Gender in climate change, agriculture, and
natural resource policies: insights from East
Africa
Ampaire EL, Acosta M, Huyer S, Kigonya R, Muchunguzi P, Muna R, Jassogne L
March 12, 2020

Content
• CSA and gender responsiveness
• Gender responsiveness in policy
• Research results
• gender in policy documents
• budget analysis
• Conclusions

4
Gender responsiveness in policy
Policies sufficiently
integrate gender
Gender provisions in
policy & practice
address gender
structural issues &
strategic needs
Implementation plans
design clear strategies for
addressing gender &
provide an
implementation budget
Implementation of
adaptation options
Exhaustively capture men’s, women’s and
youth priorities in policy statements.
land ownership/access,
access to credit,
information, extension
advice, markets, &
constraining cultural
norms
Spell out steps that will be
taken to address the identified
gender issues
Incorporate gender indicators in monitoring
and assessment of programme implementation
Interventions
address men,
women and youth
priorities
Gender analysis identifies
women and men priorities,
opportunities & constraints
across scales sand guides the
design of interventions
…means that we are addressing gender inequalities at all levels

5
Gathering
evidence
Desk review of
policies, strategies &
implementation
plans
Interviews with
policy makers,
practitioners
and farmers
Analysis of
district and
ward budgets
2012-2016
Feedback
workshops
with district
officials
The study: Gender and policy analysis
researchMethodology
Results were used to engage members of Parliament in Uganda and
Tanzania to advocate for gender responsive policies

Insufficient
consideration to
gender structural
constraints
Poor
harmonization of
policies
• Several disengagements between gender approaches in
different policies and across governance levels.
• Mismatch between identified gender constraints and
suggested policy solutions.
• Insufficient budget, skills, and relegating gender issues to
NGOs.
Gender?
• Gender = Women?
• Women portrayed as ‘vulnerable’, ‘marginalized’
• Low intersectionality of gender with other social divides
• Overlooks men’s vulnerability & adaptive capacity to climate
change
• Fail to comprehensively address gendered power dynamics
at different levels and the structural constraints reinforcing
vulnerability.
• Women do not have effective ownership of land – affects
adoption of practices and access to credit.
Summary observations……from documents reviewed

7
Gender integration in policy documents
 Policy documents were systematically scrutinized for their degree of gender
integration and were given specific grades
Grade Level of Gender Integration
Grade 1 No reference to gender issues
Grade 2 Gender mentioned in overall objectives but absent from
subsequent implementation levels
Grade 3 Gender clearly presented as one relevant entry point in relation
to main objective, but absence of clear road map leading to
implementation
Grade 4 Gender included in action plan, but absence of clear earmarked
resources for implementation
Grade 5 Gender included in document from objective down to action plan,
with clear resources identified for implementation
Source: Gumucio and Tafur Rueda (2015)

8
Gender integration by administrative levels

9
18%
44%
62%
13%
71%
17%
25%
3%
50%
89%
36%
10%
13%
17%
25%
3%
20%
36%
44%
17%
63%
21%
33%
50%
13%
10%
5%
14%
9%
11%
3%
13%
8%
47%
20%
29%
7%
7%
25%
34%
5%
57%
Agricultural sector policies, strategies
Climate change policies
Development plans
Environment, forestry and water resource policies
Annual action plans
Agricultural sector policies, strategies
Climate change policies
Development plans
Environment, forestry and water resource policies
Annual action plans
Gender policies
TanzaniaUganda
% of documents per thematic area
No reference to gender issues
Gender only mentioned in objective or only identified among cross-cutting issues
Gender referenced throughout the document but without clear implementation plan
Gender mentioned throughout the document, with implementation strategy but lacking allocation of resources
Gender mentioned throughout the document, with implementation strategy and allocation of resources
Gender integration by theme

10
Proportion of district budget committed to gender, Tanzania

11
Proportion of gender budget committed to gender activities,
Uganda

12
• Improve understanding of gender and gender
mainstreaming among practitioners & policy makers
• Build capacity of practitioners in gender analysis, gender
responsive approaches, sex disaggregated data
collection, gendered monitoring indicators, budgeting
and gender responsive reporting
• The need for gender responsive planning and
coordination tools & frameworks
• Operational mechanisms to promote coordination and
collaboration e.g. cross-departmental gender task forces
What needs to be done to improve

13
Acknowledgement

Edidah Lubega Ampaire (PhD)
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office,
Eaton Place, Third Floor, United Nations Crescent, Gigiri
P.O.Box 62084 00200 Nairobi Kenya
Phone: +254 709 074 403
Mobile: +254725707879
elampaire@idrc.ca
www.idrc.ca | www.crdi.ca