Conclusions
Making the transition to climate-smart agriculture in gender-responsive way requires an integrated approach that simultaneously addresses a host of structural gender issues. All stakeholders have an important role to play in this effort.
Development agencies and NGOs are in a position to successfully advocate for equitable tenure, access and control rights, and socially and environmentally sustainable technologies and employment opportunities for both women and men. This can make a crucial contribution to promoting the adoption of climate-smart agriculture in communities that depend on agriculture and the management of natural resources.
Crucial policy-level actions that support climate-smart agriculture include the enactment and enforcement of conducive and inclusive agricultural policies; the improvement of infrastructure, the introduction of appropriate agricultural incentives; the provision of pertinent weather-related information; and the delivery of gender-responsive extension services.
Future efforts need to be directed at strengthening country-level planning in collaboration with private investors and development partners. As the climate changes, public programmes, such as disaster risk reduction, social protection, and insurance, will become increasingly important.
Countries and regional economic communities are becoming more and more committed to mainstreaming gender in climate policy in the agriculture sectors, especially in their implementation of nationally determined contributions to the UNFCCC, National Adaptation Plans and National Agricultural Investment Plans.
There are wide-ranging opportunities to develop capacity-building interventions linked to specific analyses of key gender issues. These interventions can be part of a larger process that elaborates projects on gender-responsive climate-smart agriculture; promotes women’s roles in agricultural value chains; and addresses the gendered impacts of climate change in the design of policies and programmes. This will lead to more effective and equitable participation of women smallholder farmers in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts and enhance the overall resilience of food systems.