Integrating gender and nutrition into climate policy: Insights from the GCAN Initiative in Nigeria

Climate change impacts—including increasing temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and intensifying extreme weather events—have hit Nigeria hard, reducing agricultural productivity, driving up food prices, and limiting access to nutritious food. Climate-related damage to roads, irrigation, education, and health care infrastructure has also undermined food production and access to essential services. Women and other disadvantaged social groups bear a disproportionate burden of these negative impacts, due to systemic inequalities in access to resources, decision-making, and economic opportunities. These problems have intensified the country’s longstanding malnutrition crisis. Thirty-four percent of children under five are stunted and 70% of the population suffers from moderate or severe food insecurity.

In Nigeria’s Kano and Adamawa states, climate-driven impacts are contributing to high levels of malnutrition and gender inequities. In Kano, using a multidimensional poverty framework, 10.5 million people are classified as poor and in Adamawa, 3.4 million people. In these states and across northern and northeastern Nigeria, moreover, women’s limited bargaining power within households presents a significant barrier to their ability to influence decisions about how to respond to climate challenges and risks.

To address these challenges, Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil (ADUST) and the Environmental Care Foundation (ECF) in Nigeria partnered with IFPRI under the Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN) to engage key stakeholders to include gender, climate change and nutrition in policies and interventions. GCAN is implemented in five low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)—Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. In Nigeria, ADUST is leading efforts in Kano State; ECF is doing so in Adamawa State.

Shaping gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive climate policy through evidence-based research, advocacy, and collaboration

GCAN’s journey in Kano and Adamawa began in 2024 with a mission to ensure that climate policies reflect the needs of women and marginalized groups. Through targeted advocacy, policy engagement, and strategic partnerships, and using GCAN and other research results, the initiative worked closely with the governments of the two states, civil society organizations (CSOs), and international development partners to advocate for gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive climate change policy and investment.

The revised climate change policy of Kano State, February 2025

Kano State’s Executive Council formally approved a revised Climate Change Policy early in 2025, a landmark achievement that includes a commitment to gender-responsive climate actions and improved nutrition outcomes. On January 31, 2025, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf officially signed the policy into law; on February 4, Deputy Governor Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo publicly announced the new policy at an event organized by ADUST, where he lauded the longstanding collaboration between ADUST and IFPRI and the importance of GCAN.

As part of the official policy review, the ADUST GCAN team provided technical expertise, facilitated stakeholder consultations, and championed the integration of women’s empowerment and nutrition-sensitive agricultural strategies into policy development. Throughout the policy process, the GCAN team engaged with more than 20 federal and state government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and NGOs inside and outside the state through meetings, workshops, and seminars. The GCAN team also leveraged media including print, radio, and television to reach over 1 million individuals on the importance of these efforts. The initiative also engaged directly with women’s organizations and local communities, amplifying their voices in policy discussions.

This policy marks a transformative step in Kano’s climate resilience environment, ensuring that vulnerable communities, particularly women and children, have better access to resources, technologies, and support systems that improve food security and agricultural sustainability. The policy’s major aims include:

• Ensuring equitable access to climate-smart technologies, agricultural inputs, and extension services for vulnerable groups, particularly women, by setting gender-specific targets.
• Providing support for women’s access to credit, land rights, and training in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, strengthening their role in increasing agricultural resilience and food security.
• Promoting the cultivation of nutrient-dense and biofortified crops to improve dietary diversity and nutrition, particularly for children and pregnant women, including integrating these practices into extension services and through community outreach efforts aimed at enhancing food security and health outcomes.

The Climate Change Sector Working Group and the Climate Change Research Center of Adamawa State

In Adamawa, one of the major successes of the GCAN effort was the establishment of the Climate Change Sector Working Group (CCSWG). On February 22, 2024, a GCAN Net-Map workshop, facilitated by ECF, laid a foundation for collaboration and coordination of climate actors in the state. Afterward, ECF promoted the creation of the CCSWG to spearhead a more coordinated approach to addressing climate change; with state government support, the group was inaugurated on October 15, 2024 within the Adamawa State Secretariat. Since then, the working group has brought together key stakeholders, including government, CSOs, NGOs, and academia to create a platform for collaboration on climate change challenges in Adamawa.

A later event brought together participants from government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), academia, NGOs, CSOs, community leaders, and private sector representatives to enhance stakeholders’ understanding of the climate change policy landscape in the state, while also exploring opportunities to integrate gender and nutrition considerations into policy frameworks.

ECF also conducted a review of the national climate change policy with a focus on gender and nutrition integration, aiming to align national priorities with the specific needs and contexts of Adamawa. ECF also organized a comprehensive policy dialogue in the state, attracting high-profile stakeholders, including the Commissioner of the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Chairperson of the Planning Commission, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, alongside representatives from academia, NGOs, CSOs, and community leaders. This dialogue served as a significant milestone in fostering inclusive discussions and actionable pathways toward climate resilience.

A further milestone was reached in November 2024 with the proposal to establish the Savannah Climate Research Centre as the CCSWG’s research and knowledge hub. Through these initiatives, ECF has significantly advanced climate change governance, fostering a more informed, coordinated, and evidence-driven approach to addressing climate challenges in the state.

The road ahead: Turning evidence-based policies and institutions into action

To ensure that newly created gender- and nutrition-sensitive policies and institutions reach, benefit, and empower marginalized and food-insecure populations in Adamawa and Kano states, the GCAN teams continue to work alongside government agencies, donor organizations, and grassroots communities to ensure that these interventions are effectively executed.

In Kano, the GCAN team is now supporting the state government in developing an implementation roadmap to translate policy commitments into action. ADUST will also provide research sponsorships for scholars exploring solutions to climate, nutrition, and gender integration. Community outreach programs to educate women farmers on climate-smart agriculture and facilitate access to finance are also being developed.

In Adamawa, GCAN is engaging and convening key state and national stakeholders to highlight the importance of integrating gender and nutrition into climate change policy and to tailor national policies to the needs of Adamawa state, including through the mobilization of community-based organizations and women’s groups. ECF is also hosting a series of dialogues to evaluate the policy landscape, identify gaps, and propose actionable recommendations to enhance climate resilience in the state.

We believe that GCAN’s successes in Kano and Adamawa can serve as a useful model for other states in Nigeria—and beyond. By embedding gender equality and nutrition considerations into climate legislation, Kano has set a precedent that could inspire similar reforms in other climate-vulnerable areas. Similarly, the working group established by ECF in Adamawa is a model for advocacy, policy engagement, and capacity strengthening that can lead to stronger partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders on climate actions.

As GCAN moves forward, its commitment remains strong: To ensure that climate policies are not just about the environment but about people’s well-being, equity, and a future where no one is left behind.

Musa Tukur Yakasai and Bello Yakasai are Vice Chancellor and Visiting Fellow, respectively, of Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUST), Kano, Wudil, Nigeria; Yohanna Moses is Executive Director of the Environmental Care Foundation, Adamawa, Nigeria; Bedru Balana is IFPRI Acting Program Leader, Nigeria; Elizabeth Bryan is a Research Fellow with IFPRI’s Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR) Unit; Augustine Iraoya is a Research Analyst with IFPRI’s Development and Governance Strategies Unit; Claudia Ringler is NRR Director. Opinions are the authors’.

The GCAN project is supported by the Gates Foundation and is implemented by IFPRI under the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program.