GENDER IN THE CSA DISCOURSE: MAKING THE CASE FOR GENDER-SMARTNESS

Leisa Perch and Rosaly Byrd, RIO+ Centre

Contributions from Hlami Ngwenya and Aliness Mumba of FANRPAN
WORKING PAPER SERIES | RIO+ | N0. 3 | JANUARY 2015

Photo: FAO/Believe Nyakudjara/FAO. 4 August 2014, Dangarendove, Chirumhanzi District,

Zimbabwe - A farmer prepares maize grain for grinding at their grinding mill they bought through
the garden project at Kushinginga women farmers group at Dangarendove.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, or their Member States.

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Empowered lives.
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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors extend sincere thanks and gratitude to key informants and participants in the
Gender Survey as well as the COP-CSAESA without which none of these results would be
possible. We thank Irene Dankleman and Agnes Babugura for their peer review comments
and suggested changes they were invaluable to the finalization of this Working Paper. We
also appreciate the support of Sohaila Abdulali in substantively editing this paper and to Felipe
Siston and Fernanda Jardim for the design of the online version. We thank the Government of
Norway, through FANRPAN, for their support to this assessment of gender in the context of
Climate-Smart Agriculture in Southern Africa.
Affiliations
The Lead Author is Policy Specialist at RIO+ Centre and the contributing author served
as a consultant to the RIO+ Centre. Hlami Ngwenya and Aliness Mumba of FANRPAN
also contributed to this paper.
Abstract
2014 is the Year for Family Farming and 2015 is the year in which a new development agenda
(referred to as the post-2015 Agenda), Sustainable Development Goals and a new climate
agreement are expected to be negotiated and approved. These events and other global
developments define climate change and agriculture as two key anchors for development over
the next fifteen (15) to thirty (30) years. In each of these intertwined discourses, (in)equality and
more so, gender (in)equality, continue to play a pivotal and deciding role. Often determining the
scale, scope and distribution of resources, tools and policies and how closely or not they align
with realities on the ground.
This working paper considers two critical questions of the Gender and Climate-Smart Agriculture
(CSA) Assessment: 1) what should gender mean for CSA and how could this shape and inform
the broader policy agenda at the national, regional and global level? 2) what specific gender
gaps currently exist in CSA-relevant policies at the country level and how should this inform a
framework for narrowing and eliminating this gap and the role of the CSA project in doing so?
Through these questions we are able to analyze and assess the South African experience in this
context and its similarities and differences with other global experiences. This, in turn, sheds
light on the requirements of a truly inclusive and sustainable development agenda.
The World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+)
One of the most important legacies of the RIO+20 Conference was the launching, during the
High-Level Segment of the Conference, of the World Centre for Sustainable Development
(RIO+). Established on June 24th, 2013, the RIO+ Centre works to reaffirm and make actionable
the inextricable link between social, economic and environmental policies for the achievement
of sustainable development and human well-being.

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

The determination of smartness has to come from farmers as evidence that it is doable and
brings returns and doesnt have women bending, digging and doing more manual labour as
CSA has done so far. [CSA Stakeholder]
(RIO+ Centre)/Food, Agriculture and Natural
Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
Partnership project2 was a multi-pronged
one: to Connect the dots between gender
2014 is the Year for Family Farming and 2015 and sustainable development, Distill relevant
is the year in which a new development knowledge from making those connections
agenda (referred to as the post-2015 Agenda), and Make the bridge to the demand for
Sustainable Development Goals and a new practical and viable solutions on the ground.
climate agreement are expected to be
negotiated and approved. These events and The RIO+/FANRPAN Partnership was born out of
other global developments define climate a common interest in unpacking the potential of
change and agriculture as two key anchors CSA to make a triple-win approach to sustainable
for development over the next fifteen (15) to development actionable and practical. Under a
thirty (30) years. In each of these intertwined programme on Climate Change Adaptation and
discourses, (in)equality and more so, gender (in) Mitigation being implemented by COMESAequality, continue to play a pivotal and deciding EAC-SADC, FANRPAN has been mandated to
role. Often determining, the scale, scope and support regional programmes aimed at bringing
distribution of resources, tools and policies and significant livelihood and food security benefits
how closely or not they align with realities on to at least 1.2 million small-scale farmers
the ground.
through the application of well-tested CSA
initiatives that combine crop production with
Common but differentiated realities1 shape agro-forestry and livestock management.
how men and women participate in these two
areas, the sensitivity of their livelihoods to even Funded by the Norwegian Agency for
small changes and how and for long they are Development (NORAD), the CSA initiative
affected. Context, sectors, country and region led by FANRPAN under which the Gender
are also factors. If sustainable development and CSA Assessment was been designed
is not tangible and beneficial for men and and implemented, has as its main objective
women alike, both are much less likely to play a to promote and influence the uptake of CSA
critical and active role or to sustain often costly policies in East and Southern Africa with the goal
of increasing agricultural productivity and at the
changes for the cause of sustainability.
same time strengthen the resilience of vulnerable
As a result, one of the early challenges defined in smallholder farmers, particularly women and
the World Centre for Sustainable Development youth, in the context of climate change.
INTRODUCTION:
Understanding the Climate-Smart
Agriculture (CSA) Momentum

1
Often in climate change and going back to the first Rio Convention,
we talk of common but different responsibilities in resolving global
problems. This refers to the fact that the actions causing the problem
may be more from one set of countries rather than all but indeed that
the problem is everyones problem and some will need to act faster
even though they bear no responsibility for causing the problem.
In this context here, we look at the implementation side of things
noting that at the same time there are common issues between men
and women but often differentiated realities in terms of capacity
to respond, legal rights, access to finance etc, that thus make the
difference between wishing to take action or taking advantage of an
opportunity and actually being able to do so.

The RIO+/FANRPAN Project is a partnership between two Southernbased institutions with the objective of strengthening the social
dimensions of climate and agricultural policy by identifying ways to
improve, support and enable innovations for sustainability that create
social as well as environmental and economic benefits.

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

In its efforts to respond to the agricultureclimate-poverty nexus, directly and indirectly,

CSA has gained considerable attention and
uptake at the highest political levels. It is,
potentially, an important green and social
innovation blending economic, social and
environmental objectives under one umbrella.

that tends to generate a lot of interest and

excitement, as well as improve resilience
to climate variability. Its goal of addressing
resilience is also good for health, for labour
and for general well-being. The nature of the
latter challenge is well defined in Figure 13.

The difference between CSA and conventional

agriculture is defined by the triple challenge
CSA sets out to meet namely food security,
increased income and low-carbon agricultural
practices. It is this potential to deliver not just
across multiple development goals but to
tackle some of the fundamental structural
barriers to sustainable rural development

Olsson, L., M. Opondo, P. Tschakert, A. Agrawal, S.H. Eriksen, S.

Ma, L.N. Perch, and S.A. Zakieldeen, 2014: Livelihoods and poverty.
In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.
Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group
II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the IntergovernmentalPanel on
Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach,
M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir,M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada,
R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken,
P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp.
793-832. Graph directly sourced from : http://www.ipcc.ch/report/
graphics/index.php?t=Assessment%20Reports&r=AR5%20-%20

Figure 1. Graph depicts variability of weather and climate and the impact on the food production cycle, farm-work and coping
mechanisms in one calendar based on farmers experience in the Lake Victoria Basin in Kenya and Tanzania. Sourced from IPCC WGIIAR5, Chapter 13, Figure 3.4, pp. 14. Originally from Gabrielsson et al, 2012.

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

It is engagement of and with the component

of the farmer sector at the bedrock of the food
production system that also provides critical
opportunities for poverty reduction, income
equality, improved access to resources as well
as indirect wins4 such as greater equality5.
In so doing, CSA engages with several of the
emerging Sustainable Development Goals
comprised in the Outcome Document of
the Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals6, in particular Goal 1
(Poverty Reduction), Goal 2 (Hunger, Food
Security and Sustainable Agriculture) and Goal
5 (Gender Equality).
I.Making Sustainable Development PeopleSmart starts with a Gender-Smart
Approach
Studies7 show that agricultural development
and growth can be particularly effective in
poverty reduction (particularly in the early
stages of development at the country level)
and also for the very poor. Improvements in the
quantity and reliability of agricultural incomes
have also proven to be effective contributors to
poverty reduction.8 The agricultural sector also
has multiplier effects on other sectors9 as well
as on key development outcomes. Estimates
WG2&f=Chapter%2013
4
Sibanda, Lindiwe Majele, 2014: African smallholder farm families
have lost the elasticity to bounce back. FANRPAN. Accessed
November 28th, 2014. http://www.fanrpan.org/documents/d01745/
5
Kristjanson, Patti, 2014: Gender sensitive climate-smart
agricultural practices.
http://www.fao.org/climatechange/39932-048e172f50329beac1b48e
28a313ff90e.pdf
6
See versions in English and Portuguese here: http://
sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html and https://
riopluscentre.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/proposta-gta-para-ods.
pdf
7
Christiaensen, Luc, Lionel Demery, and Jesper Kuhl, 2010: The
(evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reductionan empirical
perspective. Journal of Development Economics. http://www.ifad.org/
drd/agriculture/13.htm
8
Cervantes-Godoy D. and J. Dewbre, 2010: Economic Importance of
Agriculture for Poverty Reduction. OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries
Working Papers, No. 23, OECD Publishing. http://www.oecd.org/
countries/gambia/44804637.pdf
9
Mucavele, Firmino G.: True Contribution of Agriculture to Economic
Growth and Poverty Reduction: Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia
Synthesis Report. FANRPAN. http://www.fanrpan.org/documents/
d01034/Synthesis%20Report%20-True%20Contribution%20of%20
Agriculture.pdf

vary, suggesting that Gross Development

Product (GDP) from agriculture can be
twice, thrice or four times more effective
than growth originating in other sectors. It
is also asserted that a decline in agricultural
productivity (although the actual data relates
often to growth) throws people into poverty10,
suggesting that the neglect of the sector is not
people-smart.
Even so, increased productivity has not always
proven to be equally beneficial to both men
and women or in the same ways. Even such
improvements have not always proved to
be equal between men and women or to
provide similar benefits to male and female
farmers. Even when agricultural productivity
is high, women farmers and women involved
in agriculture are still not likely to have secure
tenure or access to land, or to enjoy equal
access to inputs, credit and technology11.
Furthermore, high productivity has not always
translated to greater distribution of food or
access by poor households, greater access
and control over key natural resources for
food production (e.g. water, biomass, energy)
or to anticipated sustained improvements
in nutrition and health12. A gender lens lends
critical insights that provide a crucial entrypoint for people-smartness as inclusivity13.
Moreover, when people-smart approaches
including gender-smart approaches are
employed, they tend to enhance productivity
as well as deliver other co-benefits such
as better access to resources, better
Cleaver, Kevin, 2012: Scaling Up in Agriculture, Rural
Development and Nutrition: Investing in Agriculture to Reduce
Poverty and Hunger. 2020 Vision (9)(2). International Food
Policy Research Institute. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/
publications/focus19_02.pdf
11
Ibiya, Clara et al, 2012: African Womens Leadership in
Agribusiness: a Force for More Inclusive Development and SouthSouth Cooperation. Accessed December 9, 2014. http://www.ipcundp.org/pub/IPCPovertyInFocus24.pdf
12
UNDP, 2013: Powerful Synergies: Gender Equality, Economic
Development, and Environmental Sustainability. http://www.undp.
org/content/dam/undp/library/gender/f_PowerfulSynergies2013_
Web.pdf
13
FAO, 2013: Training Guide: Gender and Climate Change Research in
Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development. Second Edition.
MICCA http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3385e/i3385e.pdf
10

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

opportunities to build assets and systems for

coping with shocks, and greater distribution of
income, among other benefits14. According to
a recent study15, two main findings cut across
a number of interventions related to gender
and agriculture: (i) the gendered use, control,
and ownership of assets affects the take-up of
agricultural interventions, and (2) agricultural
interventions affect the gendered use, control,
and ownership of assets.

the balance of gendered roles in agriculture20.

The risk which climate change poses to the

agriculture sector has significant implications
for the poverty-reducing capacity of the sector
and in turn, for rural development generally,
and can severely limit the options available
to countries along with creating or further
exacerbating poverty and inequality. Tackling
climate change, and at the same time, making
agriculture more adaptive, environmentally
The role of women as the drivers of smallholder sound and climate-smart is therefore
farming in Southern Africa has pivotal relevance fundamental to inclusive, sustainable and
on the context of CSA and to the vision of sustained development, to the extent to which
CSA as more than increased technology or rural and poor rural people are included and
production. Ensuring womens equal access benefit, and the sectors capacity to contribute
to land, resources, credit and markets that to sustained human development progress.
provide investment, local and private, national
and international, can ensure that CSA reaches Smallholder farmers, with limited capacity to
its full potential16. Greater, differentiated,17,18 invest or manage risk due to poorly functioning
but equal access to CSA tools and techniques credit and insurance markets, are often
as well as climate services could potentially constrained in their ability to increase yields
change how resources are used19 and improve and incomes, and are particularly vulnerable
to impacts of climate change and current
climate variability. Women often play a key but
undervalued and unpaid role in maintaining
See Footnote 5.
agro-biodiversity21 and agricultural production.
Kieran C., Chiara Kovarik, and Evgeniya Anisimova, 2014:
An opportunity to dream big. CGIAR. http://www.pim.cgiar.
Agro-biodiversity is critical to some of the
org/2014/05/14/an-opportunity-to-dream-big/#_ftn1
proposed climate-smart agriculture responses
World AgroForestry Centre, 2013: Addressing Gender in Climateincluding those elements reliant on biomass
Smart Smallholder Agriculture. Policy Brief No. 14. http://www.
and organic matter.
worldagroforestry.org/downloads/publications/PDFS/PB13013.PDF
14
15

16

17
See Sarah Lynagh, Arome Tall and Alexa Jay, 2014: One
size does not fit all: considering gender, equity and power in
climate information services. CGIAR. http://ccafs.cgiar.org/
blog/one-size-does-not-fit-all-considering-gender-equity-andpower-climate-information-services?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_
medium=twitter&utm_campaign=cgiarclimate#.VHcPp4fGor4;
Arame Tall, Patti Kristjanson, Moushumi Chaudhury, Sarah McKune
and Robert Zougmore, 2014: Who gets the information? Gender,
power and equity considerations in the design of climate services for
farmers. Working Paper No. 89. CGIAR Research Program on Climate
Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). https://cgspace.
cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/49673/CCAFS%20WP%2089.pdf
18
Tall, Arame, Patti Kristjanson, Moushumi Chaudhury, Sarah
McKune and Robert Zougmore , 2014: Who gets the information?
Gender, power and equity considerations in the design of climate
services for farmers. Working Paper No. 89. CGIAR Research Program
on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). https://
cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/49673/CCAFS%20WP%20
89.pdfhttps://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/49673/
CCAFS%20WP%2089.pdf
19
UNDP, 2012: Overview of linkages between gender and climate
change. Accessed on August 13th, 2014 http://www.undp.org/
content/dam/undp/library/gender/Gender%20and%20Environment/
PB1_Africa_Overview-Gender-Climate-Change.pdf.

The link between gender and agriculture is

therefore extensive. It has long been made and
the link between gender and climate change
has been consolidated in research and in
global policy, for example in the UNFCCC decisions at COP 18 to mainstream gender into
the global discourse and the recent commitment by the Green Climate Fund, one of the
largest global funds, to be a leader in gender
20
Perch, Leisa, 2014: Field Mission Report for the RIO+/FANRPAN
Partnership Project.
21
UNDP, 2010: Policy Paper: Intellectual Property, Agrobiodiversity,
and Gender Considerations: Issues and Case Studies from the Andean
and South Asian Regions. http://www.undp.org/content/dam/aplaws/
publication/en/publications/poverty-reduction/poverty-website/
intellectual-property-agrobiodiversity-and-gender-considerations/
Policy%20Paper%20-%20Gender%20IP%20studies%20-%20FINAL.
pdf.

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Figure 2. Multidimensional vulnerabilities and their intersections with capacities and opportunities, and how climate change and
variability impacts people (Source: IPCC, 2014, Working Group Chapter 13, Figure 13.5). See footnote 5

mainstreaming22. The latest Report from the

Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the Fifth Assessment Report or AR523,
further builds the evidence case for the link between gender, agriculture and climate change
identifying how the intersection between
them, creates significant stressors in and on the
lives of the poor. Its detailed analysis highlights
the body of evidence proving that adaptation
to climate change and mitigation of climate
risk are a challenge and opportunity for women, households and communities as a whole.

for Climate Change Agriculture and Food

Security (CCAFS)25 as well as the International
Land Coalition (ILC) and the Women
Organizing for Change in Agriculture and
Natural Resource Management (WOCAN), the
discourse on gender, climate and agriculture
is only now consolidating, and the attention
it is garnering extends beyond conferences
and global policy meetings, generating a
specific group of stakeholders a Gender
and Climate-Smart Agriculture Discussion
Group has formed within the FAO-led Climate
Smart Agriculture Group under D groups as
Beyond the work of a few early starters like the part of their Mitigation of Climate Change in
Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN Agriculture (MICCA) Programme26 and leading
(FAO)24 and the CGIAR Research Programme also to enhanced capacity-strengthening tools

Green Climate Fund, 2014: Green Climate Fund Board takes key
decisions on operations and makes progress on Essential Eight.
http://gcfund.net/fileadmin/00_customer/documents/pdf/GCF_
Press_Release_fin_20140222.pdf
23
See footnote 3.
24
Lambrou, Yianna and Sibyl Nelson, 2010: Farmers in a Changing
Climate: Does Gender Matter: Food Security in Andhra Pradesh,
India. FAO. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1721e/i1721e.pdf
22

25
Kristjanson Patti, 2014: Gender sensitive climate-smart
agricultural practices. http://www.fao.org/climatechange/39932048e172f50329beac1b48e28a313ff90e.pdf
26
FAO, 2014: Community for Climate Change Mitigation in
Agriculture Learning Center. Mitigation of Climate Change
in Agriculture (MICCA) Programme. http://www.fao.org/
climatechange/micca/79527/en/

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Empowered lives.
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such training guides27.

Other efforts include the webinar on Gender
roles & Relationships in Post-Harvest
Management hosted by Helvetas28, Swiss
Intercooperation in June 2014, where a number
of case studies on post-harvest management
from Mozambique and Benin were explored
linking other elements of the gender and
agriculture nexus. In particular, the Helvetas
webinar identified the following:
The distribution of roles can depend
on several factors such as the owner of
production, the ethnic group, the crop,
its use (seeds, grains of consumption
or marketing) and the social status of
women (this was the case in Benin).
Patterns that emerged seem to
suggest that gender roles depend on
the activity (marketing and selling
vs. what and how to eat). Some
activities such as deciding what to
grow, harvesting and future planning
seemed to be done both jointly and
separately by men or women (this was
the case in Mozambique).

differentiations. A case study on the Strategy

for Gender, Environment and Climate Change
identifies a number of strategic elements and
value for empowering sustainability29. Arising
from these patterns of practice and policy, is
a clear need for gender to serve as a lens and
an entry-point for inclusion, integration and
collective action is easily argued.
II.Methodology for Assessing Gender in the
CSA Discourse
In order to better understand the current
policy environment and the extent of its
responsiveness to these kinds of strategic and
practical gender needs, we considered three
overall questions in our Gender Assessment:
What should gender mean for CSA
and how could this shape and inform
the broader policy agenda at the
national, regional and global level?30
What do we need to get out of the
CSA project to promote a robust and
consistent gender-responsive CSA
approach that would be enabled
through project outputs but also
via the institutional partners of the
project (operational and strategic)?

Critically, they underscore the localized

nature of how gender inequalities play out
in influencing access, power and decisionmaking. At the national level, the FANRPAN What specific gender gaps currently
commissioned scoping reports, bring another
exist in CSA-relevant policies at the
perspective. Governments have already found
country level and how should this
ways to respond to some of these gaps and
inform a framework for narrowing
links, albeit inconsistently. Mozambique, for
and eliminating this gap and the role
example, is one of the few countries in the
of the CSA project in doing so? What
Southern Africa region with a Strategy for
potential barriers to adoption could
Gender and Environment and Climate Change
and a Strategy for Gender and Agriculture
policy incoherence create?
but more analysis is needed to ascertain the
extent to which such policies consistently This Working Paper considers, in the main, the
address some of these more nuanced gender
FAO, 2013: Training Guide: Gender and Climate Change Research in
Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development. Second Edition.
MICCA. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3385e/i3385e.pdf
28
Helvetas is partnering with FANRPAN in implementing Postharvest Management projects in Benin and Mozambique

27

29
Perch, Leisa and Rosaly Byrd, 2014: Grounding Inclusion and
Equity in Public Policy: A Case Study on the Mozambique Strategy for
Gender, Environment and Climate Change. RIO+ Centre, December
2014.
30
Small tweaks were made to the original question given the fact
that the deeper analysis started so late in the project process and in
recognition that the findings would be unable to influence how the
project was being implemented.

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Empowered lives.
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first and third of these questions. The Overall

Gender Assessment Report will address all
three but focus specifically on Questions 2
and Question 1 as a response to the findings
to Questions 3. In this way the project outputs
complement each other.

consultants in Mozambique which filled gaps in

the scoping reports (particularly where gender
analysis was relatively weak or generalized)32;
(ii) an online survey targeting 300+ persons
and (iii) an E-discussion on Gender and CSA
in the RIO+/FANRPAN Community of Practice
on CSA in Eastern and Southern Africa. More
To better understand what gender means information on the overall methodology can
in the context of CSA and to identify What be found in the Background Paper: Towards
specific gender gaps currently exist in CSA- More Equitable and Sustainable Development:
relevant policies at the country level and how Mainstreaming Gender-Appropriate Strategies
should this inform a framework for narrowing for CSA in Southern Africa: Methodological
and eliminating this gap and the role of the CSA Approach33. Questions were kept consistent
project in doing so? What potential barriers to across the key informant questions and the
adoption could policy incoherence create?, we online survey as much as possible and the
employed a three-pronged methodology.
deep-scan criteria employed were shaped by
those questions as well as responses from the
Exploring these questions in the context of key informant interviews.
five focus countries: Lesotho, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, we The deep-scan policy review considered
used a blend of (i) desk-based literature the extent to which policies addressed
review, (ii) a deep-scan of existing policies decision-making, participation, economic
linked to agriculture, climate change opportunities, institutional culture, tenure
gender and (iii) obtaining perspectives from and capacity building in the context of gender
five main stakeholder groups (farmers, and gender mainstreaming with a focus on
policymakers, civil society organisations, both strategic and practical gender needs
private sector/media31 and academia). identified and well established. Specific criteria
This approach allowed us to consider both ranged from whether policies encouraged
convergence and coherence between
qualitative and quantitative information.
gendered development outcomes and other
The desk-based literature review considered policies and sectors, promoted the creation of
both scoping studies already initiated by co-benefits for gender equality and womens
FANRPAN, recent studies/research on CSA in economic empowerment through and with
general as well as specific to Southern Africa. climate change mitigation/adaptation and
The deep-scan allowed us to go beyond the development, or tackled transformative
policies identified in the scoping studies change by encouraging positive practices while
(which were often limited in scope) to include discouraging or imposing penalties for actions
mining regulations and updates, Family Laws which could create inequality. More details on
and other policies as well as legislation and the questions and the results of the analysis are
practices, in science, technology, and other provided in the Background Paper (mentioned
areas that shape the enabling environment, previously), the Survey Report (also an output
from this series) and the Assessment Report.
for achieving equality.
The final element, stakeholder input, was
gathered through three mechanisms: (i) key
informant interviews via two field missions
to Zimbabwe, Swaziland and third-party
Given the relatively small size of this grouping, this group also
covers Theatre for Policy Advocacy actors who also participated.

31

32
The same gap filling questionnaire used for the missions to
Zimbabwe and Swaziland (April and May 2014) were used by the local
consultants in Mozambique.
33
Perch, Leisa, 2014: Towards More Equitable and Sustainable
Development: Mainstreaming Gender-Appropriate Strategies for CSA
in Southern Africa: Methodological Approach, An Output of the RIO+
Centre-FANRPAN Partnership. RIO+ Centre, December 2014.

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The following sequence was used:

Review of three of the Scoping Reports as
the other two were not available or delayed
in finalization
Gap filling missions to Zimbabwe and
Swaziland where 19 key informant
interviews were conducted
Deep-scan of existing policies including
review of the Scoping Reports of
Mozambique and Zimbabwe

arising in those interviews were further explored

through the online survey. Examples included access
to gender-appropriate technologies. This issue
gained more focus than it might have otherwise due
to the fact, as reported in one of the interviews, that
in Swaziland the Agricultural Research Department
considers the differential needs of men and women
farmers in design and development.
In the initial review of the Scoping Reports we found
that some attention to gender and CSA could be
inferred by the availability of information and data
on resource distribution and access-related issues
(see Table 1) in a few contexts.

Online survey on gender and CSA for a

period of three weeks

In the next section, we outline the results of our

deeper exploration of the critical themes in the gender
discourse in CSA and its implication. Using the following
25 key informant interviews in Mozambique
elements of our methodology: (i) key informant
interviews in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, (ii) select
E-Discussion on gender and CSA through
questions from the online survey and the key
the COP-CSAESA.;
recommendations from the e-discussion and (iii)
This sequencing proved important in ensuring the policy analysis reviews conducted for each of
breadth and depth of the analysis. The survey, for the five countries, we are able to evaluate the scope
example, was a response to the limited number of key and shape of the existing local discourse on CSA, and
informant interviews we were able to conduct during in particular where gender fits and how it fits.
the April-May gap-filling missions. Moreover, issues There are limitations to this approach. Relying
on online communication limited
Data Available
Name of Country
our reach to and engagement with
Gender disaggregated including
Swaziland, Lesotho
smallfarmers and the in-depth nature
irrigation data
of the assessment of their realities
Crop preferences by gender/sex
Swaziland
on the ground. Time also limited the
time and investment we could make
Variability in use of materials for food
Swaziland
in widening our sample size. Limited
production and links to ownership
patterns by gender/sex
by time and by budget, efforts were
made, instead, to combine both
Female/male headship of households
Lesotho
research and dialogue and to enhance
Capacity building and gender
Lesotho
the research and policy interface. As
mainstreaming actions across sectors
a result, more attention has been
Robust policy gap analysis including on
Lesotho
paid to communicating interim and
gender and social issues
final results and using that debate
and dialogue process as a form of
Level of understanding of CSA by
Zimbabwe
engagement which also informed
stakeholders (male and female?)
the research findings. At a minimum,
interviewed
an initial baseline, specific to the five
Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of Zimbabwe
countries has been established which
governance mechanisms
can be built upon by future research.
Table 1. Data available through the National CSA Scoping Reports

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

III.Signposts from the local discourse in Southern

Africa

IV.What Stakeholders Seem to Be Saying

Initial findings from pilot studies carried out under

the Women Empowerment in Agriculture34 Index
project suggest that while the broad landscape of
gender and agriculture issues are similar across
countries, variations also exist35. Some of the
most acute empowerment gaps were around the
following: lack of control over resources, leadership
and influence and control over income36. We find
similar challenges in tackling CSA in a gender
responsive way in Southern Africa. Specifically
CSA inherits a number of structural challenges that
have long faced the agricultural sector, a number of
emerging challenges for the production system and
value chain, and also opportunities for productive
inclusion.

This first layer of the discourse is mainly assessed

through key informant interviews and an
e-discussion held between the end of October and
early November. Key Informant interviews were
conducted between the end of April and early
May 2014 in Zimbabwe and then Swaziland. Key
informants were identified through FANRPAN
and their national nodes and over a six day
period (3 days in each country), 16 stakeholders
were interviewed (see Table below).
The key informant interviews identified the following elements deemed important by stakeholders for
making gender and CSA practicable and actionable,
within the public policy framework and outside it:

Our three-pronged approach to understanding

the discourse generated a number of interesting
elements that help to shape an emerging picture on
how the discourse defines the role of gender in CSA
and opportunities and challenges to mainstreaming.
These emerge largely through three viewpoints into
discourse: What stakeholders seem to be saying;
What emerges from the Gender and CSA Survey; and
How is policy responding.

The need to consider the extent to which

climate change itself has already engineered
changes or adjustments or adaptations in
gender roles. Often the exploration of gender
and CSA has been limited to one view of
the role CSA would play on existing gender
inequalities including additional burdens,
and less on the changes, positive and/or
negative, climate change could bring to bear
on gender roles in agriculture.

Country

Government

NGO/CSO

Research/
Academia

Farmer/
Farmer
Organisations
0

Total

Donor/
Internation
al Partners
1

Zimbabwe

Swaziland

11

Total

16

Table 2. Key informants by stakeholder groups in Zimbabwe and Swaziland

IFPRI, 2012: Feed the Future: Womens Empowerment in Agriculture Index.
Accessed on August 15th, 2014. http://www.ifpri.org/publication/womensempowerment-agriculture-index
35
This study, undertaken by IFRI with Oxford Human Poverty Initiative,
examines empowerment through the lens of five key factors: production,
resources, income, leadership and time and across the gender landscape we
have tackled some of these and not all of these at the same time
36
IFPRI, 2012: Feed the Future: Womens Empowerment in Agriculture Index.
Accessed on August 15th, 2014. http://www.ifpri.org/publication/womensempowerment-agriculture-index
34

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Womens empowerment needs to be

understood also as womens ability to
communicate effectively on these challenges
and demand to be heard.
In some cases, enabling frameworks seem to
be operating without a significant role for the
9

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Gender Bureau or Ministry of Gender

Affairs. In contrast, while the Gender
Bureau was actively seeking to sustain a
Gender Focal Point system, this system
did not seem to enable them to plug in
to such timely and critical issues which
could build their base, consolidate some
of the practical gains on gender and
agriculture and also potentially help
to leverage more even with limited
staff and funding. Gender Bureaux are
challenged due to limited capacities,
knowledge and understanding of
gender and environment/gender and
climate change.
There is a significant appetite for
discussion on Gender and CSA both in
the public and the non-public sector,
which remains relatively untapped.
An informant noted that the idea of
smartness is something that should be
defined by the farmers themselves. The
same informant noted that CSA should
not have women bending, digging and
doing more manual labour as CSA has
done so far.
Across the board, key informants, both
men and women, expressed that gender
was relevant to the CSA discourse and
action on CSA.
The E-discussion, held between October 15th
and November 11th, through the Community
of Practice for Climate-smart Agriculture in
Eastern and Southern Africa, also identified
a number of critical aspects in addressing
gender and CSA. The e-discussion received
23 responses from various stakeholder groups
from more than 10 different countries.
Members identified a number of important
elements, especially stressing communication
and valuing the differences in appeal and
relevance of communication tools as well as
the need to clearly define what success looks
like.

On the latter, one participant noted that

success of CSA could be defined by the level
of adoption of certain CSA innovations by the
participating numbers, the returns to labour, the
level of productivity, changed livelihood, wealth
creation and level of satisfaction of each of
these participating individuals. On the former
another participant noted that effective tools
of communication to raise awareness among
farmers include SMS and WhatsApp or social
media(...) In Zimbabwe, street theatre is also
becoming popular, since it is spontaneous and
easier for people to understand. Yet another
noted that a study showed that men preferred
meetings whereas women preferred field visits,
pictorial messages and SMS.
Overall, some of the main conclusions on
gender and CSA were that:
There is a need to move beyond numbers
when working towards mainstreaming
gender in CSA. Mechanisms and models
should be implemented to ensure effective and sustainable participation of different gender groups in CSA.
Policies and programmes should take
into account local cultural norms that
inhibit women and youth from making
decisions within and about agricultural
production. Involving both these
groups in the CSA capacity-building
process provides several economic
and social benefits.
Mainstreaming gender in different
agricultural activities requires a sectoral-level approach. Raising awareness is a first step towards this goal,
but it should be accompanied by effective communication on the benefits of
certain policies for women in order to
generate a change in social norms.
Effective tools to communicate the
benefits of gender policies include
co-learning, SMS, street theatre and
social media. Radio programmes can

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10

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

reach large crowds but can also be

used as a political tool.
Value diversity. Different communication tools should be used when reaching out to different groups.
Implications for gender in CSA and for policy
responsiveness:
Gender is relevant to CSA policy and
practice but its multidimensional,
multifaceted and contextual
reality imply few easy solutions for
mainstreaming and improving genderequitable outcomes.
Gender shapes more than access to
land, and control of income; in its
broadest sense it can shape how we
engage, where we engage and on
what we engage in CSA, which can be
unresponsive to the needs of those
most affected.
The intensive, volatile and highly
sensitive nature of agriculturebased livelihoods demands policy
responsiveness that is deep and wide
enough to capture most, if not all,
of the realities and build a systemic
approach to resilience-building.

RIO+ Centre and FANRPAN conducted an online

survey on gender and CSA, targeting (i) stakeholders from five stakeholder groups (farmers,
policymakers, civil society organisations, private/sector media/Theatre for Policy Advocacy and academia) in our five target countries
as well as (ii) stakeholders in the same groups
working but not resident, working in the region
or interested in CSA development in Sub-Saharan Africa more generally37. Accordingly there
were two versions of the survey one for focus
countries and one for non-focus countries. Because of the language difference, namely Mozambique, the main survey for focus countries
was in English and Portuguese. More details on
the scope of the survey are provided in the Survey Results Report.
From approximately 300 people contacted, 105
responses were received, 64 male and 41 female,
across the two main surveys38. These responses
allowed us to extend the stakeholder input into
our analysis, digging deeper into how actors saw
CSA in general, the relevance of gender in CSA
and the contexts in which gender concerns were
relevant or not relevant. Overall, respondents
came from 13 countries and the participation of
stakeholders from Zambia was quite significant,
accounting for 26% of all respondents.
We found consensus across the five stakeholder
groups on several equity issues:
differences between how men and
women contribute to the value chain,

CSA cannot meet its goals until all

relevant Ministries and policies are
engaged in the design, application and
implementation of CSAs development
purpose.
The capacity of the Gender Bureaux
to engage on all development issues is
more often assumed than guaranteed.
V.What Emerges from the Gender and CSA
Survey
Between August 11th and September 16th, the

womens larger contribution to agricultural labour in smallholder farmers

and
gender-differentiated access to credit
and agricultural inputs for CSA.
These findings are generally similar across both
focus and non-focus countries.
For example, respondents from non-focus countries came from
Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Finland, Kenya,
Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.
38
Byrd, Rosaly and Leisa Perch (2014). Survey Results Report
Gender and Climate-Smart Agriculture.
37

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11

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Examining gender and CSA more closely through than English, stakeholders identified mostly some
the lens of three questions (How well do you think differences and to a lesser extent significant
the existing policy framework supports equal differences.
participation of women and men in all aspects
Focus Countries
of agriculture?, Are there differences in how
female and male farmers plant or work on their
farm now as compared to previous years? and
Which of the following do you think will be MOST
important for CSA in the next 10 years? (Choose
as many as apply). The options to choose from
were (i) credit, (ii) inputs, (iii) technology, (iv)
policy, (v)public investment, (vi)public-private
sector partnership and (vii) equal access to credit,
inputs and technology) we found respondents
suggesting largely that policy frameworks enable
Graphic 1A. Response from Focus Countries to Question 1
equal access, that there are significant or some
differences between how men and women farmers
plant as compared to a decade ago and that over
Non-Focus Countries
the next ten years equal access to credit, inputs
and technology will be as important as technology
and policy. The graphics that follow illustrate
these patterns in more detail.
How well do you think the existing policy framework
supports equal participation of women and men in
all aspects of agriculture?
Respondents from both focus and non-focus countries
found existing policy frameworks generally enabling.
Focus country stakeholders found them to be
supporting very well (19% ), moderately well (37%)
or slightly well (25%) the equal participation of men
and women in agriculture (see Graphic 1) and nonfocus country stakeholders felt strongly that policy
frameworks were doing so very well.

Are there differences in how female and male

farmers plant or work on their farm now as compared
to previous years?
Focus country stakeholders found there were
largely some differences, significant differences
or occasional differences. More than 10% of
respondents suggested there were no differences.
Non-focus countries stakeholders found there were
some differences and significant differences (larger
than the other group) and slightly less on occasional
differences. In Mozambique, which is separated out
because the survey was done in Portuguese rather

Graphic 1B. Response from Non-Focus Countries

Which of the following do you think will be MOST

important for CSA in the next 10 years?
(Choose as many as apply). The options to choose
from were (i) credit, (ii) inputs, (iii) technology,
(iv) policy, (v)public investment, (vi)public-private
sector partnership and (vii) equal access to
credit, inputs and technology.
The sample sizes for non-focus countries and Mozambique were similar: between 10 and 20 persons. The findings vary interestingly in relation
to the important places on policy as well as on
public investment. Critically, across these two
sub-groups and the broader focus country group,
significant emphasis was placed on equal access
to inputs, credit and technology.

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Digging even deeper and looking into the perspective of farmers, we find other interesting patterns.
Given the medium of the survey, this was quite a
small group - about 10% of total respondents. Using a framework employed in IPCC Working Group II
Focus Countries

Chapter 13, we explored their perceptions on the

extent to which gender inequality exists in agriculture and how it may or many not affect farmer resilience to climate change (see Table 3).
Although it is to be expected that women and men
respond differently due to institutionalized cultural differences, and that there will be differences in
responses as these specific findings pull experiences from five different African countries, the unity
Non-Focus Countries

Graphic 2A. Response from Focus Countries

Non-Focus Countries

Graphic 3A. Response from Non Focus Countries

Mozambique

Graphic 2B. Response from Non Focus Countries

Mozambique

Graphic 3B. Response from Mozambique

among women in some questions as well as the

stark contrast between men and women in determining importance for CSA adoption, suggests important considerations for what aspects of and how
CSA may be implemented.

Graphic 2C. Response from Mozambique

Women farmers also tended to be more united in

questions regarding relevancy of climate change to

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13

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Experiences

Male Farmers

Female Farmers

Men responded that issues of climate were relevant All women responded that issues of climate were "extremely relevant"
to their work or livelihood (equally between
to their work or livelihood.
"extremely relevant" and "very relevant)".
Relevance of
Women responded that information regarding climate/ weather was
climate change Half of the men responded that they used
used in different ways including: buying/ renting more land; deciding
to work or
information on climate/weather when deciding
what type of fish to catch/ raise; in deciding whether or not to plant;
livelihoods
whether to plant and half of them responded that
and for the whole cycle of production & commercialisation.
this information was used for planting or for
determining what seeds to plant or for planning the
agricultural field.
The majority of men responded that the existing
Women equally responded that the existing policy framework
Policy
policy framework supports equal participation of
supports equal participation of women and men in all aspects of
framework
women and men in all aspects of agriculture.
agriculture "not at all well"; "slightly well"; "moderately well"; and "very
enabling equal
well"
participation
In terms of assistance, there was equal reliance on
and reliability farmer organisations and on themselves, with less
Half responded that the most important factor that they rely on in
of public
reliance on government and public.
adopting CSA is the government and half identified self-reliance as
support
most important; fewer responded that farmers organisations were
systems
most important, and some 25%, a combination. They also tended to
rely more on regional organisations than men did.
Men generally often disagreed with the statement
Half of the women responded that they "agree" with the statement
that women and men play different roles in the
"women and men play different roles in the agriculture value chain"
agriculture value chain; while a few considered it to
while half said they "strongly agree" with the statement
be true and a few others strongly agreed.
To the statement "Women provide most of the agricultural labour in
Most agreed that women do provide most of the
smallholder farms", half of the women responded that they "strongly
agricultural labour in smallholder farms, some
agree" with the statement while the other half was equally divided
neither agreed nor disagreed", and some also
between "agree" and "strongly disagree".
disagreed with the statement.
Similarity of
Half "disagreed" to the statement "Women and men have equal
roles and
To the statement "Women and men have equal
access to credit and agricultural inputs for CSA" while the other half
capacities to
access to credit and agricultural inputs for CSA",
equally was divided between "strongly disagree" and "strongly agree".
respond
most responded they "neither agreed nor
Half of women respondents said that there are "some differences" in
disagreed", while a smaller number said they
how female & male farmers plant or work on their farm now as
agreed.
compared to previous years, while the other half was equally split
between "significant" and "occasional differences".
Most said there are "some differences" in how
female and male farmers plant or work on their farm
now as compared to previous years, while a much
smaller number said that there were "occasional
differences".

Table 3. Gendered perspectives on equality in access to resources and services as well as climate-related needs in farming (Initial Findings). Source:
Authors. Based on a framework employed in IPCC Working Group II Report, Chapter 13, looking at gendered experiences in the context of climate
change by farmers in Australia and India.

work, reliance on rainwater for household needs

and also the difference in roles between men and
women in the agriculture value chain. Women acknowledged the importance of outside factors including the government and farmers organisations
in adopting CSA approaches, which contrasts with
the response of male farmers on the same issue;
men tended, largely, to view that the government
as the least important in adopting CSA.

relevant due to heavy investments in areas such

as gender budgeting etc., the E-discussion really highlighted the number of men working in and
promoting gender in the context of CSA, considering, employing and learning about effective tools,
and also the expanding nuanced views of what
gender means in the context of CSA. Both these
levels of the discourse show that:

In both of the first areas, the breadth and depth

of engagement of men is noteworthy. While
some in the sector continue to challenge the relevance of gender or think that gender may be less
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There is acknowledgement in the discourse

that gender and CSA is beyond numbers
and also beyond mere participation and
consultation.
14

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Gender in the context of CSA is a

combination of structural and practical
considerations and also a lack of
coordination of different elements which
in combination could advance gender
equality on a number of fronts.
Greater attention is being paid to
differences in learning and in disseminating
in which gender may be a pivotal or
conditional factor and different and
complementary approaches are being
tested. These can be shared and up-scaled.
The discussion on gender has moved
beyond the theoretical and the practical
to also considering strategic and political
dimensions, including the different ways
in which these need to be tackled at the
same time and over the long-term. A
project approach will not change much
unless linked to a long-term process.

limited cases also address agriculture and climate

change, few have policies that address all three at
the same time. Some countries have more than 20
policies which, in theory, could contribute to the
policy mosaic needed to respond to the complexity
of gender and CSA but this is not guaranteed just by
more policies. Note is taken, for example, on the
range of issues that women farmers identified
(and that are reflected) in Table 3 suggesting the
need to think of policy beyond even the three
more obvious elements of gender, agriculture
and climate change. Nutrition, food prices (on
the buying side as an alternative for some things
which can no longer be planted), deeds, fishing
and support to small and medium enterprises could
foreseeably be relevant to the needs of women
farmers. Given their heavier reliance on public
institutions, this underscores the value of more
coherent and convergent public policy, particularly
across traditionally very distinct sectors.

The review of the policies in Lesotho, Mozambique,

Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, mostly from
Participation is not influence.
scoping reports commissioned by FANRPAN but
also including a wider literature search, has identi Engendering CSA also considers impact
fied at least 89 policies/strategies across the five
and the desired change as well as how to
countries which could be relevant to CSA and/or
engage on this in the context of a more
gender. Many did not refer to gender and/or womvariable and potentially volatile reality in
en at all. Policies include those which deal with isterms of weather patterns.
sues of water quality as well as mining and industry.
Across the five countries, 26 policies were identified
How is Policy Responding?
in Swaziland and eight in Zimbabwe, representing
Given the findings in the preceding section, to what the two extremes of the policy diversity prism. The
extent have policies in the five countries taken on country with policies most directly related to genbroadly the links between gender, agriculture and der and CSA issues is Mozambique (See Table 4).
climate change, and in what ways?
Our findings also suggest that neither a greater
The findings above suggest that policy still needs to number of policies nor a lesser number of policies is
go some way in responding to some of the demand a useful indication of effective coverage. Policy cothat will naturally be placed on the public system. herence is not guaranteed by having more policies.
Some stakeholders generally find that public Indeed when we look at Zimbabwes policies in the
policies could be more responsive to gender and context of strategic and practical signposts for genCSA, i.e. that there is room for improvement. Our der, we find both positive signs and gaps (seeTable 5).
on-going review of the policy landscape in the five
countries finds, so far, that such room does indeed The Constitution of Zimbabwe tackles both
exist.
strategic and practical issues, as does the
Though none of the countries is without some type Traditional Leaders Act. The National Action
of strategy policy and/or legal framework which to Combat Desertification also touches on
seeks to treat gender equality in general, and in some control over resources, one of only two
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15

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

policies that do so. However, of concern is the

fact that neither the Forestry Act, the Rural
District Councils Act nor the Communal Land
Act include any gender provisions. Critically,
the Environmental Management Act did not
include or touch on any of the key pointers
Table 4. Analysis of policy depth in Mozambique

Policy

Addresses CC Reflects socioecological

as a threat
interesection
multiplier
(people +
including
enviro)
inequalities

of gender and sustainable development. Our

findings suggest that these types of gaps are
relatively common and these disconnects
are not unique to Zimbabwe alone. Such
disconnects are also evident in our analysis of
Mozambique where gender mainstreaming is

Addresses gender in
Identifies crossEncourages (i) convergence, (ii)
the context of (i)
linkages &
Uses (i) quantitiatve; coherence,(iii) neither or (iv) partial
women in
impacts due to
efforts with other policies (e.g.
(ii) qualitative; or
development (ii)
other non(iii) a mix of both; as forestry, social, mining, economic
gender and
climate factors an evidence base.
development). Include specific
development or (iii)
like mining
refrences (quotes from policy doc)
both

Constitution
Land Policy
Forestry Policy

P
P
P

PEDSA

(i)

(iii)

(ii)

(ii) Recognizes National Strategy for

Basic Social Protection for Social
Protection; Policy and Stratefy for
Development in the Forestry &
Fauna Sector (Biodiversity); National
Strategy for Reforestation have
"aligned measures of intervention"

(iii)

(iii)

(i) & (iv)References the Constitution;

Enviro Strategy for Sustainable
Development; "Strategy for Gender,
Envio and CC and its respective plan
of action looks to define the
priorities and proposed interventions
that will be in harmony with other
environmetnal actions like NAPA,
Plan to Combat Erosion, Enviro
Education Program; etc."

(iii)

(ii)

(ii) Recognizes the Constitution of

the Republic of Mozambique includes
the principles of universality and
equality of gender; Programa
Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Agrrio (PROAGRI)

(iii)

National Strategy
for Climate Change

Strategy for
Gender,
Environment and
CC

Strategy for
Gender in
Agricultural Sector

Mining/Petroleum
Law

P
Not mining but
other factors

Reflects that climate

change could or is
chang(ing) gender
roles

(ii) Adheres to the terms of the Land

Policy and other legislations

Corporate Social
Responsibility Law

(ii)
P

Family Law

(i)

Source: Authors from various sources. PEDSA stands for Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development (2010-2019)

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16

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Table 4. Analysis of policy depth in Mozambique (Continued)

Policy

Constitution
Land Policy
Forestry Policy

Promotes co-benefits (or optimizes coPromotes gender

benefits) between climate mitigation
Tackles transformative change:
Identifies
and sustainable
& adaptation & development
(i) encourages climate-smart
Identifies specific
complementary peopledevelopment good
including risk sharing & livelihood
gender equitable practices and/or outputs, outcomes &
based & institutional
practice at both
diversification.
(ii) disencourages/punishes nonimpacts on gender
based approaches for
practical & strategic
Examples of type of co-benefits
equality
supporting the
climate smart non-gender equitabe
levels
identified & strategy for achieving
transformation process
practices
them
P
P
(i) Not necessarily climate smart
practices, but innovative
agricultural technologies and
practices

Strategy:
Disaggregated data

National Strategy for

Climate Change

P
"Increase local resiliency, combat
poverty, and identify adaptation
opportunities and low cabron
development at the community level,
and district planning"

(i) Conservation agriculture,

however not in context of gender

For one project, the

method of monitor &
evaluation is to
measure how many
activities are led by
women

Strategy for Gender,

Environment and CC

P
Objective: "Develop, in an integrated
way, the gender perspective into the
environmental sector, to improve
quality of life of population, in
particular that of women and of
communities, through CC mitigation
and adaptation & sustainable use of
natural resources"

(i) Adaptation Strategy 1.4.3:

Develop agricultural paractices in
the
women's sector to increase
production and productivity,
guaranteeing food secuirty and
nutrition to support the effects of
intensified agriculture and prevent
soil degregadation

(i) Promote conservation

agriculture to involve more women;
Incentvizie adoption of
technologies for sustainable
production that are sensitive to
gender & give women a better
handling of entire agricultural
production; implement programs
for food diversification (drought
tolerant crops)

PEDSA

Strategy for Gender in

Agricultural Sector

Mining/Petroleum Law

Corporate Social
Responsibility Law
Family Law

Source: Authors from various sources. PEDSA stands for Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development (2010-2019)

generally more consistent and robust than in of 2003 calls for equal access to and control
the other 4 countries (see Table 4).
over resources such as land and credit, and
advocates the allocation of land in accordance
In Lesotho, while the Development Policy with availability, it does not do so in terms

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

Table 5: Mapping Zimbabwes policy against practical and strategic gender equality pointers
Strategic Level

Policy

Leadership

Constitution of
Zimbabwe

Environmental
Management Act
[chapter 20: 27]

National Gender Policy

Traditional Leaders Act

[chapter 29:17]
Communal Land Act
[chapter 20: 04]
Rural District Councils
Act [chapter 29:13]
Forestry Act
[chapter 19: 05]
National Action Plan
Combat Desertification

Control
over
resources

Livelihood

Practical Level
Gender-Based
Rights &
Participation
Ecosystem

Governance

Gender-Based
Education &
Assets

P
P

Source: Authors from various sources. PEDSA stands for Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development (2010-2019)

of gender. Moreover, the Land Act of 2010

which ensures that all Basotho (citizens of
Lesotho) regardless of gender can own land
may conflict with provisions in the national
constitution which gives customary law
more power over all other laws 39.

Part of this may be due to the limited sample size

but also the very different communities which come
together as the audience, actors and stage-makers
of gender and CSA, i.e. policymakers, farmers,
researchers, civil society organisations and private
sector/communications. Often the change in social
and cultural dynamics is both slow and fast and
Conclusions
involves both revolution and evolution, within and
While these findings reflect insights into a between these groups and with their interactions
complex issue, they begin to create a picture with broader society.
of the opportunities and challenges of (i) Our assessment allows us to make the following
understanding the gender dimension of CSA and observations:
(ii) the nuances therein that imply the need for
a careful and informed approach.
Women farmers in Southern Africa do
While there seems to be general consensus at
a broad level, even there the responses to the
questions pose contradictions particularly relating
to the adequacy of existing policy and the need for
more action. We cannot yet conclude if these are
critical contradictions and difficult reconciliations
or natural and inevitable in a changing system.
39
Gwimbi, P, P. Likoetla, K. Thabane, P.Matebsi, 2014: Report on Climate
Smart Agriculture Policies in Lesotho. FANRPAN.

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face barriers in their ability to adopt CSA

practices, including unequal access to
credit, technology and agricultural inputs
as well as capacity building for CSA;
While greater attention to gender is
being paid across sectors and stakeholder
groups and more efforts to include them,
participation is not influence. More efforts
targeting control and decision-making on
18

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

the use of resources are still needed

to take gender mainstreaming in
CSA to the next level;
The potential uptake by women
of CSA and their ability to deploy
and sustain CSA could well be
hindered by conflicting policy
frameworks. More attention to policy
coherence could also maximize
the impact of limited resources in
the face of the overall climate and
development nexus challenges;
Information study is needed
to identify differences within
agriculture, i.e. between crops,
forestry, fisheries and livestock.
More information on crops and
forestry is more readily available
than in the other two areas and most
efforts seem to have targeted these
two areas possibly a reflection
themselves of gendered patterns of
participation in these areas;
It was reconfirmed that there are
differences between how men and
women contribute to the value
chain. Women farmers tended
to see government and farmers
organisations as important support
structures for CSA adoption, reflecting
an even greater value for emphasis on
policy reform alongside other efforts;
Both men and women farmers as well
as other stakeholders identified some
occasional or significant differences
between how men and women plant
as compared to previous years. Along
with some revealed preferences for
crops or types of activities, these could
shape where the CSA conversation
starts at the farm or community level;

Men and women share common

interests in climate and weather
information but they also use them for
a diverse range of decisions and the
extended impacts of those decisions
of lives and livelihoods should
not be underestimated;
While integrated policy frameworks
do exist, these still largely remain
the exception rather than a
rule and there is a perceived
implementation gap on the part of
stakeholders across the scale;
Most policies seem to touch on
practical gender needs rather than
strategic gender needs, suggesting
the need for more focus on womens
leadership and protagonist role in CSA
rather than as passive beneficiaries,
their control over resources both
private and public, and how these
are used. This explains, in part, the
apparent contradiction between the
existence of policy and remaining
concerns on equal access to
credit, inputs and technology;
More government attention to
gender and CSA is warranted even
though policies in general seem to
provide an appropriate enabling
environment for equal treatment of
men and women in agriculture. This
seeming contradiction perhaps lies
in the limited ability of macro policy
to translate into tangible benefits
on the ground. The complementary
roles of NGOs, the private sector
and multi-stakeholder partnerships
in general needs further exploration
as part of the solution to CSA and to
mainstreaming gender into CSA;

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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

There is significant appetite for discussions on gender and CSA both

in the public and non-public sector,
which remains relatively untapped
or inconsistently addressed.
Effective and appropriate tools
are not always readily available,
nor is finance constructed (at the
government level or international
level) to leverage multidisciplinary
approaches and innovation; and
A number of issues relating to awareness, ability to leverage this awareness into demand for action, capacity
to demand better policy, reform or
improved performance if implementation is below par, are pertinent to
the effectiveness and relevance to
the types of policies designed at the
public policy level for development.
These all remain critical challenges for
improved governance and influence
on policy and policy implementation.

beyond agricultural futures, and in so

doing better strengthen its relevance
to people rather than to technological
solutions to agricultures woes.
A greater focus on gender-smartness seems
critical in the evolution of what might be
a period of revolutionary change for the
agriculture sector, long in the making. In so
doing, women shift into a more protagonist
role in CSA which also, ideally, allows for a more
organic and adaptive approach to resilience in
the face of greater climate-related as well as
economic uncertainties.

We also observe that understanding what

is needed and what works in making CSA
more gender-smart is still not always clear.
Policy responsiveness is also relatively weak.
Thus, gender in CSA, neither in discourse or in
practice, seems to be quite fit-for-purpose.
As countries in the region develop their
investment plans and extend and expand
the scope of their strategies to comply
with commitments to the Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme
strategies and relevant implementation plans,
the findings of this Assessment also suggest
an urgent need to orient and define critical
objectives for transformational change,
serving as a rallying point for debate, dialogue
and coalition-building for meaningful action.
Mainstreaming gender has the potential
to make CSA fit-for-purpose, extending
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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.

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