A new advocacy brief released by Samuel Hall and Uthabiti Africa, with support from Global Affairs Canada, reveals a critical and long-overlooked truth: climate action is failing caregivers. While global and national climate strategies focus on infrastructure, agriculture, and early warning systems, they continue to overlook one of the most essential pillars of community resilience—childcare and the women who provide it.
Floods disrupt childcare centres. Heatwaves turn iron-sheet rooms into unsafe spaces. Droughts force caregivers to walk longer distances for water. Economic shocks reduce parents’ ability to pay fees.
Yet in all this, caregivers—predominantly women operating informal centres—absorb the true burden. They repair damaged structures. They protect children during emergencies. They lose income when centres close. And they do all this without being recognised in climate policies or budgets.
Most critically, childcare providers are excluded from climate financing mechanisms, such as the County Climate Change Funds (CCCFs), despite operating at the frontlines of climate vulnerability.
Childcare Is Economic Infrastructure—Not Social Welfare
The brief makes a powerful argument: childcare is the backbone of local economies.
When childcare stops, markets stall.
When childcare stops, women cannot work.
When childcare stops, productivity falls.
When childcare stops, everything stops.
Climate shocks disrupt not only children’s safety and wellbeing but also the livelihoods of thousands of families who rely on childcare to participate in the economy.
Caregivers Are Already Adapting—But Alone
Across Nairobi, Kisumu, and Kakamega, caregivers are demonstrating remarkable climate resilience, including:
- Raising floors to prevent floodwater intrusion
- Digging drainage channels
- Using sacks and buckets to manage water
- Pouring water on floors to cool overheated rooms
- Organising collective repairs through savings groups
These are not small acts—they are unfunded climate adaptation efforts. But because caregivers are invisible in planning systems, their innovations remain unrecognised and unsupported.
A Framework for Change: The 5Rs
The advocacy brief proposes the 5Rs Framework as a clear pathway for integrating childcare into climate action:
- Recognise childcare as climate-vulnerable infrastructure in national and county climate plans.
- Reduce risks by investing in resilient childcare centres—ventilation, raised floors, rainwater harvesting, improved drainage.
- Redistribute responsibility from individual women to governments, donors, and communities through accessible climate finance.
- Represent caregivers in climate decision-making spaces, including ward climate committees and County Climate Change Fund boards.
- Reward caregivers through fair pay, protection, insurance schemes, and access to emergency support.
Recommendations for Policy and Action
The brief outlines tangible actions for all levels:
- County Governments: Revise CCCF guidelines to make childcare eligible for adaptation funding; integrate climate resilience standards in childcare regulations.
- National Government: Position childcare as an adaptation priority in the upcoming NCCAP IV and strengthen coordination across ministries.
- Donors & Development Partners: Fund climate-resilient childcare hubs, support caregiver training, and embed childcare within climate programs.
- Civil Society: Amplify caregiver voices and ensure they participate meaningfully in climate dialogues.
“We Are Not Asking for Charity. We Are Asking to Be Seen.”
The voices captured in this research are clear and urgent. Caregivers are climate leaders already doing the work—without financing, recognition, or inclusion.
This brief calls on policymakers, donors, and practitioners to rethink climate resilience through a care lens. Recognising caregivers is not only a gender issue—it is an economic imperative and a climate justice priority.
Supporting caregivers strengthens families, markets, and entire communities.
When childcare stops, everything stops. When caregivers are supported, resilience begins.