COP18 (27/11/2012) – Suzette Mitchell, the Country Representative from the UN Women Vietnam Country Office, describes grassroots initiatives which are empowering Vietnamese women – who are most affected by disasters and flooding –  to get their voices heard in disaster management forums across the country.

Inspired by a Latin American initiative, Mitchell describes how Vietnamese women produced a radio programme highlighting female roles in preparing for disasters. Her organisation has provided training for women to become change makers rather than victims in their local communities, and is now focusing on enabling women to take on decision making roles and join in national and provincial dialogues on climate change.

At COP18, she says she has been sharing ideas with other global south actors to carry similar initiatives across to empower women dealing with the same issues around the world.