Financing Change: How Women Transform Climate Budgets for Equity and Resilience
In Nepal, climate finance has long bypassed women, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots communities. By combining community philanthropy, public budgets, and climate funds, Tewa and Prakriti Resource Centre, with support from Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, are proving that gender-just, locally led climate finance delivers tangible environmental and social transformation.
How women in Nepal are transforming climate budgets: from exclusion to redistribution
In 2018, Prakriti Resource Centre (PRC) and Tewa, in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Actions (GAGGA), began discussions and capacity-building on gender-just climate solutions advocacy. Since 2021, they have piloted a transformative blended financing model that empowers women at the local level to lead and implement gender-just climate actions.
Tewa is Nepal’s first women’s fund and the first in South Asia. It supports grassroots women’s groups through community philanthropy, grants, and capacity building to advance women’s rights and environmental justice. Prakriti Resource Centre (PRC) is an environmental organisation focused on climate change, finance, and advocacy. It partners with civil society to influence policy and practice.
When climate budgets ignore women, communities bear the cost
In Nepal, climate finance has historically overlooked women, Indigenous peoples, and grassroots communities —channeling funds to large-scale projects with minimal local benefit. Across the Kathmandu, Kavre, and Ilam Districts, and other agricultural regions of Nepal, women face systemic exclusion from municipal and national budget decisions, despite their critical roles in managing water, land, and food systems.
In Kirtipur, degraded lands from past cement mining received no restoration funding. Barren plots littered with limestone and waste worsened soil erosion and biodiversity loss. In Ilam’s hills, climate-induced water scarcity forced women to trek hours daily for water, impacting their health and livelihoods- yet climate budgets ignored their needs. Agricultural communities, reliant on commercial hybrid seeds, struggled with crop failures and nutritional deficits, with no support for sustainable practices.
Complex funding procedures, lack of transparency, and tokenistic participation further marginalized women-led groups. Without access to climate finance, these groups couldn’t address deforestation, wetland degradation, or food insecurity- leaving communities vulnerable to escalating climate impacts.
How feminist pathways to climate finance are being built
Since 2018, Tewa and PRC have partnered to strengthen grassroots women’s organisations on climate change and finance. The collaboration began at a Green Climate Fund (GCF) event and enables these organizations to advocate for devolved, gender-just climate resources at local and national levels. Through trainings and dialogues, the partnership has built advocacy skills among grassroots women´s groups and CSO representatives. It has promoted gender and financial accountability, and empowered women to influence climate budgeting and policy at both local and national levels.
This collaboration was formalised under GAGGA 1, where Tewa and PRC jointly organised capacity-building trainings for Tewa’s grantee partners on climate awareness and advocacy for climate finance. GAGGA 2 built on this foundation, enabling Tewa to continue its grant-making and accompaniment support while PRC partnered with these organisations to implement projects advancing gender-just climate action.
With support from the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), Mama Cash and Both ENDS, Tewa and PRC supported five women’s groups: Sahayatra Nepal and Anjeliya Mahila Krishi Sahakari Sanstha of Ilam district, Srijansheel Mahila Samaj Nepal and Women Empowerment Centre (WEC) of Kathmandu district, and Mahila Jagaran Samuha of Kavre district.
Over four years, these groups built connections with municipal governments, enabling women to engage in decision-making, negotiate budgets, and access funds for gender-just climate solutions (GJCS). The Gender-Just Climate Solutions Transformative Model repositioned women as active leaders by equipping them with knowledge on climate risks, adaptation strategies and governance, empowering them to advocate for localized solutions.
In Kirtipur, WEC partnered with the International Analog Forestry Network to transform a 1,000-square-meter of barren cement mine into Nepal’s first Analog Forest. They planted over 100 native and edible species, built dry stone walls to prevent erosion, and created a rainwater pond- all using chemical-free practices like vermicompost and mulching.
In Ilam, Sahayatra constructed water tanks, pipelines, and wetland conservation structures. They formed over ten community-based women’s groups, including one from the Obsolete Indigenous Lepcha Community. Anjeliya promoted organic farming by producing compost and cultivating local seeds, while planning a nursery for endangered varieties.
These groups have also been promoting e-cooking to lower carbon emissions, ease women’s workload, and reduce health risks. Mahila Jagaran Samuha in Banepa piloted nature-based agriculture, scaling from 10 to 50 farmers with municipal support. Srijansheel Mahila Samaj Nepal secured USD 5,956.43 (NPR 833,900) from Bagmati Province, the first time such funding was awarded, to train women in producing cotton and allo fiber bags.
These groups focused on advocacy and capacity-building by training officials and mobilising women’s networks. WEC hosted workshops, Sahayatra conducted orientations with Ilam’s government, and Anjelia trained mothers and school authorities. PRC facilitated training on three key areas: bridging knowledge on climate change and gender, local level budgeting and planning, and rights-based advocacy. GAGGA’s flexible, multi-year grants and PRC’s technical support helped these initiatives scale. Meanwhile, Tewa and PRC connected groups to national advocacy platforms for gender-just climate finance.
How women are reshaping power, budgets and climate outcomes
The most significant transformation has been the shift in how local authorities and communities view gender stereotypes and women’s leadership. Community-led women’s groups are now recognised as key players in addressing environmental and climate change issues. Municipalities and wards actively invite these groups to collaborate on Gender-Just Climate Solutions (GJCS), supported by dedicated municipal budgets. This change reflects growing acknowledgment of women’s roles in driving sustainable, community-led climate initiatives. These partnerships amplify local climate action and influence broader policy frameworks.
The interventions delivered transformative outcomes. In Kirtipur, WEC’s Analog Forest revitalized a degraded park with over 100 plant species, 13 bird species, and macro-organisms like earthworms. This curbed erosion and boosted moisture retention. The success influenced Kirtipur’s municipal council to allocate USD 14,285 in 2024 for women-led restoration, shaping national policies for gender-inclusive ecological restoration. In Ilam, Sahayatra’s water systems eased women’s burdens, restored wetlands, and supported wildlife. Their advocacy included formulating a Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA), which redirected USD 10,714.29 to women-led water projects. The Lepcha group secured funds for Indigenous-led conservation. Sahayatra is also supporting women’s groups in Ilam with legal registration, strengthening women’s agencies for collective movement building and climate advocacy.
Anjeliya’s organic farming conserved biodiversity, reduced reliance on hybrid seeds, and improved child nutrition. This work secured USD 10,714 for subsidies and biodiversity programs. In Banepa, Mahila Jagaran Samuha scaled their nature-based agriculture pilot with USD 3,800 for LAPA and USD 5,120 for bio-fertilizer production. Srijansheel Mahila Samaj Nepal received USD 5,956 from Bagmati Province to empower women in economic and climate resilience activities.
Since 2022, women’s groups across these regions have accessed approximately USD 153,982 for climate and conservation initiatives. This includes USD 118,522 of these five women's groups and USD 35,460 from other women's groups who participated in Tewa and PRC's trainings. The funds supported water and wetland conservation, organic and nature-based farming, e-cooking, LAPA formulation, and awareness workshops.
International climate finance remains insufficient to meet global needs. In Nepal, organizations like PRC and Tewa have demonstrated an effective blended financing model for Gender-Just Climate Solutions (GJCS). They combine multiple funding sources: climate funds from PRC (supported by Both ENDS), public and philanthropic funds from Tewa’s local fundraising and Women's Fund (supported by Mama Cash), and domestic public funds from municipalities. By empowering women’s groups and fostering leadership, this approach scales up climate finance and addresses climate impacts as the grassroots-level. The model offers valuable lessons for bridging climate finance gaps nationally and internationally, showcasing how women’s empowerment can drive transformative change and leverage local budgets as climate funds through PRC and Tewa’s small grant programs.
Nepal’s community-based women’s groups offer a powerful model for transforming climate finance globally. Since 2022, they have redirected over USD 153,982 in local budgets, challenging exclusionary, top-down funding models that prioritise fossil fuels and large-scale monoculture projects. By centring women’s and Indigenous knowledge, these initiatives demonstrate what just, accessible, and reparative finance looks like, funding grassroots solutions such as ecological restoration, water security, and agricultural biodiversity.
The Gender-Just Climate Solutions Transformative Model shows how empowering women as planners and innovators ensures sustainable, scalable outcomes. Their story highlights a critical global need: simplified funding processes that prioritise local actors, particularly women and Indigenous groups sidelined by complex procedures. Flexible, multi-year grants like those from GAGGA enable tailored solutions that meet communities’ real needs.
Their advocacy for gender-just budgets offers clear lessons for donors and governments: invest in women’s leadership, recognise Indigenous practices, and ensure transparency. This replicable model proves that community-led, gender-just climate action can deliver both environmental and social impact while challenging harmful finance flows.
How funding women, simplifying access and trusting community leadership can transform climate finance
Climate finance must prioritise direct funding to locally-led, gender-just climate actions implemented by community-based women’s groups and Indigenous communities. This means, simplifying access and recognising their knowledge to create equitable, sustainable solutions.
“Sea lo que sea, la manera en la que cuentes tu historia en línea puede marcar la diferencia.”
