Funding for new fellowship programme.
A new climate change focused fellowship promoting equal participation by women in peace resolution is being supported as part of a 300,000 funding commitment from the Scottish Government.
The Beyond Borders UNSCR1325 Climate Change Fellowship will provide peacekeeping, negotiation and reconstruction training to women in areas of conflict.
It will enable climate activists, people from indigenous and island communities, and areas where there is no state control, to share their experience of issues of gender, climate change and conflict.
This new programme is one of the three fellowships delivered by Beyond Borders to support women with conflict resolution supported by Scottish Government funding in 2021-22.
The fellowship on conflict resolution has involved over 250 women from more than 20 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia since it began in 2016.
Speaking at the New York Times Climate Hub at COP26, External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson recently said:
We know that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change.
Our transition to net zero can only truly be just if it also tackles inequalities that women and girls face around the world, but that are particularly apparent in the global south and places of conflict - such as increased food insecurity, displacement and sexualised violence.
We have an opportunity to support women to play a full role in work to mitigate climate impacts, disaster risks and loss and damage that are inextricably linked to both conflict and the climate emergency, and this funding will further the work already started by the Beyond Borders fellowship.
Beyond Borders Founder Mark Muller Stuart, QC, recently said:
"Beyond Borders welcomes the continued support of the Scottish Government for the development of the Women in Conflict 1325 Peacemaking Fellowship Programme.
Since 2016, the Fellowship has created a unique community of practice of women working in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and will now build upon this community in exploring the critical nexus of climate change, gender, conflict and security.
Following the lead of the United Nations Secretary General, the Fellowship is committed to providing a platform for the discussion of these crucial themes and to developing a framework concerning climate change and conflict, and the instrumental role that women play in working to ameliorate both phenomena."