On 27 March- 3April, WOCAN organized three inception workshops for the Asian Development Bank’s Regional Technical Assistance Project on ‘Harnessing Climate Change Mitigation Initiatives to Benefit Women’ in Vientiane, Lao PDR; Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Dong Hoi, Viet Nam. Ministers and senior officials from ministries, leading climate change mitigation and adaptation programs and policy developmentincluding those of women’s affairs, offered support to this project. The workshops included presentations from Linda Adams and Lauren Sorkin from ADB, Eric Zusman from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, and Jeannette Gurung from WOCAN. Participants askedquestions and provided feedback on the pilot projects.
The project will build on existing ADB investments and NGO projects to pilot a model for implementing carbon reduction projects that demonstrate how climate financing can provide benefits to women by valuing their contributions to GHG reductions. These pilots will use improved cook stove technology in Lao PDR; biogas/bioslurry technologies in Cambodia and waste management technologies in Viet Nam.