Gender equality and climate action are intertwined topics that are increasingly being addressed together. Joe Mari S. Francisco, technical officer of the of Philippines’ Climate Change Commission and National Gender Focal Point of the Philippines to the UNFCCC, agrees with it and has been tasked with mainstreaming gender across the Philippines’ NDC. Joe Mari took the Open Online Course on Gender and Environment and the Introductory e-Course on Climate Change back in 2018 to better understand climate change and its implications on gender. He successfully completed both courses and, among other things, discovered the interlinkages between climate change and gender. This newly acquired knowledge contributed to him being appointed to support the development of a gender responsive NDC for the Philippines.
Since 2018, he has carried out gender and climate change audits of his organization, produced a Gender Analysis and added technical inputs to the NDC, and been appointed as the National Gender Focal Point to the UNFCCC. Moreover, Joe Maris has been able to raise awareness of gender and climate change among his peers in the Commission and this has been reflected in the mainstreaming of gender across the Commission’s internal and external processes.
Currently, he’s part of the team developing the Philippines’ NDC Gender Action Plan which aims to implement gender responsive NDC policies and measures for Filipino women, men, and LGBT+.
Joe Mari’s contributions can be found on the National Integrated Climate Change Database and Information Technology.
His knowledge of gender and climate change opened opportunities on different fronts as well. For instance, he has been invited to deliver several national and international presentations on Gender and Climate Change to share the Philippine’s experiences on integrating gender in climate actions.
“I think the knowledge I got from the courses on UN CC :e-Learn helped me to fulfil my tasks as one of National Gender Focal Point of the Philippines to the UNFCCC.” – Joe Mari S. Francisco. 2022 UN CC:Learn Champion