Enhancing Women’s Assets to Manage

Risk under Climate Change: Potential

for Group-Based Approaches

Workshop on “Gender and Agriculture: A Focus on Bangladesh”

Lakeshore Hotel, Gulshan, Dhaka

June 18, 2014

http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/

This work is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany

under the project ‘‘Enhancing Women’s Assets to Manage Risk under Climate Change: Potential for

Group–Based Approaches,’’ and forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies Institutions and

Markets (PIM).

Background• Role of climate change for food security and

poverty reduction recognized– Increasing international research efforts on the topic

• “Gender and climate change”– Increasingly recognized as important concern

– Frequent claims that women are disproportionately affected by climate change, but• limited evidence base and lack of understanding of WHY that

is the case

– Hence: Limited basis for sound policy recommendations

• Insights from previous research– Climate change adaptation as risk management

• Need to focus on role of assets and collective action

• Research gap: Gender perspective

Role of assets and collective action for risk management

• Role of assets in adaptation to climate change– “Climate smart” agricultural and natural resource

management practices require assets• Land rights

• Human capital

• Social capital – collective action

• Role of assets for coping with climate shocks– Assets are used -- often sold -- to deal with shocks

• Gender-dimension– Perceptions of climate change may differ

– Assets may differ

– Abilities to adopt new strategies or cope with shocks may differ

– Need to tailor policies, programs and projects to gender-specific needs

Two IFPRI projects on gender

and climate changeBMZ project

• Four countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali

• Qualitative methods (Netmap, practitioner survey, participatory rural appraisals)

• Quantitative methods: panel data analysis, experiments

• Insurance purchase games with farmers in Bangladesh

• Diffusion of information about agricultural technologies (composting) in Mali

Gender, Climate Change and Food Security (CCAFS)

• 6 sites in 4 countries: Kenya (2), Uganda (1), Senegal (1), Bangladesh (2)

• Follows a previous study (Impact Lite) conducted one year ago (2011-2012), which collected parcel-level data on production systems

• Two people interviewed per household: primary male and female decision makers on agricultural knowledge and practices related to climate change adaptation

“Towers” of carom game pieces visualize how much influence

different actors have on specified outcome

Arrows show links between actors• Advice• Funding

Actors involved are identified and marked on sheet of paper

Fotos: E. Schiffer

Netmap: Actors in CC

adaptation

Bangladesh: Network Structure• Network highly

centralized• Several different

core actors: the most important of which are UNDP, Min. of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM), and Min. of Envir. and Forests (MOEF)

• Two distinct clusters: one dominated by research orgs, the other by donors, multilaterals, and govt actors

Government

Local Government

Donor/Multi-lateral

NGO

Research

Target Group

Advice

Funding

Bangladesh: Target Groups

• Target groups directly

engaged with farmers

and fishers on climate

change adaptation:

BCAS, CARE, BRAC,

and Practical Action

Bangladesh: Influence

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Influence

• MoFDM,’s Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) coordinates adaptation activities

• MoA through the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)—is influential due to direct ties with farmers (advice and support)

• Two key government bodies—LGED and BWDB—support climate change adaptation through the development of infrastructure and management of water resources, although governance issues are a concern

Conclusions from NetMap exercise

• Govt is serious about addressing climate change (e.g. establishment of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund)

• Many barriers remain: – lack of participation of small farmers/fishers in the

policymaking process

– lack of coordination of efforts/approaches

– Private business interests take precedence

• Recommendations for IFPRI:– Target both policymakers and

communities/NGOs

– Tap into research networks (e.g. Action Research on Community-based Adaptation Project (ARCAP), BCAS climate change development forum)

Practitioner survey in 4 focus

countries• What is the capacity of organizations in

designing and implementing climate change adaptation activities in focus countries?

• What is the level of capacity for and importance given by organizations to gender analysis related to climate change adoption activities?

• What are the main barriers and constraints faced by organizations working on climate change issues?

• Clarity of mission and mandate on climate change

• Policy or strategy on climate change

• Adequacy of resources (physical and financial)

• Human resources

• Staff motivation

• Organization and management systems

• Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) • External enabling environment

• Gender responsiveness

• Collective action and group-based approaches

Indicators used to access

organizational capacity

Importance vs. practice

(gender-disaggregated data)

Perceived importance vs actual practice

Bangladesh (14)*

Ethiopia (26)

Kenya (36) Mali (11)

Do not collect, analyze, or report gender-disaggregated data

25 76 72 59

Collect, analyze, or report data on women, men, girls, and boys in household

41 14 19 15

Collect, analyze, or report

data on female-headed households and male-headed households

34 11 9 26

• Attention to gender issues is perceived by

practitioners as important during the design

and planning stage of climate change-related

activities

• But gender issues receive much less attention

during implementation and even less during

M&E.

• Gender-disaggregated data collection,

monitoring, and reporting are rarely done as

part of their organizations’ climate change–

related activities.

Key Messages I/II

• To improve outcomes, need organizational

capacity strengthening for local organizations

working in and providing services to rural

communities

• .. and for promoting a culture of impact and

M&E within these organizations

• Important training needs in climate change

management and in gender and social

analysis.

Key Messages II/II

Microinsurance Experiments: Hypotheses

1. Do men and women prefer different kind of

insurance products? Do they have different

risk preferences?

2. Do farmers prefer to buy insurance against

more frequent bad events or bad events

that are less frequent? (e.g. major floods that

occur every 2-3 years or the really devastating

ones that happen every 10 years or so)

3. How does the willingness to buy such

insurance vary with price?

(joint work with University of Oxford and MTID)

Microinsurance Experiments: Method

– Field experiments playing insurance purchase games with farmers in rural Bangladesh in two districts, Manikganj and Bogra.

– 60 sessions in 20 villages; 20 all men, 20 all women, 20 mixed

– Each session has 12-15 participants and 3 games

– Show-up fee 50 Taka and earnings in the game were paid out (average expected earning 300 Taka)

– Sessions were randomly selected to get insurance either at an actuarially fair price or a subsidized price

– Order of the games were randomized across sessions

Microinsurance Experiments: Sample

• On average respondents are 38 years old, 50 percent

men with 4.6 years of schooling live in households of 5

members.

• Main occupation- self-employed in agriculture (44%) or

housework (47%). More than 92% grow paddy in both

seasons.

• Own on average 90 decimals of land.

• Face a multitude of agricultural risks- pests(37%), lack of

rain(17%), too much rain/flood(14/12%), deficient

irrigation water.

• Some familiarity with insurance- 16% ever bought life

insurance

Overall results

• Extremely high take-up rates reflect that behavior in experimental settings may be different from real life decision making, but can indicate relative demand for insurance products

• No significant difference between men and women on the probability of buying any insurance.

– However, men buy a larger number of units as compared to women

• More risk averse individuals bought fewer units of insurance– Scope for better design which can reduce basis risk

• Fewer units were bought when price was higher

• Gendered results:– For women, but not men, wealth was an important determinant of

number of units purchased

– Women who were more financially literate purchased fewer units when offered at the actuarially unfair price

Next two presentations

• Impacts of climatic and other shocks on men’s and

women’s assets

• Men’s and women’s knowledge and practice of

climate change adaptation techniques

• For more, see http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/

Page 20

PublicationsPublished

• P1 Goh, A.H.X. 2012. A literature review of the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women’s and men’s assets and well-being in developing countries. CAPRi Working Paper No. 106 http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/capriwp106.pdf

• 2 Bryan, E. and J. Behrman. 2013. Community-based adaptation to climate change: A Theoretical Framework, Overview of Key Issues and Discussion of Gender Differentiated Priorities and Participation. CAPRiWorking Paper No. 109. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/capriwp109.pdf

• P3 Ragasa, C., Y. Sun, E. Bryan, C. Abate, A. Alemu and M. NamoriKeita. 2013. Organizational and institutional issues in climate change adaptation and risk management. Insights from practitioners’ survey in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1279. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ifpridp01279.pdf

• P4 Davis, P, S. Ali. 2013. Exploring local perceptions of climate-change impact and adaptation in rural Bangladesh

• http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ifpridp01322.pdf

Page 21

PublicationsCompleted, but not yet published

• C1 Aberman, N., R. Birner, E. Haglund, M. Ngigi, S. Ali, B. Okoba, D. Kone and T. Alemu. 2013. Understanding the policy landscape for climate change adaptation: a cross-country comparison using the Net-Map method. Unpublished report.

• C2 Dillon, A. 2013. Gender, Farm Assets, and the Role of Climate Variability on Production Possibilities. Presented at 2012 CAPRi workshop.

• C3 Beaman, L. and A. Dillon. 2013. Diffusion of Agricultural Technologies within Social Networks: Evidence from Composting in Mali.

• C4 Donnelly, A. 2013. Potential for Group-Based Approaches to Enhance Security Assets for Women to Manage Risks under Climate Change: A PRA in Ethiopia.

• C5 Quisumbing, A.R. and N. Kumar. 2013. Do More Secure Land Rights for Women Encourage Conservation? The Medium-term Impacts of the Ethiopian Land Certification.

• C6 Quisumbing, A and N. Kumar. 2013. Do Shocks Affect Men’s and Women’s Assets Differently? Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda.

• C7 Kumar, N. Microinsurance Decisions: Evidence from Bangladesh.

Page 22

PublicationsIn progress

• I1 Alemu, T. and H. Elias. Shocks and household asset dynamics in rural Ethiopia

• I2 Ngigi, M. and others Gender, assets and climate risk management in Kenya

• I3 Jolowicz, S. Rehabilitating Communal Assets in Rural Ethiopia -Governance Challenges and the Role of Women"

• I4 Rakib, M. Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture and Livestock – the Case of Bangladesh

• I5 Rakib, M. Gender Differentiated Asset Dynamics in Bangladesh [[to be added, gendered climate change shocks/asset impacts]]

• I6 Ngigi, M. Farmers’ motives for adapting to climate-smart practices in Kenya using means-end analysis

Page 23

Publications• I7 Ngigi, M. The role of gender and social capital in the intensity of

adaptation to climate change in Kenya

• I8 Ngigi, M. Impact of shocks on household assets accumulation and poverty traps in Kenya

• I9 Gender, Risk Preferences and Adaptation to climate change: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia, Helen Berga, Tekie Alemu and others

• I10 Aberman, N. Assessing the governance of community-based adaptation: mapping gender-focused initiatives in rural Kenya

• I11 Aberman, N. Women’s engagement in climate change adaptation: Perceptions of power and knowledge in Western Kenya

http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/