Bernadette Sexton

Day 1 of COP30 commenced with a heavy afternoon downpour. Belém, a city set in the Amazon rainforest, saw rain so intense that organisers soon had buckets scattered around the convention centre to catch leaks. If there is a god, the timing felt pointed. The UNEP Emissions Gap Report of 2025 estimates that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions, are now 2.3-2.5°C. Under current policies alone, warming could reach around 2.8°C.

We are already living inside a world of intensified heatwaves, extreme rainfall, prolonged droughts, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, heating of the ocean, and rising sea levels. As temperatures increase, the effects will be most profound affecting those most vulnerable. Consecutive climate shocks displaced 2.2 million people in 2023 in Somalia, for example.

Throughout COP30, several Indigenous communities used their panels to sing, dance, and play music. Coupled with the rain falling outside, their presence drew the attention of attendees. It felt fitting, symbolic even, that these communities were finally having their voices centred. Yet the question remains: have they truly been listened to?

These communities are not simply cultural contributors to COP30. They are adaptation leaders whose knowledge systems have sustained ecosystems for centuries. These are communities who did not create the climate crisis, yet they will face some of its most extreme consequences: rising waters, prolonged droughts, and devastating floods. When rain finally does come after extended drought, the land is often too dry to absorb it, causing rapid flooding and further erosion of already fragile ecosystems.

COP30 made clear what frontline practitioners already know; adaptation is the first line of defence for human security. Adaptation is no longer a secondary concern to mitigation. It is foundational for stability, resilience, and human welfare as highlighted in the Returns on Resilience flagship report. For RedR, whose mission is to strengthen local capacity for crisis resilience, climate change intersects with humanitarian need in ways that are increasingly visible across our programmes globally.

In this context, what works?

National Adaptation Plans exist in most climate-vulnerable countries, yet the institutional capacity to implement them requires support. Finance ministries, local authorities, and civil society actors often lack the skills and systems to translate plans into action. This resonates with RedR’s recent work in partnership with the Government of Somalia, Global Centre for Adaptation, and the World Bank to strengthen public service delivery at the local level, improve access to climate-resilient urban infrastructure and services, and enhance readiness to respond to future crises and emergencies through targeted training programmes.

A defining takeaway from COP30 is that adaptation must be locally owned, inclusive, and equitable. Funders should align with country-led strategies and support community-driven approaches to avoid fragmented, top-down interventions. For over six years, RedR has worked with local organisations to strengthen climate resilience across countries including Philippines, Bangladesh, Uganda, Afghanistan, Kenya and Somalia, providing training, coaching, microgrants, and developing climate change adaptation and disaster risk resilience communities of practice. This equips participants with the tools to conduct climate risk assessments, implement adaptation strategies, and advocate for the inclusion of climate resilience within their organisations and communities. The demand is there. In our most recent cohort, 409 applications were received for 88 available positions.

Adaptation as systems strengthening

Adaptation must be systemic and cross-sectoral, bridging silos between agriculture, water, health, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Climate adaptation ultimately succeeds or fails on the strength of everyday systems: water, sanitation, health, transport; and the people who maintain them. This resonates at multiple levels. RedR’s humanitarian skills for engineers, a partnership with the Ugandan Institution of Professional Engineers and Makerere University, trained engineers to integrate humanitarian and climate resilience standards into national infrastructure systems. Our structural detailing and damage assessment work in response to earthquakes in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Türkiye, and Syria, is strengthening and has strengthened technical capacity for safer, climate-resilient reconstruction of critical infrastructure. Resilient infrastructure underpins health, water, sanitation, and protection systems, making engineering expertise a critical adaptation enabler.

Prioritise gender responsive planning

As I discussed on a panel with UNFPA, climate change is not gender neutral. Its direct and indirect effects, whether through slow-onset degradation like drought or rapid-onset disasters like earthquakes intensify pre-existing inequalities, undermine sexual and reproductive health outcomes, and dramatically increase the risks of gender-based violence due to disruption of health systems, reduced access to essential health care services, displacement, and harmful coping mechanisms. Meanwhile, climate change exacerbates structural inequalities, limiting women’s livelihoods, safety, agency, and participation in decision-making.  These risks reverberate across generations, undermining girls’ education, household income, and long-term economic stability. Integrating gender equity across adaptation, infrastructure and technical systems, preparedness, early action and disaster risk resilience, and workforce development is a high return investment.

This is reflected in RedR’s trainings on Gender Equitable Nutrition, Gender-based Violence and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse that has been rolled out across countries affected by conflict, displacement, and climate. It was also reflected in the work of RedR member, Annet Nsiimire’s project in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement which renovated cooking stoves, reducing the daily risk of violence and sexual abuse for women and girls who previously had to collect firewood.

Why this matters?

Adaptation is now central to humanitarian effectiveness, stability, and development. It is the backbone of resilience. Adaptation investments generate high returns, but only if countries and communities have the capacity, systems, and people to implement them. RedR occupies a niche at this intersection: bridging engineering and humanitarian systems, translating global adaptation priorities into practical local action, and building the human and institutional capabilities that enable adaptation to achieve real outcomes.

Investing in the people, systems, and skills that make adaptation real is one of the highest-return decisions governments and funders can make. It’s time to implement.

At COP30, our CEO, Bernadette Sexton, joined a panel hosted by UNFPA at the Luxembourg Pavilion focused on the impact of climate change on sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and gender equality. She also met Mary Robinson, first female President of Ireland, former UNHCR High Commissioner, Elder, and leading climate justice advocate.

Climate change is not gender neutral. Pre-existing inequalities are intensified directly or indirectly, whether through slow-onset degradation or rapid-onset disasters. There are solutions.

Key to the conversation:

Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)
Climate change amplifies SRH risks through disruptions to health systems, harmful coping strategies, displacement, and reduced access to essential services. In many contexts, SRH services, including antenatal care, contraception, menstrual hygiene, and safe delivery, are among the first to collapse following climate-induced shocks, whilst heat stress increases risks for pregnant women, including stillbirth and complications.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Resource scarcity and economic strain escalate domestic violence and intimate partner violence during droughts, failed harvests, or lost livelihoods. Displacement and shelter insecurity increase exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, and harassment. Inadequate WASH infrastructure forces women and girls to travel long distances for water or latrines, heightening the risk of assault. Child marriage rises as a coping strategy during climate-induced economic stress. Breakdown of protection systems in disasters leaves communities without safe reporting pathways or survivor services.

Climate Change and Gender Equity
Climate change exacerbates structural inequalities, limiting women’s livelihoods, safety, agency, and participation in decision-making. Unequal labour burdens, especially in water and fuel collection, intensify as droughts worsen or ecosystems degrade. Women’s livelihoods (agriculture, informal work, small enterprises) are disproportionately impacted by climate variability. Exclusion from climate decision-making persists in local and national adaptation planning processes. Limited access to climate finance for women-led organisations prevents equitable adaptation implementation. Education disruptions driven by climate shocks reduce future economic resilience for girls and young women.

Solutions

1. Integrate SRH, GBV, and gender equity into climate adaptation
   Investments should prioritise gender-responsive planning and risk assessments, including through practical training and capacity development for frontline actors.
2. Infrastructure and technical systems are critical for gender protection
   Infrastructure failures, collapsed clinics, inaccessible water systems, and unsafe shelters create downstream GBV and SRH risks.
3. Preparedness, early action, and DRR reduce gendered harm
   Early warning, community preparedness, and risk-sensitive planning reduce not only economic losses but also GBV and SRH impacts.
4. Invest in the adaptation workforce
   Strengthening the global adaptation workforce, including gender-aware humanitarians, engineers, and government planners, is a high-return investment area.

Read our case study on the Contextualised Training Programme on the Minimum Standards for Camp Management in Ukraine and Neighbouring Countries, delivered between May 2022 and February 2023.

In response to the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, many first responders had little to no humanitarian experience but were faced with the challenging task of addressing complex operational and protection issues, including the planning and management of displacement sites. Strengthening local knowledge and skills to provide an effective humanitarian response aligned with humanitarian principles and sector standards became crucial.

The project aimed to design and deliver a contextualised, easily accessible training programme on the Minimum Standards for Camp Management for staff and volunteers from local organisations, municipalities, community-based groups, and faith-based organisations involved in managing displacement sites.

If you’d like to give financially to support projects for disaster-affected communities all over the world, you can do so here. 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Our Annual General Meeting is open to all members of the charity

Alongside the formal business, the meeting will include a presentation from CEO Bernadette Sexton. You’ll also hear from Rob Buckley, Chair of our Members’ Council, and Samwel Cheruyiot, Vice Chair of our Members Council.

We have not yet confirmed the date of the 44th AGM.

“Innovation is very simple in my humanitarian work.”

This feedback, recently given in RedR’s training on humanitarian innovation in Addis Ababa, may not strike a chord with you. In fact, while we all recognise on the power of innovation, we also find it quite intimidating. By its very nature, there is no blueprint for innovation. Which leaves us with an uncomfortable conclusion. Whose job is it to innovate? It might be me. 

Our recent innovation training for the ToGETHER Programme led by NGO Welthungerhilfe brought together 113 participants from local and international NGOs based in nine different countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Germany, and Colombia. The training was designed to build a culture of innovation, and equip participants with the tools to create innovation in their own roles and organisations, to better serve communities affected by disaster. 

We speak to two RedR Trainers, Alejandro Castañeda and Ahmed Hassan, who facilitated two of the five innovation training sessions we held in four cities around the world. What does real innovation look like? Whose responsibility? And how do we make it happen? 

Simpler than you think

Real innovation always arises from the space given for understanding real problems, and listening to the right people. Alejandro is an experienced Sphere trainer. In the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis in Colombia which intensified in 2015, Alejandro became convinced that the best support for Venezuelan migrants would come from cash transfer – an innovative and burgeoning form of humanitarian support. 

Yes, innovation is your responsibility

Innovation often seems as if it can only be pursued on a macro scale. How can we implement it as a culture in the humanitarian sector? As Ahmed explains, at the beginning of the training in Addis Ababa the participants “never thought about innovation as something related to their work. Innovation seemed too big, and not suitable for where we are.”  

Similarly, in the Colombian context for the RedR innovation training in Bogotá, Alejandro says “there were great expectations on the first day … some were expecting direct answers on how they should innovate in the humanitarian sector. In the end, they understood that the training provided tools that allow them to innovate. In the end, it is up to each humanitarian worker to generate spaces for innovation, thinking of the people affected.” 

Innovation happens when each humanitarian shifts their mindset. Rather than a task for someone else, it is integrally linked to the approach they take to their own role. Far from placing a burden of responsibility onto the individual, however, this mindset shift that Ahmed and Alejandro facilitated through this training should give new freedom and capacity to the individual to bring innovation in their own context, in relation to their own responsibilities. The training gives participants the space and tools to consider the question – are the methods I use really the best way of solving the problems I face? 

As Ahmed, an experienced humanitarian leader, notes, “if you stay the same you will be left behind.” As an illustration of this mindset shift in action, some participants in Addis Ababa brought a real example from their own roles – managing the life-threatening flooding of the Shebelle river in Hiran region, Somalia. Giving space in the training the diverse group of participants including young and old, experienced and newly recruited Ethiopian and Somali participants from different organisations, able to discuss outside the box ideas – using fencing, or bells to create an early warning system, and working harder to understand the community response. Ethiopian participants shared ideas from their own experiences with  flooding, and they also discussed how to able such a solution – specifically, how to effectively pitch innovation to a potential donor. 

“Innovation”, as Ahmed explains, “is about empowering individuals with the tools to discover   their own solutions. By providing these tools, individuals can adapt them to their unique contexts and circumstances.” 

Those tools, transferred by the training, centre on the Human Centred Design approach to innovation, distinctive for its emphasis on empathy and deep understanding of the needs, behaviours, and experiences of users, insistence on user involvement throughout a design process, and iterative model of testing and refinement. 

Yes, innovation is possible

People need space to consider, listen, and discuss. They need tools and knowledge. They need – in a word – capacity. 

“Building capacity among local people creates innovation”, says Ahmed. “While abundant resources exist, the issue often lies in the lack of access to these resources for local communities.  By bringing together spaces, people, resources, and tools , individuals can access what they need to develop innovative solutions to the challenges they face in responding to disasters.  

If humanitarian innovation is as simple as giving talented, experienced humanitarians some breathing space and the tools to think, it’s as simple as a new way of viewing ourselves. Ahmed says that his training participants had never thought about humanitarian innovation before – in fact, they had thought that humanitarianism is singularly not innovative. “Now”, he says, “they were able to apply innovation in their own real problems”.

This Cross Cutting Issue (CCI) Guidance Framework is a compilation of the key tools, resources and guidance that organisations can use to strengthen integration of CCIs in WASH programming throughout the humanitarian program cycle.

This compilation was the result of a consultative process with key stakeholders and review of available resources in February 2024. It consolidates the work of Working Groups developing cross-cutting approaches, and reflects the current priority issues for WASH in Ukraine.

It enables WASH actors in Ukraine to readily access support, aggregating existing guidance and best practices in WASH thematics.

This framework will guide you on how to meaningfully ensure participation, minimize existing barriers and ensure safe and equitable access to WASH interventions.

Why do cross-cutting issues matter?

Integrating CCIs into WASH programming makes humanitarian services and responses safer, more effective and more timely by proactively identifying and mitigating the barriers and risks that people face in accessing assistance.

By addressing CCIs in all stages of the programme cycle it anchors protection mainstreaming principles into the WASH response ensuring adherence to the right to WASH services and human-rights. Integrating CCIs into WASH in Ukraine will contribute to ensuring ‘the most vulnerable people affected or displaced by the war can access basic WASH services and materials to maintain basic hygienic practices, with a focus on people with disabilities including children with disabilities and persons of older age, women and girls, and minority groups.’ Failing to address CCIs in WASH compromises the effectiveness of the response.