Training Guide: Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development

"[H]ow do men and women access information about new practices and technologies that enable them to deal with their changing climate?"

The purpose of this guide is to promote gender-responsive and socially-sensitive climate change research and development in the agriculture and food security sectors through participatory approaches. It provides agricultural development professionals and other readers with resources and participatory action research (PAR) tools for collecting, analysing, and sharing gender-sensitive information about agricultural communities, households, and individuals who are facing climate changes. Tested by researchers in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Ghana, the guide was jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

This guide uses the Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis approach (SEAGA), which is based on the analysis of socio-economic patterns and participatory identification of women's and men's priorities and potentials. With a focus on ensuring that economically poor and marginalised groups are ensured a voice in the process of responding to and preparing for climate change, the guide includes:

• PART I
  • Introduction - provides an overview of the guide with exercises and tips aimed at training users of the guide;
  • Module 1 - explains key gender terms and gender analysis frameworks;
  • Module 2 - builds on module 1 to explain key climate change issues in the agriculture and food security sectors with a gender analysis approach; and
  • Module 3 - offers a tool box of participatory research tools that can be used in field research.
• Part II
  • Module 4 - provides guidance to users on how field work can be prepared using the concepts of modules 1 and 2;
  • Module 5 - presents a work plan for carrying out field research on gender and climate change among agricultural households
  • Module 6 - consists of a reporting format for reporting on field research; and
  • Module 7 - explains how data generated by the field research can be analysed.
• Part III: Annexes - 1: Glossary, 2: Additional Resources and 3: Bibliography

Throughout the resource, concrete recommendations for PAR practitioners are provided to build their capacity for carrying out community-based sessions. For example, one session incorporating a "climate analogue approach", developed by CCAFS, focuses on facilitating connections between people who are facing likely impacts of climate change exchanging ideas with other people who have already faced similar conditions. "A gender-specific approach and equity in participation are key to making sure that all community members could benefit from this approach". Session leaders could strive to: "[u]nderstand the extent to which different types of farmers are mobile (or not) and generate insights as to if, what and how they wish to learn from visiting climate analogue sites; [b]etter understand how the use of other information and communication technologies (e.g. films (e.g. short YouTube videos), cell phones) may be ways in which to effectively share knowledge about what people are doing now in places with similar future climates for these different groups; [t]est the usefulness of gender-differentiated participatory resource maps (in this case, already available) in helping to enhance understanding of the potential of using the climate analogues tool in potential action research; [and b]etter understand the factors helping and hindering male and female farmers in learning from others about adaptive strategies for dealing with climatic uncertainties."