Climate Change: Women Voices Need To Be Heard In Decision Making – Alena, German Activist

A climate change activist who works with SOS Children’s village in Germany, Dietl Alena, on Thursday, said women are the ones mostly affected by climate change.

Alena said this during a workshop organised by SOS Children’s village in Gwarinpa, Abuja, for female climate change activists “because women are the most affected and their voices are also not heard in decision making processes. They are coming up with really good solutions and they need to get heard more often. And that’s why we want to empower them.”

The activist particularly cited examples in which women get affected by climate change, saying, “For example if there’s a drought, who has to take the water? The women. Who has to go the longer way to collect the water? The women.

“When there’s no water at home it affects the women. When it comes to cooking, they are the ones facing the problems first and even healthwise when there’s a rising temperature.

“Also the children are highly affected. They are the ones that get taken out of school and dropped out, and if it gets worse it affects them.”

Alena pointed out that it is in this light that the workshop was purposely designed for female activists to create a safe space and a safe atmosphere for them to network better.

She also explained that why Nigeria appeared on the list of countries they are empowering women is because they are targeting the whole sub-saharan Africa.

“We also took interviews in Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and also Nigeria. And we have a good partnership,” she highlighted.

Meanwhile, in addressing the African solutions to climate change, she said it’s not an African thing alone, it’s a holistic approach that needs to make the “amateurs pay for their debts”.

“They really need to pay for the damages that they are causing and I think this is one solution that every country is facing, especially the countries from the global north who need to come together and fight against the emissions because they are in a crisis.

“Emission is already coming to the African states, from the global North, so this is the solution that is more pressured.

“We are trying to implement this project to get more funding and I think there’s hope in the future, because more people are coming to the space and going on the street. If it’s safe for them to do so, there will be more activists,” Alena added.

During the workshop participants were asked to suggest things that should be included in activists tool kits to empower them in carrying out more activism, and they highlighted the need for constant Internet: WiFi, data, activists hub, electrical accessories, campaign materials, means of transportation, first aid boxes, stipends and more.