Gender and Climate Change Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Climate policy officers, Adaptation programme managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CCA-018

Before you join: Participants should understand basic climate change concepts, including mitigation, adaptation, climate hazards and vulnerability.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Climate hazards do not affect all people equally. Drought can increase unpaid water collection, heat can expose outdoor and care workers to greater risk, and flood recovery can exclude women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and displaced groups from assets, information and decisions. Climate policies that treat communities as homogeneous can miss these differences, direct resources toward already powerful groups and create unintended harm. Public agencies, development partners, banks and corporate sustainability teams need defensible methods for identifying gendered climate risks and designing adaptation measures that improve equity as well as resilience.

This course develops the policy and programme skills needed to integrate gender equality into climate change adaptation. Participants apply the IPCC risk framework, gender analysis methods, stakeholder and power mapping, participatory consultation approaches, gender-responsive budgeting and monitoring methods. The course examines the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan, National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, climate-finance requirements and environmental and social safeguards. Sector cases cover agriculture, water, urban heat, health, disaster risk reduction, coastal livelihoods and social protection.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with case analysis, facilitated group work, policy-design simulations and structured peer review. Participants work with realistic adaptation scenarios and assess how choices about targeting, participation, finance, safeguards and indicators affect different groups. Each participant leaves with a Gender-Responsive Adaptation Action Pack: a gender analysis, stakeholder map, draft results framework, indicator set, budget considerations and a 90-day application plan for a live or planned policy, project or programme.

The course is suited to professionals responsible for adaptation policy, climate programmes, investment decisions, social safeguards, monitoring or community engagement. It is particularly relevant where institutions must show that climate funding, public expenditure and adaptation interventions deliver fair and measurable benefits.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct gender analysis using sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated climate-risk data
  • Apply the IPCC risk framework to identify differentiated adaptation vulnerabilities
  • Assess climate policies against UNFCCC gender commitments and human rights principles
  • Design inclusive consultation processes using power analysis and safeguarding measures
  • Formulate gender-responsive adaptation options for priority sectors and population groups
  • Prepare gender-responsive results chains, budgets and implementation responsibilities
  • Develop gender indicators, baseline plans and adaptive management processes
  • Produce a 90-day action plan for integrating gender into adaptation work

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Apply recognised gender analysis methods to adaptation policies and project documents
  • Contribute credible gender content to National Adaptation Plans and funding proposals
  • Identify exclusion and gender-based violence risks before programme approval
  • Build measurable gender outcomes into adaptation results frameworks
  • Present a practical case for gender-responsive adaptation budgets and governance

For your organisation

  • Stronger alignment with UNFCCC gender commitments and climate-finance requirements
  • Adaptation investments better targeted toward groups facing highest climate risks
  • Earlier identification of safeguarding, exclusion and reputational risks
  • Improved evidence for gender-responsive reporting to funders and oversight bodies
  • Clearer institutional responsibilities for gender analysis, budgeting and monitoring

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how gender relations shape climate risk, adaptive capacity and adaptation outcomes.

  • IPCC risk framework linking hazard, exposure, vulnerability and adaptive capacity
  • Gender as social relations shaping access, agency and decision-making
  • Intersectionality applied to age, disability, income, ethnicity and displacement
  • Care economy burdens intensified by water scarcity, heat and disasters
  • Climate justice principles: rights, participation, accountability and distributional fairness
  • Distinguishing gender equality, equity, women's rights and gender responsiveness

Participants can identify gender entry points within major climate policy instruments and commitments.

  • UNFCCC commitments on gender equality under the Paris Agreement
  • Gender Action Plan priorities, activities and reporting expectations
  • Nationally Determined Contributions assessed for gender-responsive adaptation commitments
  • National Adaptation Plan entry points for gender analysis and participation
  • Human rights-based approach applied to climate policy design
  • Policy coherence between adaptation, disaster risk reduction and social protection

Participants can conduct a structured gender analysis using climate-risk evidence and stakeholder information.

  • Problem-tree analysis separating climate hazards from gendered vulnerability drivers
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies rights-holders, duty-bearers, allies and gatekeepers
  • Sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated data collection plan for adaptation decisions
  • Harvard Analytical Framework maps activities, resources, benefits and control
  • Access and control profiles reveal unequal resource and decision rights
  • Ethical data protocols address consent, confidentiality, safety and do-no-harm

Participants can plan safe and meaningful participation for groups affected by adaptation decisions.

  • Participatory rural appraisal methods adapted for inclusive climate consultations
  • Power analysis examines voice, representation, norms and institutional exclusion
  • Separate consultation formats protect privacy and reduce participation barriers
  • Free, prior and informed consent principles for Indigenous Peoples
  • Safeguarding referral pathways for gender-based violence risk disclosure
  • Grievance redress mechanisms designed for accessibility, confidentiality and response

Participants can assess adaptation options for equity, feasibility, effectiveness and maladaptation risk.

  • Gender-responsive adaptation options for agriculture, water, health and settlements
  • Climate-smart agriculture assessed against land, labour, credit and extension access
  • Water security measures account for collection time, safety and affordability
  • Heat action plans identify differentiated exposure among outdoor and care workers
  • Nature-based solutions screened for tenure rights and benefit distribution
  • Option appraisal compares effectiveness, equity, feasibility, cost and maladaptation risk

Participants can translate gender analysis into costed adaptation policy and programme design.

  • Theory of change links gender outcomes to adaptation interventions and assumptions
  • Gender-responsive policy objectives framed with rights, equity and resilience criteria
  • Results chains specify outputs, outcomes, responsibilities and decision points
  • Gender budgeting identifies targeted expenditures, mainstreamed allocations and budget markers
  • Costed implementation plans assign owners, timelines, dependencies and resources
  • Public expenditure tracking tests whether planned benefits reach intended groups

Participants can prepare gender-responsive inputs for adaptation funding proposals and project documentation.

  • Climate finance proposals align gender rationale, activities, budgets and indicators
  • Green Climate Fund gender policy requirements interpreted for project preparation
  • Gender Action Plan translates analysis into commitments, responsibilities and resources
  • Gender assessment terms of reference define scope, methods and deliverables
  • Environmental and social safeguards identify gender-differentiated project risks
  • Procurement specifications include gender-responsive service requirements and reporting

Participants can design monitoring systems that track differentiated adaptation results and inform decisions.

  • Gender-responsive indicators measure access, agency, benefits, safety and influence
  • Indicator reference sheets define disaggregation, sources, frequency and accountability
  • Baseline design combines quantitative measures with qualitative evidence
  • Outcome harvesting captures unintended gender outcomes from adaptation actions
  • Most Significant Change technique documents participant-defined adaptation benefits
  • Adaptive management uses monitoring findings to revise interventions and budgets

Participants can adapt gender-responsive design methods to priority climate adaptation sectors.

  • Urban heat adaptation case assesses gendered mobility, housing and occupational exposure
  • Smallholder irrigation case examines land rights, unpaid work and water governance
  • Coastal resilience case addresses fisheries livelihoods, relocation and social protection
  • Disaster preparedness case tests inclusive warnings, shelters and recovery assistance
  • Health adaptation case maps maternal health risks during heat and flooding
  • Comparative case review identifies transferable design choices and context limits

Participants can create a practical plan for embedding gender accountability in adaptation work.

  • Organisational gender mainstreaming roadmap sets governance, skills, procedures and accountability
  • Roles matrix assigns policy, programme, finance, safeguarding and monitoring responsibilities
  • Capacity assessment identifies training, coaching, recruitment and partner support needs
  • Change management plan addresses resistance, incentives and leadership sponsorship
  • Quality assurance checklist reviews analysis, participation, budgets, safeguards and evidence
  • Personal 90-day application plan prioritises one policy or programme improvement

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Gender-responsive climate risk analysis template
  2. Adaptation stakeholder and power mapping tool
  3. Inclusive consultation and safeguarding checklist
  4. Gender-responsive adaptation results framework
  5. Gender indicator reference sheet
  6. 90-day gender integration action plan

Who should attend

  • Climate policy officers — need to translate gender commitments into adaptation policy measures
  • Adaptation programme managers — need to design equitable activities, budgets and results frameworks
  • Gender equality specialists — need climate-risk methods and adaptation policy entry points
  • Environmental and social safeguard practitioners — need to identify gender-differentiated project risks
  • Climate finance and investment staff — need to meet gender requirements in funding proposals
  • Monitoring and evaluation specialists — need to measure differentiated adaptation outcomes

Skills and tools covered

Gender analysisClimate risk assessmentInclusive policy designGender-responsive budgetingSafeguarding practiceAdaptation monitoring

Tools and standards

IPCC risk framework, Harvard Analytical Framework, UNFCCC Gender Action Plan, Green Climate Fund Gender Policy

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish policy frameworks and analytical methods, followed by sector-based case work on heat, water, agriculture, disasters and climate finance. Participants analyse policy extracts, risk data and project scenarios in small groups, then test design choices through consultation, budgeting and monitoring simulations. Facilitated discussion compares approaches used by public agencies, development institutions and funders. Individual application planning connects the methods to a current adaptation policy, programme, investment concept or monitoring challenge.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic climate change concepts, including mitigation, adaptation, climate hazards and vulnerability. Experience in public policy, development programmes, environmental management, social inclusion, project delivery, finance or monitoring is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading policy documents and discussing evidence from their own sector or country context. Prior gender-specialist training is not required, and no statistical modelling, climate science qualification or prior knowledge of UNFCCC negotiation processes is assumed. The course introduces the required policy frameworks and analytical methods before applying them.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with climate change adaptation and experience in a policy, programme, project, finance, safeguards or monitoring role. No prior gender-specialist qualification, climate science degree or UNFCCC negotiation experience is required.

Participants should bring a current or planned adaptation policy, project concept, funding proposal or monitoring challenge where possible. Public documents, draft results frameworks or non-sensitive data extracts can be useful, but are not mandatory.

The course is designed for climate policy officers, adaptation programme managers, gender specialists, safeguards staff, climate-finance professionals and monitoring specialists. It also suits managers who approve or oversee adaptation investments and need to assess gender risks and commitments.

General gender mainstreaming courses may not address climate hazards, adaptation finance, National Adaptation Plans or climate-risk evidence. General adaptation courses often address technical options without examining unequal access, participation, safety, rights and benefit distribution.

Participants can use the templates to review a policy, assess a project concept, prepare a funder submission or strengthen an adaptation monitoring framework. The final application plan identifies one defined improvement to implement within 90 days.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from climate-risk and policy foundations through analysis, participation, design, finance, monitoring, sector cases and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

More courses in Climate Change Adaptation

Climate Change Adaptation Decarbonisation Strategy Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Ecosystem-Based Climate Adaptation Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Environmental Project Grant Management Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Green Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Low Carbon Development Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Machine Learning for Climate Prediction Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Climate Change Adaptation Methane Emissions Management Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov