025 to strengthen the technical capacity of federal and state actors to apply the toolkits effectively.
For her part, the Director General of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Omotenioye Majekodunmi, stressed that integrating gender equality is central to building climate resilience.
“Climate change affects everyone, but women and children bear the greatest burden. The launch of this toolkit signals a shift from commitment to institutionalisation. Nigeria must move from policy promises to measurable, gender-responsive action in every sector,” she said.
Representatives from the Federal Ministries of Environment and Budget and Economic Planning commended the initiative, noting that it would strengthen national planning and ensure gender-responsive budgeting in climate programmes.
UN Women and NCCC further announced plans to roll out a Trainer-of-Trainers (ToT) model, implement a monitoring and evaluation framework, and publish the toolkits in both digital and print formats for wider accessibility.
All stakeholders were urged to make full use of the launched tools, integrate them into their strategies and budgets, and apply them to sectoral programmes to ensure an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable climate response.