PCLM-D-23-00068

Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation: Pathways explored by southern African entities possessing or pursuing GCF accreditation

PLOS Climate

Dear Dr. Gerhard, Jones-Philipson, Ndeleni:

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS Climate. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS Climate’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 16 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at climate@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pclm/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind Regards

Jacob Park, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS Climate

Journal Requirements:

Editor/Review Comments                                                                      

Overall, I found the paper (" Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation: Pathways explored by southern African entities possessing or pursuing GCF accreditation") interesting and appreciated how the paper is trying to tackle (simultaneously) a number of important topics including gender mainstreaming, climate finance mobilisation, Africa/climate change, among others. However, the strength of the paper (tackling a wide range of issues simultaneously) is also its greatest weakness in that one major drawback of this approach is the lack of a clear narrative focus with some issues appear to be underdeveloped while some issues might arguably get too much scrutiny as an issue. Case in point: climate change in the context of Africa gets some initial examination in the introduction of the paper, but is relatively under-examined and underdeveloped as a topic. The climate change/drought situation in East Africa, for instance, needs a bit more analysis. Finally, the the paper sometimes veer into a language of a manual trying to help/support organizations to get Green Climate Fund (GCF) project accreditation.

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PCLM-D-23-00068R1

Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation: Pathways explored by southern African entities possessing or pursuing GCF accreditation

PLOS Climate

Dear Mr. Gerhard:

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS Climate. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit for publication but would like to see some minor editing revisions before publication.  Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. If you have any questions about the review process, please feel free to reach out to Dr. Jacob Park (jacob.parkVT@gmail) who is the assigned editor on your paper and a PLOS Climate Academic Editor.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Aug 17 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at climate@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pclm/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Jacob Park, PhD (jacob.parkVT@gmail.com)

Academic Editor

PLOS Climate

Journal Requirements:

1. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

2. Please send a completed 'Competing Interests' statement, including any COIs declared by your co-authors. If you have no competing interests to declare, please state "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist". Otherwise please declare all competing interests beginning with twhe statement "I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests:"

3. Please amend your detailed Financial Disclosure statement. This is published with the article. It must therefore be completed in full sentences and contain the exact wording you wish to be published.

a. State the initials, alongside each funding source, of each author to receive each grant.

b. State what role the funders took in the study. If the funders had no role in your study, please state: “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.”

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If you did not receive any funding for this study, please simply state: “The authors received no specific funding for this work.”

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For more information about figure files please see our guidelines:

https://journals.plos.org/climate/s/figures 

https://journals.plos.org/climate/s/figures#loc-file-requirements

COMMENTS:

In my role as the assigned editor (Academic Editor) of this paper/article, I like/support the editing changes in this revised draft and the only things that are needed are some minor revisions before being ready for publication in PLOS Climate. Please note that these are just editorial suggestions and NOT absolute requirements. FIRST, I think a shorter and more concise title might be advisable. For instance, "Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation IN THE CONTEXT OF SOUTHERN AFRICA" or "Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation AMONG SOUTHERN AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS OR ENTITIES" or something similar.

SECOND, rather than just saying "organizations" in the abstract, please give an example or two of what organizations this study/paper is referring to.

THIRD, similarly, somewhere in the introduction, the authors should provide some examples of Southern African institutions this study/paper examines. In the current/revised draft version, the institutions that are being examined are not communicated until pg. 14 under methodology. I think this comes way too late though the entire list does not need to be repeated in the introduction.

FINALLY, I found 4.7 Challenges Remain weak in terms of analysis/recommendations. For instance, the current/revised draft notes that "capacity building is still an aspect where institutions seek support, specifically as they face the practicalities of project design and implementation. Specifically, knowledge and skills related to gender-responsive budgeting are considered necessary" (pg. 38). If gender responsive budgeting is an example of "capacity building", then can the authors of provide an example of what might be a best practice might be (specifically) using one of the organizations the study/paper examined. It might be necessary, but does that mean a % of the total budget, a staff person assigned to gender responsive policy/budgeting or something else.

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation in southern Africa

PCLM-D-23-00068R2

Dear Mr. Gerhard:

We are pleased to inform you and your co-authors that your manuscript 'Strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation in southern Africa' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Climate. Before your manuscript can be formally accepted you will need to complete some formatting changes, which you will receive in a follow-up email from a member of our team. 

Please note that your manuscript will not be scheduled for publication until you have made the required changes, so a swift response is appreciated.

IMPORTANT: The editorial review process is now complete. PLOS will only permit corrections to spelling, formatting or significant scientific errors from this point onwards. Requests for major changes, or any which affect the scientific understanding of your work, will cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact climate@plos.org.

Thank you again for supporting Open Access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Climate.

Best regards,

Jacob Park, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS Climate

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On behalf of PLOS Climate, I would like to thank the authors of the "strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate finance mobilisation in southern Africa" for their patience and work in making the necessary edit changes in turning their paper into a publishable journal article.

Reviewer Comments (if any, and for reference):