A longer-term vision from women in Afghanistan

In November 2021 I had the chance to travel to Jalalabad (Nangarhar province), in Afghanistan. I was part of a mission where we were consulting with local NGOs and communities to explore possibilities for future resilience-building projects. The whole trip was really exciting and curious for me, because it was one of the few field missions I could undertake since I was working for the country, and it happened when the Taliban were already in power. The security situation for UN people improved - we were not a target anymore - so we could visit areas that we could not easily reach before. Jalalabad (and surroundings) was one of them. I have many memories from that trip that, as a woman, I am still processing today. I have a special one I would like to share. 

My team and I went to a village where we already were supporting a local NGO, working with women. They offered big (and beautiful) goats to selected women (families) with special vulnerability needs, so they could improve their livelihood and income. I was invited to join the ‘graduation’ ceremony and was offered the honor to handle the animals to the women. Of course, and as usual, I was the only woman there among many men, at the beginning. Afghan women were ‘hiding’, in a nearby building, while speeches were pronounced. I asked if I could skip some speeches and join the women, taking the chance to talk with them. 

We managed the language barrier with my female translator, a very young girl that knew a bit of English, along with the international face and gesturing language (that is a plus if you come from the Mediterranean). The best thing - and quite impressive for me - was that all women were uncovered, burqas off as no men were present. Among other things, I asked them what would they ask for if they had the chance to do it. Quickly, two of the older women (maybe 50 but looking 80) asked for food. We are hungry, we need food, flour, salt. Then, a group of younger women (maybe in their 20s but also looking older) told me they did not want any food. They wanted support for their children education. It was not a very long chat, as we had to get back to the ceremony. Before wearing the burqas, they asked permission to touch me. We ended all hugging, touching faces, arms, exchanging smiles, them talking in pashto, me talking back in Spanish, all at the same time, like normal women in a family. They thanked me for being there and gave me blessings. As I said before, I am still processing that moment. 

Why am I telling you this in a climate blog? Because I think it illustrates quite well what I believe climate finance should do in fragile places. In that complex situation, in the deep Afghanistan, local young women under burqas look ahead and perfectly know the kind of support they need, which is not emergency food, that was in the past. They were not aware of climate data, of future scenarios, development theories or environmental sustainability. They knew they needed medium and longer term support for their kids to learn, to be able to make it on their own, both girls and boys. Isn’t that what all mothers want?

It is true that climate funding is not easy to get and to manage anywhere, but the difficulties are even bigger in conflict-affected and fragile states. That does not mean that investing and channeling funds - that are agreed and negotiated to be for the most in need - not possible. Many professionals, researchers and practitioners, are working to find ways to overcome challenges - just consider the high contextual risks, the weak governance and institutional capacity, among others - and find ways to reach these people. 

Some propose ‘specialized windows’, where a proportion of the climate funds could be allocated on a fit-for-purpose process, keeping a degree of flexibility to adapt to fluid situations;  an interesting one is to reduce the administrative burden harmonizing requirements across funds and donors; and I specially like the proposed locally-led adaptation, that would allow sub national level channels to access the funding.

Overall, one thing is clear: all climate projects should be conflict-sensitive. It would be great if all funds would agree on a screening tool (or any tool) that would ensure avoid doing harm. Maybe contributing to peace is, as now, too ambitious for a climate project, but again, not impossible. I trust all the colleagues that are working pushing in that direction. It is my personal-professional commitment, too. 

Thanks for reading!