Building Resilience: The Gendered Effect of Climate Change on Food Security and Sovereignty in Kakamega-Kenya

Abstract

Climate change is a global threat, affecting the food security and food sovereignty of many depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. This is even more pronounced in Kenya, given their over-reliance on rain-fed crops and the frequency of floods and droughts in the country. Through qualitative interviews, this study set out to establish how climate change not only affects the food security, production and consumption of rural women farmers in Kakamega County, Kenya, but their response to climate shocks. Using resilience theory as a lens, we established that women use different pathways to mitigate the effects of climate change on their livelihoods. The study found that initially women adopt coping strategies that are reactive and not sustainable, but soon adapted their farming strategies, using their indigenous knowledge to exercise some control over both their food security and food sovereignty. Besides this, they use their human and social capital to expand their networks of support. By linking up to other organizations and gaining access to government support, they are able to challenge patriarchal relations that perpetuate poverty and inequality and bring about more transformative and sustainable responses to climate change.

Gender relations and decision-making on climate change adaptation in rural East African households: A qualitative systematic review

“…The screening process outlined above resulted in 21 included articles. [18, [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] Of these, 18 resulted from the first database search and 3 were identified through supplementary hand searches. General characteristics of the articles are summarised in Table 1, and detailed information for each article is available in S2 Table.…”

“…Several studies appeared to be of high overall quality, characterised by strong internal cohesion between research questions, study design, and reporting of findings; detailed descriptions of qualitative methods; and evident reflexivity of the authors. [50,54,55,63,66,67] At the other end of the spectrum, two mixed-methods studies exhibited significant inconsistencies between their objectives, study design and implementation of qualitative methodologies. [58,59] Specifically, in the article by Tambulasi et al, there appeared to be a disconnect between the mixed-methods study design and the research objectives, which were phrased in a quantitative manner.…”

Mainstreaming Institutional Resilience and Systems Strengthening in Donor Policies and Programming

“…Although institutional resilience is often attributed to charismatic leadership, various case studies highlight that leadership is not exercised by a single individual, but rather a network of core group of senior technical staff and managers (Barma et al, 2014). In other instances, self-help groups or women's groups in rural communities have been integral to knowledge sharing on adaptation and coping mechanisms, providing loans during crises, and linking women to formal institutions that they could rarely access individually (Liru & Heinecken, 2021). Donors can support local networks by expanding their ability to connect and learn from each other (Barma et al, 2014).…”

“…The Nutrition Actor Network comprises a web of individuals and organisations operating within a given country who share a common interest in improving nutrition and who act collectively to do so (Baker et al, 2019). In many rural communities, for example in Kenya, self-help groups or women's groups have been integral in fostering knowledge sharing on adaptation and coping mechanisms, providing loans during crises, and linking women to formal institutions that they could rarely access individually (Liru & Heinecken, 2021). This supports the capacity of women to transform their livelihood strategies and gives them some degree of power and control over agricultural practices and food security.…”

“…This supports the capacity of women to transform their livelihood strategies and gives them some degree of power and control over agricultural practices and food security. In patriarchal societies, this has also contributed to challenging existing social relations (Liru & Heinecken, 2021).…”