📋 Tender Overview
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A new Disability-Inclusive Climate Champions Network has been launched to bring together persons with disabilities, Indigenous and community leaders, climate experts, policymakers, and development partners across the Pacific and beyond. The Global Disability Fund (GDF) says the network is intended to connect disability leadership and lived experience with climate science, policy, planning, and investment.
The initiative builds from a disability-inclusive climate action session held before COP31 and is designed as a continuing community of practice leading into COP31 in Turkiye and beyond. GDF describes the network as Pacific-led and strengths-based, aiming to help ensure that disability-inclusive approaches are not developed without the people and communities they are meant to serve.
Context: Disability and climate impacts in the Pacific
People with disabilities face disproportionate impacts from climate change, according to GDFs announcement. The network argues that disability expertise, lived experience, and leadership have often been missing from climate policy, planning, finance, and implementation.
GDF says the Pacific region also holds community knowledge, innovation and leadership that can inform how climate action is designed and delivered. By convening a cross-sector group, the network seeks to turn that knowledge into influence over practical decisions in climate adaptation and resilience.
Purpose and planned activities
GDF frames the networks role around several core functions: connecting people, organisations, and ideas across disability and climate sectors; amplifying Pacific lived experience and disability leadership; and facilitating innovation by linking technical expertise and lived experience.
In addition, the network aims to influence climate policy, planning, and investment, and to mobilise partnerships, resources, and action. GDF says members will collaborate to share evidence and best practices, identify opportunities for disability-inclusive climate action, and develop partnerships across disability, climate, science, and finance.
According to the announcement, participants will also exchange approaches for adaptation, resilience, and impact assessment, and they plan to showcase community-led solutions. GDF adds that the network will work towards a shared agenda and messages for COP31, as well as engagement through the Global Disability Forum and beyond.
Who is joining the network
The network will bring together organisations of persons with disabilities and people with disabilities, along with Pacific community and Indigenous leaders. It also includes climate scientists and researchers, engineers and technical experts, innovators and technology partners, governments and policymakers, and climate and development practitioners.
GDFs announcement further lists funders and investors and regional and international organisations as intended participants, with the network described as Pacific-led. The guiding principle stated by GDF is that disability-inclusive climate action should not be designed without the people and communities it is intended to serve.
Why the COP31 link matters
The network is explicitly positioned as a platform for continued collaboration leading into COP31 in Turkiye and beyond. GDF says it builds from the Reimagining Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Pre-COP session, which called for a new multi-sectoral community of practice to strengthen systems, forge partnerships, and identify priorities for future investment and action.
While the announcement does not specify funding figures, implementation geography beyond the Pacific, or a fixed membership timeline, it provides a clear agenda for collaboration across sectors and an intention to carry disability-inclusive priorities into major climate policy processes.
Why this development matters for NGOs and civil society
For development and humanitarian actors, the network reflects a broader shift toward disability inclusion in climate governance and implementation. By positioning disability leadership alongside climate science and policy expertise, GDF is seeking to strengthen how climate adaptation and resilience efforts are informed and assessed.
The initiative also signals continued momentum for localization--supporting regional leadership and community knowledge--and for disability-inclusive approaches connected to the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights commitments, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), referenced in GDFs wider program areas.
Key Details
Initiative or programme: Disability-Inclusive Climate Champions Network (community of practice)
Lead organization: Global Disability Fund (GDF)
Partners: Climate scientists and researchers; engineers and technical experts; innovators and technology partners; governments and policymakers; funders and investors; regional and international organisations (partners listed as intended network participants; specific organization names not provided)
Funding amount: Not specified
Geographic focus: Pacific and beyond; Pacific-led network (COP31 link to Turkiye)
Target groups: Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) and people with disabilities; Pacific community and Indigenous leaders; climate and development practitioners; policymakers and funders
Duration or timeline: Continues into COP31 in Turkiye and beyond (specific dates not provided)
Expected reach or outcomes: Collaboration to share evidence and lived experience; identify opportunities for disability-inclusive climate action; develop partnerships; develop shared agenda and messages for COP31 and the Global Disability Forum (no numeric targets provided)
Why This Matters
For NGOs, nonprofit professionals, and grantmakers, the network offers a structured way to connect disability leadership with climate-policy and finance discussions--an area where inclusion has often lag
