People

CJRF centers three constituencies in our work – women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples. Each of these groups is disproportionately impacted by climate change, in large part because the same systems that disadvantage them are causing the climate crisis. When they organize, they directly challenge these injustices. Because of this, interventions that follow their leadership and address their priorities contribute to the systems changes needed to transform the status quo and advance climate justice.

CJRF recognizes that women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples are not homogenous categories: different systems of oppression interact in diverse ways to shape distinct advantages and disadvantages in people’s lives. This diversity also varies by context. We therefore take an intersectional approach to focus our work with these constituencies in any given circumstance.

Women

Women are powerful change agents in their communities. Their experience navigating gendered divisions of labor gives them a critical understanding of resilience, care, and collective well-being. For example, they typically are the first to respond to crises, and they make key decisions on food, water, and health. CJRF seeks to amplify women’s voices in climate decision-making, build women’s leadership, and foster climate action that addresses women’s needs and concerns.

Youth

With their energy, creativity, and willingness to reject the status quo, youth are driving change locally and at international levels through entrepreneurship and grassroots movements. In many countries, young people represent a large and still-growing population segment that could shape a powerful set of resilience solutions with the right skills and opportunities. After all, youth have the biggest stake in how we address the crisis, as they will live with the consequences the longest. CJRF seeks to help raise youth voices and support youth-led resilience solutions as a critical element of intergenerational justice. We aim to ensure that climate resilience grows up alongside this generation.

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Peoples cultivate resilience by relying on and living in touch with the land. Their long-held knowledge systems, cosmologies, and practices that sustain the earth are essential to addressing the climate crisis. They offer counter-thinking to the economic, social, and political systems that are causing climate change. CJRF seeks to help ensure that climate decision-making addresses Indigenous Peoples’ priorities and that indigenous communities have the rights and resources they need build and scale their own climate solutions.