Understanding Women’s Needs for Weather and Climate Information in Agrarian Settings: The Case of Ngetou Maleck, Senegal

Abstract

While climate services have the potential to reduce precipitation- and temperature-related risks to agrarian livelihoods, such outcomes are possible only when they deliver information that is salient, legitimate, and credible to end users. This is particularly true of climate services intended to address the needs of women in agrarian contexts. The design of such gender-sensitive services is hampered by oversimplified framings of women as a group in both the adaptation and climate services literatures. This paper demonstrates that even at the village level, women have different climate and weather information needs, and differing abilities to act on that information. Therefore, starting with preconceived connections between identities and vulnerability is likely to result in overgeneralizations that hinder the ability to address the climate-related development and adaptation needs of the most vulnerable. Instead, as is demonstrated in this paper, the design and implementation of effective gender-sensitive climate services must start with the relevant social differences that shape people’s livelihoods decisions and outcomes, including but not limited to gender.

Identifying user needs for weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

“…A lack of access to communication devices such as radios, televisions and mobile telephones used in transmitting forecast can limit who is able to use this information (Ochieng et al 2017). Challenges in accessing forecast information may be compounded by gender, with female farmers having lower access to WCS than their male counterparts (Oyekale 2015, Carr et al 2016.…”

Gendered reporting of household dynamics in the Kenyan dairy sector: trends and implications for low emissions dairy development

“…Intra-household sharing of information is patterned by gender differentiated roles in the agricultural production process, and influence the level and types of information women and men have access to (Tall, Kristjanson, Chaudhury, McKune, & Zougmore, 2014). While countless development projects over the last 30 years have endeavored to engage women through interventions that prioritize women's participation, structural social inequities in relation to formalized information channels for agricultural information remain a challenge (Carr, Fleming, & Tshibangu, 2016). Information sharing related to internal dynamics in the household division of labor (e.g., being aware of who does what in the household) may also be hindered by the reporting bias known as 'telescoping'whereby the respondent includes events that occurred prior to the recall period (Deaton & Grosh, 2000).…”

Factors influencing gendered access to climate information services for farming in Senegal

“…Within SSA, several benefits of CIS in improving agricultural productivity and resource use efficiency are reported (Etwire et al, 2017;Dinesh, 2016;Roudier et al, 2014;Serra & McKune, 2016;Vaughan et al, 2019;Zougmor e & Ndiaye, 2015). However, the gender perspective concerning determinant of access to climate information services is poorly documented (Carr, Fleming, & Kalala, 2016). This article aims to determine women's and men's climate information needs and analyze factors that influence gender-differentiated access to CIS in Senegal.…”