CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE LIVELIHOODS OF WOMEN: THE AWDF AND GRANTEES APPROACH

Climate change is the global or regional shift in climate patterns due to the high emissions of greenhouse gases produced by human activities. Rising levels of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases) in the atmosphere have warmed the earth and are causing wide-ranging impacts including rising sea levels, melting snow and ice; extreme heat events, fires and drought, extreme storms, rainfall and floods.

These climatic events impacts negatively on areas such as agriculture and food security, biodiversity and ecosystems, water resources, human health, settlements and migration patterns. Women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change because they constitute majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on natural resources that are threatened by climate change for their livelihoods. More specifically in the field of agricultural and food security, women constitute about 90% of the labour force in Africa.

Notwithstanding their vulnerability, women’s strong knowledge and expertise in managing natural and household resources make them effective actors of change in relation to both mitigation and adaptation.However, grassroots women whose activities are negatively impacted by the adverse effects of climate change are not part of policy discourses and have no access to climate information, technology and the requisite resources to strengthen their coping capacity.

In the light of the above, AWDF supports women to respond to these challenges by supporting women to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change through its grant making and technical support activities. AWDF works with smallholder women farmers to improved food security through the preservation of indigenous seeds; to undertake land conservation practices that will help to improve crop yields; provides alternative sources of income such as bee keeping to maintain and improve livelihood; use of solar energy; water harvesting and irrigation technology for dry season agriculture among others. AWDF has also been supporting small-scale industries and agro processing activities to diversify and strengthen women’s income earning opportunities. It also strengthens women’s advocacy on land and food sovereignty.

In 2013, AWDF committed an amount of $623,200 which is 27% of its annual grant making budget ($2,232,250) to 46 women’s groups and organizations within 21 countries in Africa to undertake innovative projects which improve women’s livelihoods and also support them to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change. The various interventions reached over 18,700 African women.

 

Examples of Climate Change and Adaptation Initiatives by AWDF Grantees

– Restoration of forest cover and regeneration of soils through Agroforestry systems (CAEPA-Cameroon)

The Community Agriculture and Environmental Protection Association (CAEPA Cameroon) is an education and a research body set up in 2007 and legally registered in 2009 with the mission to enhance health, agriculture and environmental protection within Cameroonian communities and beyond.

CAEPA Cameroon through the support of AWDF trained 200 rural women farmers in techniques of nursery creation, seed collection, storage and pretreatment as well as the development of agroforestry systems. CAEPA also provided the women with indigenous tree seedlings. As a result of the project, 50 small holder women farmers from 5 communities in Bamumkumbit Subdivision have incorporated agroforestry into their farming systems. The women also now have the skills to check soil erosion using sustainable cropping systems in addition to wind and fire outbreaks.

CAEPA Cameroon through the support of AWDF has organized series of educational activities in schools. The educational activities were to make students more sensitive to environmental issues.

 

 

– Use of environmentally friendly agricultural production systems (organic agriculture: Children With Future in Zambia-Lumwana project)

Children with Future in Zambia (CwFiZ) is a local NGO established in 2006 to promote the welfare of the vulnerable in society with emphasis on women and orphans. CwFiZ works in the Copperbelt, Northern Province and North-western Province of Zambia.

With AWDF’s support CwFiZ has been able to train 225 women as smallholder groundnut farmers in improved peanut farming and processing. The training covered topics such as climate and soil requirement, varieties of peanut, crop rotation, land preparation, planting, spacing, weeding, diseases and crop protection. In addition, they were also trained in quality processing and packaging of peanuts. The project has enabled the trained women farmers to adopt organic farming methods and to cultivate 9 hectares of peanuts. They have acquired and installed a processing machine to process the harvested peanuts to enhance the crop’s market value and increase income.

 

 

 

– Water harvesting and irrigation for dry season agriculture (Uluntu Community Foundation-Zimbabwe)

Uluntu Community Foundation (UCF) was registered in 2008 by a group of development professionals in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, to spearhead development in Zimbabwe using the Matabeleland region as an entry point. UCF was set up to provide a people-centered mechanism for community development and empowerment.

Food insecurity is a major issue in the Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. The Foundation as a result of AWDF’s support has provided two women’s groups with water harvesting systems for watering 2 community gardens in Njabulo, Qedudubo in Sinkukwe and Zhokwe and Gwanda North and South. This has facilitated dry season gardening for the women who now produce vegetables throughout the year for household consumption and sale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Advocacy by traditional women leaders to protect Sacred sites (Mupo Foundation-South Africa)

The Mupo Foundation was established in 2007 by Mphatheleni Makaulule, a woman from Venda who was inspired to empower women in her community to protect their environment and livelihoods. The purpose of the organization is to empower women and girls to secure their livelihoods and participate in decision making processes that affect their lives. The organization operates mostly in Vhembe, a district of Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Mupo Foundation plays an active role in the activities of the African Biodiversity Network (ABN), a regional network into environmental activities.

Through AWDF’s support, Mupo has empowered 109 Makhadzi (women elders young and old), 6 chiefs in Vhembe district (Tshidzivhe, Vhutanda, Mphaila, Tshiendeulu, Tshivale, Ramunangi and Khwevha) to become the voices of their communities, asserting their territorial, environmental and human rights. Traditionally, women in Venda had very specific roles that gave them status and recognized their leadership role in communities and they were respectfully called Makhadzi. The Makhadzi (women elders and community leaders), the custodians of the sacred natural sites (SNS) that play a central role in maintaining the health and cohesion of the community governance system. These sacred forests, lakes, waterfalls and other sites are now critically threatened by the push for tourism development, plantations and mining.

The unravelling of these threads that held communities together and gave them autonomy and resilience, is something that must be urgently addressed as environmental and economic pressures escalate. One of The Mupo Foundation’s (Mupo) priorities is to support the Makhadzi, empowering them to become effective community leaders. MUPO Foundation want to deepen the women local leaders’ empowerment to a point where they can consolidate their constitutional rights to all areas of ecological, spiritual and cultural importance. This will enable them to secure and diversify their livelihood systems.

 

– Women into agro processing activities (Manchie Women Cassava Processing and Marketing Group-Ghana)

Manchie Women’s Cassava/Food Processing Group is a cassava farming and food processing group in the Ga West District of the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The group was formed in 2002 by Hon. Comfort Zormelo the Assembly woman of the area to economically empower the rural poor women. The group is made up of 20 women involved in the gari processing business. The group in addition, supported the construction and setting up of a school where women could leave their young ones while they make an income.

The group as a result of AWDF’s support has been able to purchase cassava processing equipment to support their processing activities; they have been able to rent a 50 acres farm land which they have cultivated. The produce from their farm feeds the processing facility. This has greatly enhanced their processing and marketing activities and has also improved income levels of women, many of whom are single mothers and widows.

Madam Comfort Zormelo, the leader of the group as a result of all the work the group is doing with AWDF’s support, was nominated from the Greater Accra region of Ghana with other nine women from the rest of the country and given an award of excellence for their work on the economic empowerment of women by development partners.

 

– Food storage using traditional silos and integrated pest management (KOWA Farms-Ghana)

The Kobo No. 3 Awoma Co-operative Food Farming & Marketing Society (KOWAFARMS) was formed in 2005 to empower women and the youth in crop production using organic methods to ensure food security in its operational areas. The group operates in the Volta Region of Ghana and its beneficiaries are women and the youth. KOWAFARMS has in the past trained women and youth in its targeted communities in integrated pest management, land conservation, grass-cutter, rabbit and snail farming and has also undertaken anti-bush fire campaigns in some traditional areas within the Volta Region of Ghana.

AWDF’s support enabled the group to empower women small-holder farmers to find and disseminate solutions that will reduce waste from postharvest losses of grain and tuber crops and turn typically discarded by-products into something of increased value. By addressing food security, creating demand for grain and tuber crops and improving efficiency at all stages along the value chain. The project has introduced new locally made silos that are designed to keep harvest in a low-oxygen atmosphere at all times in order to prevent the onset of mud and decay. This unique and innovative project has greatly improve the livelihoods of women farmers with low incomes. KOWAFARMS is piloting traditional granary and metal silo technology in the four district of Volta region of Ghana and expected to be rolled out by 2015 countrywide to help farmers to cut the 30 per cent post-harvest losses (PHL).

 

– Environmental sanitation activities (Women’s Leadership and Training Program (WLTP-South Africa; SOS Addis-Ethiopia, collects plastic waste, recycle to generate income and ameliorate environment)

Women’s Leadership and Training Programme (WLTP), was initiated in 1985 by the Grail, an international women’s movement active in South Africa since 1950. WLTP is an integrated leadership and development programme for girls and young women that analyses gender and cultural practices that demean women and make them subordinate to men, it also empowers women and girls to be more conscious of the threat pose by environmental degradation.

WLTP through AWDF’s support was able to educate over 200 women and young women on environmental sanitation and waste management. WLTP’s waste management activities are in four local Municipalities, Kwa Sani, Ingwe, Umzumbe and Ubuhlebezwe.Hlokozi falls into 2 local Municipalities, Umzumbe with 19 Wards stretching inland from the South Coast of KZN, and Ubuhlebezwe, in the Highflats/Ixopo areas, with 12 Wards.

WLTP in a bid to reduce the threat posed by indiscriminate dumping of waste and to ameliorate the environment, embarked on a community sensitization drive on the negative impact of environmental degradation. Community members were also educated on how to use waste to create livelihood opportunities for community members.

SOS ADDIS, is another organisation based in Ethiopia that is supported by AWDF. It mobilizes women to protect the environment from pollution through the collection of plastic waste; the women collectors of the plastic waste sell them to recycling companies to generate income to meet their social needs. AWDF over the years has supported SOS ADDIS to train some of the women collectors to use the waste SOS ADDIS was supported by AWDF to advocate for better practices of plastic bag use. Their advocacy for recycling reform turned into a real policy, Proclamation 513, which bans the manufacture or import of plastic bags less than 0.33mm in thickness.

 

– Research: African Biodiversity Network (ABN)-Kenya

The African Biodiversity Network (ABN) was first conceived in 1996 in response to growing concerns over threats to biodiversity and community rights in Africa and the need to develop strong African positions and legal instruments at the national, regional and international level. The overall purpose of ABN is to ignite and nurture a growing African network of individuals, organizations and communities working, with capacity to resist harmful developments and to influence and implement policies and practices that promote recognition and respect for people and for Nature. The ABN has developed into a regional network which now consists of 36 partners in twelve African countries: Benin, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Though AWDF’s support, ABN researched, produced and launched a report on women’s knowledge systems and their critical role in seed selection, household food and nutritional sovereignty as well as climate change resilience. This is an evidence based document to be used for advocacy.

 

 

– Environmental Film Festival of Accra-Creative Storm- Ghana

As part of the advocacy efforts, AWDF supported the Creative Storm to organize the 2012 (second edition) State of the Environment Forum. The forum brought together over 200 participants from across Ghana to deliberate and report on progress towards environmental sustainability in Ghana. The 2012 forum highlighted issues that inform the role of women in the environment. AWDF support enabled Creative Storm to bring more women participants and presenters to the forum. This enriched the sessions and turned out to be a much welcomed initiative. Presentations were made in three thematic areas: climate change, degraded environment & flooding; water and sanitation; natural resources.

Environmental Film Festival of Accra (EFFA) was founded in 2005 as a non profit project to raise awareness of environmental issues through the powerful medium of film and related platforms. EFFA has been described by Times Europe in its March 2006 edition as “the stellar festival of Africa.”

 

– AWDF’s EEL Convening in South Africa

To strengthen women’s role in advocacy, AWDF in 2013 organized an Economic Empowerment and Livelihood (EEL )convening in South Africa that created the platform for women experts and practitioners in the EEL to brainstorm and discuss current and emerging trends in women’s livelihood and environmental issues. At the end of the workshop a statement was issued which was used to further highlight the impact of climate change on women’s livelihoods during the World Economic Forum in South Africa.

 

– Sustainable Livelihoods and Natural Environment Conservation through Beekeeping and agroforestry (Kawuku Women’s Group-Uganda)

The Kawuku Women’s Group is a local women’s group that was formed in 1998 by some women in the local church parish of the district. The purpose of the group is to improve the standard of living of women in terms of increased incomes, improved general health and improved nutrition in the communities. The group operates in Kawuku village, Gaba Parish, Makindye Division of Kampala District. The group was supported by AWDF to undertake beekeeping activities to provide income to women and also to cultivate trees to restore degraded farm land. The group members as a result of the project have experienced increase in incomes. This is because among the 40 beehives, they have been able to harvest honey from 36 hives. Each hive produces a minimum of 1 litre, meaning that from the 36 hives we are able to get 36 litres every 3 months. The income generated has been used to acquire an office at Lubaga and purchase of office equipment. The next money earned will be given to women as revolving credit. The group was able to heat and make 8 packets of 15 candles every week. The degraded land used for the apiary is now vegetated.

 

 

 

– Movement of Women Farmers/Farm Workers Participating in a Food Sovereignty Campaign: Surplus Peoples Project-South Africa

Surplus People Project (SPP) was formed in 1985 by researchers who documented forced removal during apartheid in an effort to address lack of land and housing for black people. The purpose of SPP is to build and support social movements in its struggles for food sovereignty and agrarian transformation. To achieve this, SPP facilitates pro-poor agrarian transformation and food sovereignty. It supports and promotes the implementation of agro-ecological practices as an alternative to the dominant forms of production. The organization currently works in two provinces in South Africa (Northern and Western Cape). SPP’s programs are targeted at small-scale farmers, farm workers & dwellers (women and youth in particular).

The Rural Women’s Assembly is a space where women from the Food Sovereignty Campaign share their struggles for land, water and development resources. Through AWDF’s support, SPP was able to provide spaces where women can strategically engage on issues of natural resource rights. SPP also developed the skills of rural women to build solidarity and to effectively participate in political spaces such as the Food Sovereignty Campaign.