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building assistance to mainstream gender into a climate-resilient energy system throughout the region. In an area where over half of the population does not currently have access to electricity, the Centre is developing data, tools, and policies with links to climate finance that will empower women to catalyze gender-just, clean energy development in West Africa. All our efforts would be in vain without the political will and country ownership of developing countries. For this, the most important mission of the Convention bodies is to support and ensure the kind of proper coordination and capacities of the national climate focal points and other key actors in-country. In this endeavor, the CTCN has made a concerted effort by enabling developing country partners to meet regularly at the regional level to explore common technology challenges and solutions. Technology transfer alone will not be able to build the needed resilience in our agricultural, transport, energy, and other interconnected systems to get us to where the science tells us we need to be. But by building and securing local capacity, creating the enabling environments to foster projected private sector investment, and supporting multilateral financial institutions with the technical expertise they need to scale up the full range of transformational climate technologies, the CTCN can and will continue to play an important role in securing a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. ■ABOUT THE AUTHORJukka Uosukainen is Director of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). Mr Uosukainen has worked in the fields of environment, technology and development for over three decades, serving as the EU Lead Negotiator and Co-Chairman for UNFCCC subsidiary body meetings, the Basel Convention and the Montreal Protocol. He has also acted as the Chairman for the UNFCCC Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) and facilitated technology negotiations during the Poznan and Durban Climate Meetings. Prior to joining the CTCN, Mr Uosukainen served as Director General of the International Affairs Unit in the Ministry of the Environment of Finland. Above: Jukka Uosukainen“FIFTEEN COUNTRIES IN WEST AFRICA REINFORCED THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF GENDER IN CLIMATE SOLUTIONS”SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS 093