Funding

2022-2023 On the Ground Experience Developing
Guatemala’s Climate Change & Gender Action Plan (ccGAP)

In Fall 2022, the Kaschak Institute selected two students to travel to Guatemala to assist in developing its climate change and gender policy. This unique opportunity offered hands-on experience in working with climate change and gender policy. Students participated in workshops with women, women’s organizations and multi-stakeholders. In February 2023, Guatemala’s ccGAP was created. Check out what our two students, Ana and Sophia, had to say about their experience! 

We anticipate offering another ccGAP program in the 2023-2024 academic year.  Travel costs will be covered by the Institute. Academic credit is not available for this program. Bookmark our website and keep checking back for our 2023-2024 ccGAP plans and application! 

The Development of a ccGAP has Four Steps

1. Take stock. Analyze the country's legislative and policy framework and any institutional initiatives in areas as diverse as natural resources, disaster risk reduction, socio-economic issues, industry, energy, gender equality, and finance. 

2. Level the playing field.  Enhance the engagement of women and women's organizations in the development of the ccGAP, through a training session conducted to build both technical knowledge and women's confidence in climate change themes and to identify women's priorities and ideas. 

3. Capture diverse voices and views.  As part of a multi-stakeholder workshop, representatives from government, non-governmental institutions, academia, international institutions, and community groups, among others, assess the country's current situation concerning gender and climate change, envision a future scenario across priority sectors, and agree on action steps toward that scenario. 

4. Prioritize and put into action. A national team elected by participants in the multi-stakeholder workshop finalizes the action steps into an action plan and continues after the workshop to gather input from various stakeholders to complete the ccGAP.

Examples of ccGAPs in Latin America and Caribbean countries are:

Peru: https://genderandenvironment.org/plan-de-accion-en-genero-y-cambio-climatico-del-peru-pagcc-peru/

Dominican-Republic: https://genderandenvironment.org/plan-de-accion-genero-y-cambio-climatico-de-republica-dominicana-pagcc-rd/

*Fluency in Spanish was a requirement for participating in this program.  Fluency is the ability to express yourself in a language without even thinking about what you need to do in order to keep a conversation going. Being fluent presupposes a large vocabulary, strong listening comprehension, and grammar knowledge.

**Class absences: It will be up to the student to negotiate the absence with instructors. Attendance and exam policies are set individually by each instructor, and it would be up to instructors to determine the extent to which they want to accommodate the student's participation in this program. Students will also need to explore other areas that may conflict with approximately 8-12 day absences during both the Fall ‘23 and Spring ‘24 semesters. This is not a BU “study abroad” program; the student will be considered a privately funded, independent traveler and the Kaschak Institute will not be responsible/liable for any academic and/or other ramifications that may occur.