Dialogue seeks ways to help women in climate-resilient livelihood restoration

Challenges facing women in climate-resilient livelihood restoration after the COVID-19 pandemic drew the attention of delegates to a policy dialogue jointly held by the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) and the UN Women in Hanoi on February 28.

VWU Vice President Nguyen Thi Minh Huong pointed out gender stereotypes about the role, capacity and contribution of women in natural disaster combat and climate change response, stressing women have the capacity to create resources for natural disaster adaptation and mitigation.

Therefore, women should be empowered to meet their own needs, helping themselves, their families and communities cope with extreme weather events caused by climate change, she continued.

Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe briefed the delegates on Sweden’s “feminist foreign policy,” and emphasised the responsibility of policy makers for forming a resilient community.  

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Country Representative of UN Women in Vietnam, said climate, environment and natural disaster policies and programmes should put women and girls at the centre of decision-making.  

She also called for gender mainstreaming in policies and programmes on mitigation of natural disasters, climate and environment.

The dialogue forms part of the project “EmPower: Strengthening Human Rights and Gender Equality through Climate Actions and Disaster Risk Reduction”, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency./.