On 31 July 2025, SWEDIWorld followed the EPIC-Africa webinar “From Fragility to Fortitude: The Impact of US Government Funding Cuts on African CSOs”, which unpacked the immediate and structural effects of the cuts on civil society organisations across the continent: organisations shrinking, pausing or shutting down; staff laid off; programmes discontinued; partnerships lost.

Beyond the data, the webinar named something deeper: grief, and then clarity. The civil society model many organisations have long depended on, with external funding and externally driven priorities, is no longer sustainable. The report accompanying the webinar challenges the sector to rebuild on different foundations:

• unrestricted funding;
• locally led agendas;
• shared infrastructure; and
• sector-wide collaboration over competition.

“As a newer organisation shaped by the realities of shrinking space and shifting priorities,” SWEDIWorld wrote, “this moment reinforces our belief in designing from the ground up: intentionally, collaboratively and with sustainability in mind. We are listening, and we are building.”

SafeWorld Empowerment and Development Initiative (SWEDIWorld) took part in the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan Workshop held during the June 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (SB62) in Bonn, Germany.

The workshop brought together governments, UN agencies and civil society organisations to co-develop the next phase of the Gender Action Plan, scheduled for adoption at the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. It was facilitated by a team that included Fleur Newman of the UNFCCC Secretariat, Thays Prado of the Feminist Climate Movement, UN Women gender experts and UNFCCC technical staff.

Participants worked through collaborative mapping, visual storyboarding, peer storytelling and co-creation exercises to design inclusive climate strategies that reflect global realities. SWEDIWorld’s Executive Director, Sewuese Asa, joined the workshop virtually and contributed reflections on:

• centring adolescent girls and women in climate action;
• addressing the barriers faced by women and girls displaced by conflict; and
• integrating education and menstrual dignity as essential components of gender-responsive climate strategies.

SWEDIWorld’s own programming, from menstrual hygiene outreach in underserved public schools across the Federal Capital Territory to eco-literacy and tree-planting initiatives in conflict-affected communities in Benue State, grounds these contributions in practice.

The experience informs SWEDIWorld’s continuing advocacy for gender-responsive climate action, including its later work to take the Belém Gender Action Plan to communities in Abuja.

On 2 July 2025, SWEDIWorld’s founder joined policymakers, private-sector actors and community voices at the Decarbonizing Infrastructure in Nigeria Summit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, held with the National Council on Climate Change Secretariat. The summit asked a practical question: how do we fund the future we say we want?

Key takeaways

• Vice President Kashim Shettima shared that 75% of Nigeria’s emissions come from infrastructure, and announced a USD 60 million Green Port project to cut diesel use.
• Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe emphasised how urgent the transition is and the key role of the private sector.
• Musaddiq Mustapha spoke about the need to give states and local actors the tools to lead, and not only Abuja.
• Participants kept returning to finance: how to unlock it, how to localise it, and how to ensure communities can actually access it, “not just big numbers, but real money in the hands of people doing real work”.

Why it matters to SWEDIWorld

SWEDIWorld works at the community level, in schools, planting trees, educating girls and building climate solutions from the ground up, which is where the benefits of climate finance have to land. Being in rooms where infrastructure and finance decisions are made helps the organisation make the case for efficient systems that align with national and global climate goals and that reach women, girls and smallholder farmers.