CoM SSA Gender Guides for Local Governments
Period: January - October 2022
Client / context: Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA) / GIZ, in partnership with ICLEI Africa
Location: Sub-Saharan Africa (regional)
CONTEXT
African city governments working on climate and energy plans showed genuine interest in integrating gender and social inclusion — but repeatedly struggled to move from intent to practice. The gap wasn't political will; it was the absence of practical, accessible resources designed for the realities of local government teams in Sub-Saharan Africa. Existing guidance was either too abstract, too long, or designed for large development agencies rather than municipal staff.
MY ROLE
As the programme's Head of Gender and Social Inclusion, I identified this gap and designed the response. I commissioned and supervised a consultancy (Black Coconut, contracted through ICLEI Africa) to collect real-world case studies of gender-responsive urban climate projects led by city governments. When the research revealed a deeper-than-expected lack of city-led examples, I used that insight to reframe the entire output: rather than a case study compilation, the programme needed practical how-to tools that built capacity from the ground up.
I co-developed and served as lead author and editor of the CoM SSA Gender Guide series — three complementary publications designed to be read in under 15 minutes each and immediately actionable:
A glossary of key gender mainstreaming terms (gender-neutral, gender-responsive, gender-transformative, intersectionality) applied to the climate and energy context
A guide to gender-inclusive participatory approaches for project development — with concrete tools, case studies and step-by-step processes
A practical gender analysis guide for the project identification phase — enabling city officials to design gender-responsive infrastructure from the start
I then convened and moderated the public launch at the Climate Chance Summit in Dakar (October 2022) — an all-female panel of practitioners from cities in Mozambique, Mauritania and Kenya presenting how they had applied inclusive approaches in urban mobility, public lighting and energy access data collection.
WHAT CAME OUT OF IT
Three published practical guides, now used by urban practitioners across Sub-Saharan Africa as part of the CoM SSA toolbox
Successful public launch at the Climate Chance Summit, Dakar — with city practitioners presenting real implementation examples
Strengthened capacity across the CoM SSA network to embed gender analysis in climate action plans and infrastructure project pipelines
A model for knowledge production that starts from practitioner reality rather than donor frameworks
