“To reach a more equitable future and a healthier planet, keeping girls in school is a critical first step. I am thrilled that we are bringing more attention — and funding — to this issue." —Asha Mweru
KAMPALA, Uganda (PRWEB) May 23, 2023
Community Carbon today announced the creation of its ‘Climate Resilience Impact Fund’ as part of a clean cooking and safe water initiative launched in 2022 to reduce emissions and improve livelihoods across sub-Saharan Africa. The new fund, structured as a nonprofit foundation, will fulfill the pledge of Community Carbon, and its partner in the fund, Carbon Streaming Corporation, to invest a portion of carbon reduction revenue toward additional community benefits across the regions in which it operates.
The Climate Resilience Impact Fund has selected as its first grantees two high-impact charities focused on the education and empowerment of women and girls, who are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. The two charities, Street Child Uganda and AGE Africa, both operate within communities involved in Community Carbon’s clean cooking and safe water initiative. Each of the two organizations will be funded a total of USD $150,000 over the course of three years.
About Street Child Uganda
Street Child Uganda is an international NGO that works with local organizations to ensure every child has access to an education, even in the world’s hardest-to-reach communities. The organization has operated in Uganda since 2018 and has helped more than 40,000 children in the country access education so far.
Through its work with the impact fund, Street Child will deliver a comprehensive program of support for primary-age girls in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda, and a smaller package of support for boys, to advance their learning outcomes. Street Child’s program, Breaking Barriers, is a three-pronged approach to galvanize education attainment for 4,860 children in Kyangwali refugee settlement.
About AGE Africa
Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa (AGE Africa) gives Malawi’s poorest young women the tools they need to confront the many obstacles to education, from high costs to child marriage and early pregnancy. Its mission is to provide life-changing opportunities to young women in Malawi through targeted initiatives in education, mentoring, and leadership development.
With the support of the fund, AGE will deliver a program to increase girls’ knowledge of emergency response preparedness, improve girls' retention and achievement in secondary schools, and empower girls to become leaders in climate change response at local and national levels.
In order to select its first two grant recipients, the Climate Resilience Impact Fund established an independent selection committee made up of experts specializing in fields that reflect the goals of Community Carbon and Carbon Streaming, many of whom are Africa-based leaders. The committee invited 11 charities whose activities directly focus on girls’ education and skills development to participate in a rigorous selection process. The charities were scored based on criteria in areas such as impact, cost-effectiveness, focus on climate justice, and more. Out of this process, the committee unanimously selected Street Child Uganda and AGE Africa. The two organizations will provide interim reporting on progress and outcomes at regular intervals over the course of the three years of funding, in addition to a final impact evaluation at the three-year mark.
Committee members for the Climate Resilience Impact Fund include:
- Joyce Kinyanjui: managing director of ziziAfrique, an education-focused business which uses evidence-based interventions, strategic communication, and advocacy for community and policy actions. ziziAfrique envisions an Africa in which each child has an equal opportunity to grow, learn, think and thrive.
- Judith-Ann Walker: a development practitioner with more than two decades of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating social sector development interventions targeting women and girls in Nigeria
- Asha Mweru: an entrepreneur and business mentor passionate about developing the future leaders of Africa, and the founder of WomenWork Kenya
- Maurice Swan: board chair and chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee of Carbon Streaming
- Matt Evans: co-founder and board chair for UpEnergy, and director of investments at Environmental Commodity Partners, a California-based investor in environmental markets and decarbonization projects
“Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of climate change because it increases existing gender inequalities and poses unique threats to their livelihoods, health, and safety,” said Kinyanjui. “Research shows that girls’ education is a great predictor of climate resilience, not only for the girl herself, but for her community. I am confident that the two organizations being supported by the impact fund have what it takes to equip girls with the necessary skills to improve their own lives and, in turn, the lives of others.”
"Every day in my work with female leaders and entrepreneurs across Africa, I am reminded of the importance of providing a strong educational foundation for women and girls from all walks of life. Not only does a good education make a successful career possible, it empowers women to decide how to shape their lives, their communities, and the world,” said Mweru. “To reach a more equitable future and a healthier planet, keeping girls in school is a critical first step. I am thrilled that we are bringing more attention — and funding — to this issue."
Community Carbon was created by Uganda-based social enterprise UpEnergy and Carbon Streaming, which leverages stream financing to scale high-integrity carbon credit projects to accelerate global climate action and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals . Through its clean cooking and safe water initiative, Community Carbon expects to deliver 50 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions reductions over the next 15 years, while saving households and schools money on annual fuel expenditures. The project’s portfolio of seven energy-saving projects across eastern and southern Africa has already begun, with the goal of delivering a total of 3.5 million fuel-efficient, cleaner cookstoves and water purification systems to communities across five countries. Community Carbon’s approach aims to stimulate additional social and economic benefits such as local job creation, local upskilling and protection of local forests.
The projects are made possible with a $20 million stream investment from Carbon Streaming. The impact fund, too, is initially funded by Carbon Streaming — a reflection of the company’s commitment to accelerate impact prior to credit issuance which is expected within the next year. Future Community Carbon credit buyers will have the opportunity to co-invest in the Climate Resilience Impact Fund to further support additional positive outcomes beyond the direct co-benefits achieved by the projects.
Community Carbon chose to initially channel impact fund support toward the education of women and girls, who are often the most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, yet also the group with the highest potential to fight it. The Malala Fund estimates that climate-related events, from natural disasters to severe droughts, prevented at least four million girls in low- and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education in 2021.
In addition to limiting access to a quality education, climate and extreme weather events destroy livelihoods and worsen poverty, and girls and women often bear the brunt of these challenges. Girls in vulnerable households are more likely to leave school to get married in times of climate-related crises to help ease the burden of scarce household resources.
But improved education has an important role to play; a global analysis of 130 countries shows that education — particularly female education — is the single most important socioeconomic factor associated with a reduction in vulnerability to natural disasters. Studies have also shown that investing in education can have direct benefits for the planet and global greenhouse gas emissions levels. Education also acts as an important tool to improve health, inform choices around lifestyle and economic empowerment, and improve overall quality of life.
For more information, visit https://communityco2.org/.
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ABOUT COMMUNITY CARBON
Community Carbon develops energy-saving solutions in southern and eastern Africa — starting with cleaner cookstoves and safe water filters — that avoid emissions, improve community outcomes, and preserve local environments. Our approach goes further, stimulating additional social and economic benefits by focusing on local manufacturing, reinvesting project revenue to build and deploy more devices in the community, supporting local tree-planting programs, and supporting the education and empowerment of women and girls. Community Carbon combats energy poverty by tapping into carbon markets and the global community’s drive to reduce emissions — because together, we can do more. Community Carbon was established in 2022 by UpEnergy. Learn more at https://www.communityco2.org.
ABOUT UPENERGY
UpEnergy delivers high-impact, emission reducing projects that accelerate decarbonization and benefit low income communities most at risk from climate change. UpEnergy projects offer access to life-improving clean technologies and protect landscapes in low-income communities worldwide. With an international team based in Kampala, Uganda, UpEnergy invests in developing strong local teams that work closely with the communities we serve to ensure impact and rigorously monitored emissions reductions. Learn more here: http://www.upenergygroup.com.
ABOUT CARBON STREAMING
Carbon Streaming aims to accelerate a net-zero future. We pioneered the use of streaming transactions, a proven and flexible funding model, to scale high-integrity carbon credit projects to advance global climate action and additional United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This approach aligns our strategic interests with those of project partners to create long-term relationships built on a shared commitment to sustainability and accountability and positions us as a trusted source for buyers seeking high-quality carbon credits.
The Company’s focus is on projects that have a positive impact on the environment, local communities, and biodiversity, in addition to their carbon reduction or removal potential. The Company has carbon credit streams and royalties related to over 20 projects around the world, including high-integrity removal, reduction and avoidance projects from nature-based, agricultural, engineered and community-based methodologies. Learn more at https://carbonstreaming.com/.