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Climate & Health Resilience

Elevating women and girls as changemakers in their communities enables them to lead resilient, local, and rights-based solutions to climate adaptation.

95%

countries

where we work have a high vulnerability to climate change

27%

countries

had conducted climate-resilience assessments of health facilities (2021)

20%

female

Heads of Delegation at COP27 in 2022

22%

of Nationally Determined Contributions include sex-disaggregated data

At Pathfinder, climate change puts everything we strive for at risk. The climate crisis threatens the ability of each person to be healthy, thrive, and live the life they choose—but this is especially true for women and girls. Unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence, early and forced marriage, unsafe births and abortions increase during climate disasters.

Climate resilience is critical to health and forging pathways to sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. Around the world, we apply locally led solutions to climate and health resilience, delivering crucial services to women and girls while helping communities adapt to the climate crisis. We partner with women and young people to develop climate innovations that brighten the future of entire communities and nations.

  • Climate change affects every aspect of life. It increases health risks, hinders sexual and reproductive health and rights, increases food and water insecurity, and worsens existing inequities—in every country where we work. These negative impacts are not gender neutral: women and girls are often disproportionately affected.
  • Climate change could undo decades of progress in global health. The health impacts of a changing climate may overwhelm already strained health systems, making access to sexual and reproductive health more challenging for women and communities.
  • We center women and young people in climate resilience programming because these investments generate durable improvements to key outcomes, helps ensure services and programming remain in place, and ultimately leads to communities that are more equitable, healthy, and sustainable.
  • Enhance health and health system resilience. We assess the climate resilience and preparedness of health systems and apply tailored solutions that enable them to provide continuous, high-quality, climate-responsive services through environmental pressures and climate disasters.
  • Partner with communities to manage the impacts of climate change. We work with communities on climate preparedness planning and gender-transformative climate actions. Our programs combine climate, health, and livelihood activities, addressing the entire spectrum of climate-related challenges each community faces and centering the needs of women and girls. We deliver essential information through digital applications, connecting individuals with social safety nets and resources for climate resilience and education so they can adapt and thrive.
  • Support the leadership of women and young people: We actively shift power toward women and girls, enhancing their participation, voice, and agency in climate actions and decision-making. We build the leadership capabilities of young people, partnering with academic and private-sector partners to build the next generation of climate leaders and innovators. At the same time, we ensure women and young people have continued access to reliable healthcare during climate disasters.
  • Advocate for health and gender in climate policies: We advocate for policies that integrate climate resilience, health, and gender, so that governments prioritize health with climate actions, and account for the needs of women and girls in climate action plans.

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We have Climate & Health Resilience Projects in 12 Countries

Youth Champions for Climate Resilience in West Africa (YCC)

The Youth Champions for Climate Resilience in West Africa (YCC) project is funded by Fondation CHANEL and implemented by Pathfinder…

Women-Led Climate Resilience (WLCR)

In Egypt, Pathfinder is working together with its partners to establish greener health clinics and communities The Women-Led Climate Resilience…

Promoting Results and Outcomes through Policy and Economic Levers (PROPEL) Adapt

By working with partners to strengthen policy, advocacy, financing, and governance, PROPEL Adapt aims to build the resilience of health…

Building Healthy Families

The Building Healthy Families (BHF), funded by the US Agency for International Development, seeks to improve health outcomes in Pakistan…

I am Resilient, I am Change

I am Resilient, I am Change (Dharti Ammar) strengthens climate and disaster resilience in farming communities of Tharparkar district, Pakistan,…

PREPARE-BURKINA

PREPARE-BURKINA strengthens the delivery of quality family planning; reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; nutrition; and water, hygiene and…

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) improves equitable access to quality maternal, newborn, and child health; nutrition; voluntary family planning; and…

Tuungane (Let’s Unite)

In 24 remote and rural villages around Lake Tanganyika in Western Tanzania, people struggle to protect their health and the…

Climate-induced Drought and Women’s Migration in Niger

This project supports women and girls impacted by climate-induced drought and migration in 5 villages of Filinguë district, Niger. The…

Advancing the Leadership of Women and Girls Towards Better Health and Climate Change Resilience

This program, funded by Takeda, builds the resilience of communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan to withstand climate shocks and emergencies…

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Featured Publication Resources

Featured Stories

Reflections on Women’s Role in Crisis: Climate Change and Security

Pathfinder International recently convened the “Regional Parliamentarian Meeting on Gender Empowerment and Green Economy” in Islamabad, Pakistan. During the forum,…

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Clear Climate-health Connection Impacting Conditions for Women and Girls

This article first appeared in the Mediaplanet Global Resilience campaign, which was published in The New Scientist. The climate crisis is threatening…

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Pathfinder Study to Inform Health Systems Strengthening Investments in Flood-Prone Areas of Bangladesh

Climate change has made flooding during the monsoon season in Bangladesh more severe and erratic—leaving health systems unprepared to serve…

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Kudos to Passing the Resolution on Climate Change and Health! Let’s Take Action Now!

At Pathfinder, our delegation to the 77th World Health Assembly was proud to witness the passage of the Resolution on…

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No More Sex for Fish: Women’s Leadership in Kenya’s Sustainable Fisheries

In Kenya, Pathfinder’s Darwin Initiative: Pairing Community Conservation Areas (CCAs) with Sustainable Aquaculture in Lake Victoria Project cultivates a new…

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Hope and Heartbreak for Pakistan in the Era of Climate Change 

Harnessing the voices of women and youth to withstand the climate crisis My country is one of hope and heartbreak.…

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Pathways – Fall 2023: Building Climate Resilience

At Pathfinder, we have been working on the frontlines of climate change for years. Over the past few, we have…

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Building Resilience to Climate Shocks in Pakistan

Last month, tropical cyclone Biparjoy landed in Pakistan and India, battering the coastal belt on both sides of the border…

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Climate Change, Emergencies, and Menstrual Health

How Pathfinder supports menstrual hygiene management in Bangladesh’s fragile settings In emergency and humanitarian settings, women and girls have specific…

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Voices from the Floods

On Earth Day, Pathfinder is sharing stories from those who experienced unprecedented flooding in Bangladesh in June and July of…

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Our Team

Madiha Latif

Country Director

Joseph Komwihangiro

Senior Country Director

Amina Aminu Dorayi

Senior Country Director