NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

To fill this gap the CGIAR-GENDER Impact platform commissioned studies to synthesize evidence on existing frameworks and indicators, adapt relevant components and develop a framework with its indicators that is specific to and can be used to measure and track the resilience of women in agrifood systems. The findings of the review are ready to be published as platform’s working paper (forthcoming).

In the upcoming webinar the new metrics for tacking and measuring women’s climate resilience in agrifood systems will be presented for discussion and comment.

Summary of presentation

Climate change has emerged as a critical challenge on the global development agenda, with documented adverse impacts on agri-food systems, including on soil fertility, crop yields, food production, nutrient bioavailability, infrastructure, livelihoods, and food security (Owino et al., 2022). To enhance capacities for coping with and adapting to climate hazards, there is a growing interest in conceptualizing and assessing the various dimensions of ‘climate resilience’ for impacted stakeholders. While various frameworks of climate resilience have been developed and are utilized across the agri-food system literature, few comprehensively include gender considerations and indicators in an encompassing manner. In this context, this mixed methods study (a) compiles the existing frameworks on climate resilience and gender in agri-food systems through a systematic literature review of 108 articles, and (b) develops a comprehensive conceptual framework for climate resilience in agri-food systems with a gender lens, as well as (c) an assessment index for climate resilience at the individual level through a scoping study across 7 districts, and a primary survey across 3 districts in Odisha.

Despite numerous studies on resilience, there is a dearth of frameworks and tools that measure and track the climate resilience of women in agrifood systems. A scoping review of 83 studies revealed that most frameworks focus on household or community resilience, with almost no emphasis on individual resilience. Only three studies explicitly address women-centered resilience indicators, primarily based on larger-scale measurements. A framework anchored around the four main resilience capacities: anticipatory, absorptive, adaptive, and transformative is proposed. This proposed framework and its indicators can be adapted for different contexts, offering valuable tools to enhance understanding and tracking of women’s climate resilience in agrifood systems.

Time: 14:00 – 15:30 EAT / 6:00 – 7:30 EST