Over the past ten weeks, Ria Phatarphekar-Karmarkar, Wen’s Climate Sisters Project Coordinator, has been working alongside an inspiring group of women from Afrocats in Manchester as they explored climate justice, leadership and collective action through Climate Sisters.
Here, Ria reflects on the group’s journey so far, including what they’ve learned, the connections they’ve built and a recent visit to the Sanctuary Garden and Mayfield Park.
What does climate leadership look like?
What does climate leadership look like? It looks like women sharing ideas around a table, building confidence together and finding their own voices on climate justice.
Over the past ten weeks, women from Afrocats have been taking part in Climate Sisters, Wen’s feminist climate leadership programme. Through conversation, creativity and collective learning, they’ve explored how climate change connects to the issues that shape their everyday lives.
Afrocats is a Black women-led charity working with local communities across Manchester to break down barriers, raise aspirations and create opportunities for women, young people and families. Together, Wen is working in partnership with Afrocats to build spaces where women can explore climate justice through their own lived experiences and build the confidence to influence change.
Elevating voices in the climate arena
Across ten weeks, participants have explored climate justice through themes including gender equality, racial justice, power, communication and leadership. Together they’ve reflected on the challenges facing their communities, shared their own experiences and discovered how climate change is connected to wider issues of intersectionality and inequality.
This cohort has been particularly struck by discussions around waste colonialism – the exporting of hazardous waste and plastic to countries in the Global South, as well as the disproportionate effect of the climate crisis on racialised women.
The photos below capture one of the final sessions of Phase One, where participants worked together on communicating climate change and began planning their presentations about an environmental issue that matters to them.
Connecting with nature and community
Learning has also extended beyond the workshop room.
This month, the group visited the Sanctuary Garden outside Manchester Piccadilly Station, a new green space created by Sow the City to provide a place of calm in the heart of the city.
Together with photographer Rebecca Lupton, the women explored the garden before taking part in a photo walk through Mayfield Park, capturing the green spaces, details and moments that caught their attention.
The visit offered time to slow down, connect with nature and reflect on what healthy, welcoming neighbourhoods look and feel like. It was also an opportunity to spend time together, building the relationships that are at the heart of collective leadership.
Climate Sisters from from Afrocats. (Ria Phatarphekar-Karmarkar,Climate Sisters Project Coordinator, is standing at the back in the centre, wearing an orange dress).
Looking ahead
As the women complete the first phase of Climate Sisters, they’ll soon begin the next stage of the programme: Creative Expression
In Phase Two, participants will work individually and collectively to develop creative projects that express their concerns, ideas and hopes for the future. Whether through art, writing, film, performance or other creative approaches, they’ll use their own voices to explore what climate justice means to them and the changes they want to see.
These projects will be shared publicly at the Climate Sisters Manchester Showcase later this year, celebrating not only what the women have created but the confidence, leadership and solidarity they’ve built together over the programme.
Growing a movement for feminist climate justice
Climate Sisters in Manchester is part of a growing network connecting women across London, Manchester and Scotland.
At Wen, we believe that the people most affected by climate change and inequality should be at the heart of shaping the solutions. Climate Sisters creates the space for women to build knowledge, confidence and leadership rooted in their own experiences, and to turn those experiences into collective action.
Because climate leadership doesn’t begin with having all the answers.
It begins with listening, learning from one another and creating opportunities for women to lead change in their own communities.
Find out more
Find out more about Climate Sisters and Wen’s work for feminist climate justice.
Read our blog on how decolonial feminism shapes our programmes and partnerships.
Read the Wen briefing ‘Decolonial Feminism and Climate Justice’
Ria Phatarphekar-Karmarkar, Climate Sisters Project Coordinator – Manchester/NW
Ria is an Applied Theatre Practitioner who works collaboratively with young people and communities to create meaningful, joyful work that amplifies underrepresented voices. Outside of Wen, Ria works with Odd Arts, facilitating workshops in schools, communities, and prisons to support people in overcoming social injustices.
