Enhancing Climate Resilience

and Empowering Women in

Agriculture and Livestock
Management in Rural Kenya
Brief overview
Women in rural Kenya, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs),
face disproportionate challenges due to climate change's impact on
agriculture and livestock management, their primary livelihood sources.
Erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and increasing temperatures threaten
crop yields and livestock productivity, intensifying women's traditional
burdens of water and fodder collection. Existing gender inequalities in
land ownership, credit access, and decision-making further exacerbate
their vulnerability. This policy aims to empower these women and build
their climate resilience. It prioritizes enhancing their access to climate-
smart agricultural and livestock training tailored to ASAL conditions,
including drought-resistant crops, water harvesting techniques, and
suitable livestock breeds. The policy seeks to secure women's land rights
and improve access to microfinance and credit tailored to pastoralist and
agro-pastoralist communities. Bridging the information gap is crucial, thus
the policy promotes access to climate information, weather forecasts, and
market prices through mobile technology, community radio, and farmer
field schools. Strengthening market linkages for their products and
supporting value addition initiatives will enhance their economic
opportunities. Promoting renewable energy, like solar water pumps, and
energy-efficient stoves aims to reduce their workload and improve well-
being. Finally, the policy emphasizes empowering women's leadership and
participation in local governance and resource management committees,
ensuring their voices are heard in climate adaptation strategies and
community development. This comprehensive approach seeks to
empower women, strengthen their livelihoods, and build a more climate-
resilient future for rural Kenya.

Beyond the Headlines: The Gendered Realities of

Climate Change
Climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, and
gender is a significant factor in determining vulnerability. In many parts of
the world, including Kenya, women and girls face systemic disadvantages
that heighten their susceptibility to the impacts of climate-related
disasters. Locking at climate change through the Lense of “intersectional
feminism” we see certain section of women becoming more vulnerable to
climate emergencies which includes older women, migrant women,
LGBTQIA+ women, women and girls with disabilities, women belonging to
remote and disaster-prone areas especially Afro-descendant women. In
many third world countries women disproportionally bear the burden of
securing natural resources like fire woods, water etc. Even though they
depend more yet have less access to natural resources. During climate
shocks, the difficulties pf fetching these resources escalates even more,
for example, the scarcity of water or depletion of forest resources means
that women must walk longer distances to secure these resources.
Additionally, when women are not able to collect sufficient resources, they
become more susceptible to domestic violence. Ethnographic data
suggests that limited household water access is directly correlated with
higher incidence of intimate partner violence against women. Such
compels FAO to conclude that there is a “Feminization of agriculture”.
Women in Third world countries are predominantly employed in informal
and lower paid jobs as they have a central role in domestic works and
restriction on their social mobility.
Climate change works as a “Threat multiplier” which means that it
escalates socio-political and economic tensions in fragile and conflict
affected zones Post natural calamities making women vulnerable to
conflicts. there is an evidenced rise in Socio-cultural and economic
tension which ultimately lead to more instances of gender-based violence
as provided by many post disaster assessments following calamities,
especially drought, cyclone and flash floods. A classic example could be
the Cyclone Nargis of Myanmar, after which there was an evidenced rise
in the domestic violence rate as well as increased rate of sexual violence
targeted against women living in emergency shelters or evacuation camps
after the cyclone. rates of gender-based violence increased from
4.6/100,000 per day to 16.3/100,000 per day after Hurricane Katrina in
2005 .Similarly, in the aftermath of Cyclones Vania and Atu that hit
Vanuatu, there was a 300% increase in new domestic violence victims
seeking care at the Tanna Women’s Counselling Centre As also provided
by UN organization of migration showcased that as 80% of the population
displaced by climate change are women hence, post disaster
displacement , women , especially young girls were more vulnerable to
human trafficking . Due to the lack of mobility and access to information,
decision making process etc. women and girls are less able to access
relief in the face of climate threat. Hence Climate crisis is not “Gender
neutral”.

Climate Change in Kenya: A Gendered Crisis

Rural women in Kenya play a crucial role in agriculture and livestock
management, contributing significantly to household food security and
income. However, climate change impacts, such as prolonged droughts,
erratic rainfall patterns, and increased temperatures, are severely
affecting these sectors. Women's traditional roles and responsibilities in
these areas make them particularly vulnerable. Droughts reduce crop
yields and livestock productivity, increasing women's workload as they
travel further to fetch water and fodder. Changing rainfall patterns disrupt
planting seasons and impact crop diversity, affecting women's ability to
provide food for their families. These challenges are compounded by
existing gender inequalities in access to land ownership, credit, and
decision-making power. Kenya has experienced several severe flood
events in recent years, driven by extreme weather patterns associated
with climate change. The floods have caused widespread destruction,
displacing thousands of families and leading to significant economic
losses.
The 2024 floods were particularly devastating, affecting large parts of the
country, including regions already struggling with food insecurity and
poverty. Due to the lack of information, mobility and representation
health risks increased among women during this period as shown by
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). With this, as a study
conducted by WHO showcases that with the rise of global temperature,
women are becoming more vulnerable to risks related to maternal and
child health with increased incidents of still birth and vector borne
diseases like Malaria, Dengue fever, Zika virus which affect maternal and
neo-natal outcomes and women of Kenya are no exception. Kenya, which
is currently experiencing a severe drought, considered the worst in the
past 40 years, impacting millions of people with a lack of water and food
due to five consecutive below-average rainy seasons, has hitting the
women of Kenya the hardest, with Malnutrition, Dehydration, Female
genital mutilation, incidents of Child marriage and Gender based violence
rising in the country. The cop28 health declaration and WHO document
protecting maternal, newborn and child health from the impact of Climate
change suggests that by 2050 climate change may push 158 million more
women and girls into poverty and cause 232 million to face food
insecurity. Hence it is high time that we look at the problem of Climate
change from the lens women and take wide strides to mitigate the same.
Hence our policy focuses on to enhance the climate resilience of rural
women in Kenya by strengthening their capacity in climate-smart
agriculture and livestock management, improving their access to
resources and information, and empowering them in decision-making
processes related to climate change adaptation.

Policy objectives
  Enhance women's access to climate-smart agriculture and livestock
management training and resources.
 Improve women's access to land and credit.
 Increase women's access to information and technology.
 Strengthen women's access to markets and value addition
opportunities.
 Promote the use of renewable energy and energy-efficient
technologies.
 Empower women in decision-making processes related to climate
change adaptation and resource management.

Strategies
Women as environmental stewards
As we head towards a warming trajectory of beyond 1.5°C temperature
rise it becomes clearer that women play a crucial role in environmental
stewardship given the susceptibility of women towards climate crisis,
especially the increased vulnerability of women due to rising
temperatures. While the aftermath of many climatic disasters like the
survival of more men than women, can be attributed to more plausible
and interrelated causes but the fact that this effect is more pronounced
where women have lower socio-economic status and representation, like
Kenya leads experts to believe that the causes are more cultural than
biological or physiological. Thus, breaking the cultural barriers women
must work as environmental stewards, taking wider steps in climate
advocacy.

Why women?
Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production in
developing countries. They produce even up to 80% of the food. However,
lack of access to resources from land rights to credits and technology. If
they had adequate access too resources it would lead to the
intensification of agriculture and the lesser need to cut down trees to
widen farmlands – one of the biggest drivers of Climate change.
As the reports from CARE internationals shows many women have a
strong body of environmental knowledge gleaned from years of collecting
or managing resources and raising families. When women are in control
of resources, they are more likely to use them for family health and
economic stability women are also more likely to change strategies in
response to new information to minimize risks of environmental
degradation.
When disasters stake women are generally the first responders as they
are tasked with duties to protect children, elderly, persons with disability
etc. Even after the disaster they are often likely to be responsible for
caring for the sick and the injured. Providing support for their families and
helping communities recover and rebuild and yet even though women are
leaders in post disaster managements they are largely excluded from
shaping policies, strategies and programmes to address post disaster
recovery and reconstruction. Hence it is necessary to give women the
front position in Climate advocacy as a research patroned by UN have
shown that countries with higher proportion of women in parliament is
more likely to ratify international environmental treaties and has stricter
climate policies. In the business sector as well, it has been evidenced that
better environmental reporting and sensitivity and investment in
renewable energy generation and energy efficiency has been achieved, if
women took the upfront position in the executive decision-making level.

Enhancing agricultural efficiency

small-scale subsistence farmers, in the context of Kenya, women rely
solely on the production of their farms to provide for their families, a
natural disaster has detrimental effects on their livelihoods, which can be
particularly devastating in Kenya due to such a vast small-scale
subsistence farming economy. The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey showed high levels of chronic food insufficiency for Kenyans, with
23% of urban household respondents and 36% of rural household
respondents acknowledging not having enough food to eat during the
seven days prior to the survey. The compounding effect of climate change
and alcohol consumption places Kenyan women who have a husband
working in agriculture at higher risk for experiencing IPV. Thus, there is a
need for women to have economic self-sufficiency, or in the context of
Kenya, agricultural self-sufficiency. Thus, our policy will try to Design and
deliver gender-responsive training programs on climate-smart agriculture
and livestock management practices, including drought-resistant crops,
water harvesting techniques, improved livestock breeds, and pasture
management while partnering with agricultural extension services, NGOs,
and community-based organizations to deliver training programs in
accessible locations and local languages. The policy will Establish farmer
field schools specifically for women in drought prone areas of Kenya,
adapting the curriculum to focus on climate-smart livestock management
practices (rangeland rehabilitation, drought-resistant fodder crops) and
dryland agriculture techniques relevant to their context.
Such will be backed by inclusive qualitative and quantitative data,
reflective of the needs of women in Kenya while also ensuring that
sampling methods are free from any gender biases or dis aggregate data
to reflect divergent experience of women by age, income, disability status
and measures of exploitative Ness among other factors.
Increased access to resources
The policy will Review and amend existing land laws and policies to
strengthen women's land rights, ensuring that women can own and inherit
land equally with men. While they will be provided with equal share of
land they will also be provided with qualitative knowledge on financial
literacy and business management skills to manage those resources.
women will be Partnered up with microfinance institutions to develop loan
products specifically tailored to the needs of women in agriculture and
livestock management. Women’s cooperatives will be facilitated to tailor
women’s ability by Agriculture and Livestock Training (ASAL) to be able to
represent themselves well in the future. Another lacuna is the lack of
access to adequate technology by women, with only 49.5% of the women
having access to mobile technology, thus Development and dissemination
of mobile applications and SMS-based services that provide women in
Kenya with access to climate information, weather forecasts (specifically
drought predictions), agricultural advice (including rangeland
management information), and market prices for livestock and agricultural
products in local languages spoken in Kenya. To increase their economy
self-sufficiency the policy will facilitate women's access to markets by
connecting them with buyers, processors, and retailers and also Support
the development of a market information systems that provide women
with real-time information on market prices and demand making them
less vulnerable to fluctuating market and climatic trends.
While also investing in women, there is also a need of women’s active
participation in funding organizational allocation of resources and gender
sensitive investments which would lead women to have a sense of
inclusiveness, leadership and responsibility, which will not only curb out
the underrepresentation of women in the decision-making process but
also will provide for the dwindling economy of Kenya, whose helm is
majorly managed by women.

Sustainable energy use

The findings show that the energy matrix in Kenya comprises 80 % fossil
fuels, biomass fuel, particularly for cooking, which has a significant
negative impact on women's health, primarily due to the high levels of
indoor air pollution it generates, leading to increased risks of respiratory
issues like chronic bronchitis, asthma, eye irritation, and even adverse
pregnancy outcomes. Thus, By Providing subsidies and incentives
specifically tailored to women to adopt solar water pumping technologies
the policy will reduce women’s time and effort spent fetching water for
their households and livestock, and ensuring access to clean water for
irrigation as well as the use of energy-efficient stoves to reduce firewood
consumption, alleviating pressure on scarce fuelwood resources and
reducing women's workload in collecting firewood and improving their
overall health.

Women’s increased participation

One of the major foci of the policy will be to Ensure women's meaningful
participation in local governance structures, recognizing the importance of
traditional pastoralist institutions and decision-making processes,
including representation in community elders' councils and rangeland
management committees, which till this date mange the socio-cultural
realities of Kenya. The policy will also Support women's representation in
decision-making bodies related to land management, water resource
management, and agricultural development respecting customary laws
and practices. In such a way village level governance will be more gender
inclusive to further promote equal electoral participation and distribution
of work.

Potential outcomes
The successful implementation of the Enhancing Climate Resilience and
Empowering Women in Agriculture and Livestock Management in Rural
Kenya Policy, with its focus on KENYA s, is expected to achieve the
following specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound
(SMART) results and outcomes
1. Improved Agricultural Productivity and Food Security: The
policy aims to significantly enhance agricultural productivity and
food security for women in KENYA s. This will be achieved through a
measurable increase (e.g., 20% within 5 years) in the yields of key
drought-resistant crops like sorghum, millet, and cowpeas, coupled
with a diversification of crop production to enhance resilience
against both drought and market fluctuations. Furthermore, we
anticipate a reduction (e.g., 15% within 3 years) in post-harvest
losses due to the adoption of improved storage facilities and value-
addition techniques. These combined efforts will contribute to a
measurable improvement in household food security indicators,
reflected in a decrease in food shortages and an increase in dietary
diversity scores within KENYA communities. Data collection through
farm surveys, agricultural extension records, loss assessments, and
household surveys will be crucial for monitoring progress and
evaluating the impact of the policy.

2. Increased Women's Economic Empowerment: A central goal of

the policy is to empower women economically by increasing their
income generated from agricultural and livestock activities in KENYA
s. We anticipate a measurable increase (e.g., 30% within 5 years) in
 average income, driven by improved agricultural and livestock
productivity, coupled with enhanced market access and value-
addition opportunities. Facilitating access to credit and financial
services will enable women to invest in their businesses and further
enhance their economic independence. Data collection through
surveys, cooperative records, and market participation tracking will
be vital for assessing the policy's impact on women's economic
empowerment.

3. Enhanced Access to Resources and Information: The policy

prioritizes improving women's access to critical resources and
information. This includes a measurable increase in the number of
women in KENYA s who own or have secure tenure rights to land,
providing them with greater control over their livelihoods. Improved
access to reliable water sources for both agriculture and livestock,
facilitated by water harvesting technologies and enhanced water
management practices, is another key objective. Furthermore, we
aim to increase the number of women in KENYA s utilizing mobile
technology and other information channels to access climate
information, weather forecasts, and agricultural advice, empowering
them with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions.
Land registry data, water access data, and technology usage data
will be used to monitor progress.

4. Strengthened Women's Leadership and Participation:

Empowering women in decision-making processes is a critical
aspect of the policy. We anticipate a measurable increase in the
number of women participating in local governance structures and
decision-making bodies related to climate change adaptation and
resource management in KENYA s. Enhanced leadership skills and
capacity among women will enable them to effectively advocate for
their rights and participate in community development processes.
Increased involvement of women in community-based organizations
working on climate change and resource management is another
key target. Participation rates, leadership assessments, and
membership data will be tracked to measure the policy's impact on
women's leadership and participation.

Implementation policy
 Policy Launch and Dissemination: Officially launch the policy and disseminate
it widely through government channels, media, and community outreach,
emphasizing its focus on women in KENYA s.

 Establishment of Implementation Structures: Form the Climate Resilience Unit

within the Ministry of Agriculture and designate focal points within relevant
ministries and county governments. Establish partnerships with KALRO and the
KENYA s Development Authority.
 County-Level Action Plan Development: County governments, in collaboration
with local communities and women's groups, develop detailed action plans with
specific targets, activities, budgets, and timelines, tailored to their KENYA
context.

 Community Mobilization and Awareness: Recruit and train community

mobilizers to work with women in KENYA s, raising awareness about the policy
and its programs, and facilitating community participation.

 Capacity Building and Training: Implement gender-responsive training

programs on climate-smart agriculture, livestock management, and
business skills, using participatory methods and accessible locations/languages.

 Resource Access Improvement: Facilitate women's access to land rights through

legal support and awareness campaigns. Partner with microfinance institutions to
provide tailored loan products. Support the formation and strengthening of
women's cooperatives.

 Technology and Information Dissemination: Establish community technology

centres and leverage mobile technology and community radio to provide women
in KENYA s with climate information, agricultural advice, and market prices.

 Market Access and Value Chain Development: Facilitate market linkages for
women's agricultural and livestock products through market information systems,
value chain development initiatives, and agri-business hubs.
 Renewable Energy Promotion: Provide subsidies and technical support for the
adoption of renewable energy technologies, such as solar water pumps,
prioritizing women's access.

 Resource Management and Governance: Establish or strengthen Resource

Management Committees with women's representation and leadership,
empowering them in local resource management and decision-making.

 Program Implementation and Monitoring: Implement programs outlined in

county action plans, regularly monitoring progress against targets and indicators
using appropriate data collection methods.

 Evaluation and Adaptive Management: Conduct periodic evaluations of the

policy's effectiveness and impact, using data from monitoring activities and
community feedback, adapting the policy and its implementation strategies as
needed.