Promoting Equality Through Climate Finance: Climate Investment Funds Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy Consultation

The foremost platform empowering African women leaders for sustainable development. A Harvard and Tsinghua graduate, she founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) in Nigeria, training thousands of women in leadership. She has served in public office, advancing MDGs and trade initiatives, and holds global roles, including Councilor of the World Future Council and Special Envoy to Africa for Women Political Leaders. Recognized with numerous awards, including the 2019 U.S. Civil Rights Museum Public Service Award, Hafsat champions women’s transformative role in creating a better world.

Loreta Rufo is a Senior Climate Change Specialist at the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). She is the Team Lead of CIF’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience and works across teams to ensure that adaptation and climate resilience is an integral objective for all CIF’s programs. Throughout her career, Lorie has co-authored a number of publications on climate change adaptation providing insights and lessons on how to integrate adaptation and climate risk management in planning and investments. She has over 15 years of experience in climate change work and has spent most of her career on project development and administration, environmental management, and research.

Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet is an agronomist and social forester from rural Cameroon who specializes in women’s leadership. Her extensive experience includes work that addresses gender’s intersection with land tenure, climate change, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+). Cameroon Ecology, an organization she co-founded in 2001, has restored over 600 hectares of degraded land and mangrove forest. 

In 2009, she founded the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF), which encourages the representation of women’s interests in environmental policies across 20 African countries. Cécile was elected Climate Change Champion of the Central African Commission on Forests (COMIFAC) in 2012. In 2022 she was awarded as Wangari Maathai Forests Champion and was named Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme following three decades of advocacy for women’s land rights in Africa. In 2023 Cécile was the co-winner of The Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. Cécile serves as a member of a good number of networks and professional societies at national, regional and global levels.

Nina Kolybashkina, is  Senior Social Development Specialist with Climate Investment Funds. Nina’s role involves actively driving the gender mainstreaming agenda, ensuring that considerations of gender are integrated across initiatives. With over two decades of experience in developmental work, Nina’s expertise spans areas such as social inclusion, gender, rural development, water management, and resilience. Nina started her career with UNDP Ukraine, developing and coordinating a portfolio of community-based projects. She also worked with UN countries as an M&E consultant and as lecturer on social policy at Brunel University in the UK. Nina holds a PhD and MSc in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and a Specialist Degree in Economics and Finance from Tavrida National University in Ukraine.

Loli Arribas-Banos, a Spanish national, is currently the Practice Manager for the Social Protection and Jobs Global Unit at the World Bank. Prior to this assignment, she had a similar role at the Poverty and Equity Global Practice with a two year break as a secondee at the Strategy Unit at the French Development Agency (AFD for its acronym in French). Loli has worked on operations, policy advice and analytical activities in Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and Europe and was the World Bank country manager/resident representative in Ecuador from 2009 to 2013. Loli has a masters degree in international public policy from SAIS/Johns Hopkins University, a master degree/MBA from George Washington University, and a Graduate degree in Economics from the University of Valladolid in Spain.

Jessica Espinoza is CEO of 2X Global, a global industry body for gender lens investing convening the entire spectrum of capital providers. Under Jessica’s leadership, the 2X Challenge has raised more than US$ 34 billion of gender lens investments since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018 and catalyzed action at the nexus of gender and climate finance. Jessica has a track record in originating, structuring and executing debt, mezzanine and equity deals in emerging and frontier markets with a strong focus on gender, climate and inclusive innovation. Jessica serves on the Board of Directors of AlphaMundi Foundation and previously of the Mexican financial institution Mega as well as the Advisory Board of several private equity funds. As a mentor for Endeavor, she supports high impact companies as they scale up. Jessica is the Founder of Xoco, an inclusive edtech venture and a fellow at Columbia eLab. Jessica was selected for the Leaders Europe 2022 program of the Obama Foundation and awarded the Digital Female Leadership Award of Global Digital Women 2019.

Prior to her current role, Jessica was Vice President for Private Equity & Venture Capital Investments at DEG/KfW. She was also a Member of the Management Board at ProCredit Bank Nicaragua responsible for the Business Clients Division and managed the Africa Regional Office of MicroFinance Transparency. Jessica holds a double degree in International Business Management from ESB Business School and Dublin City University. She is a PhD candidate at University of Siegen, researching the transformative potential of gender lens investing under the supervision of Prof. Friederike Dr. Welter.

Robin Mearns is the Global Director of the Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) Global Practice at the World Bank. Since joining the Bank in 1997, Robin has held various positions in Washington, DC, and in country offices in Africa, Latin America, East and South Asia, most recently as Practice Manager for Social Development/SSI in Africa and South Asia. He has led operations, policy dialogue and analytics in community and local development, as well as land and natural resource management. Robin also served as the first global lead on the social dimensions of climate change and as sector/program leader for sustainable development (then including infrastructure) in Southern Africa. 

Prior to joining the Bank, Robin spent a decade in research and teaching on environment and development policy at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. He holds master's and PhD degrees in geography from Cambridge University and a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Sussex.

Since 2022, he has led the FCDO's Department for Adaptation, Nature, and Resilience, overseeing initiatives related to climate adaptation, nature mainstreaming, sustainable agriculture, and water security. He chairs the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative and co-chairs the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP). In 2021–2022, he directed the Scottish Government's international climate efforts and contributed to COP26 in Glasgow. Previously, he led the Department for International Development's (DFID) central policy on the United Nations, civil society, gender equality, disability inclusion, and social protection. His international experience includes roles in Rwanda, Tanzania, India, and Indonesia, where he co-led the UK's International Climate Change Unit. Throughout his career, Howe has focused on the intersection of inclusion, climate change, and development.