The Central Africa Women’s Initiative for Climate Action (WICA), a program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Climate Fellow’s Program, is designed to strengthen capacity and increase the participation of early-career women in central Africa – Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo – in their national climate change processes. The initiative is a training program focusing on national processes to measure and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions/removals to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other carbon accounting frameworks. The program will foster new experts in the region providing them with both knowledge and experience to engage in these climate change processes.

103 women have been selected from the four participating countries to take part in the program. A series of national workshops were held from April – June 2021 where participants learned about the basics of climate change, greenhouse gas accounting, the social and economic impacts of the climate crisis, climate finance and national and international climate policy. Regional webinars targeting specific greenhouse gas sectors followed these workshops to further specific expertise in different sector streams.

From the broader group, twenty women, five from each country, were selected to participate in an intensive program to complete a diploma course in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) through the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, the most rigorous diploma program they offer. These early-career experts will also gain practical experience through internship and mentorship programs offered by national institutions in their respective countries.