Crop Adaptation through Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture (Gender Assessment Report)

The report identifies that women in northern Namibia face higher vulnerability to climate change due to socially constructed gender roles, limited access to productive resources, and cultural norms that restrict their decision-making power. It highlights significant disparities in land and livestock ownership, where cattle are viewed as 'man's property', and notes that female-headed households experience higher rates of extreme poverty and food insecurity. The assessment argues that climate change is not gender-neutral, as women's roles in water collection and subsistence farming increase their exposure to risks, while their lack of technical skills and limited mobility hinder their adaptive capacity compared to men.

• Women in Namibia are more vulnerable to climate change not due to biological sex, but because of socially and culturally constructed gender roles that limit their access to land, livestock, tools, and credit.
• Cultural norms in Namibia often view cattle as male property, which prevents women from accumulating livestock as wealth and limits their access to meat, income, and draught power for ploughing, leading to lower crop yields.
• Female-headed households in Namibia, representing approximately 20% of total households, suffer from a significantly higher incidence of extreme poverty and are more likely to be severely food insecure.
• Gender-differentiated decision-making at the local level persists; men typically make overall household decisions and resource allocation for climate risks, while women's roles are limited to daily maintenance and parenting.
• Climate change increases the workload and risks for women and girls, who are the primary managers of water and fuel wood; water scarcity can lead to lower school enrollment for girls.
• In the Zambezi, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions, poverty levels are among the highest in Namibia, with more than one-third of the population in these areas being severely poor.
• Women face greater barriers to adaptive capacity than men due to limited formal education, lack of technical skills for formal employment, and restricted mobility, which prevents them from using migration as a coping mechanism.
• The report notes a disparity in energy access, where female-headed households are more likely to cook and light their homes without electricity compared to male-headed households.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2016). Crop Adaptation through Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture (Gender Assessment Report). https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp023-eif-namibia.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Crop Adaptation through Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture (Gender Assessment Report). 2016. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp023-eif-namibia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Crop Adaptation through Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture (Gender Assessment Report) |date=March 2016 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp023-eif-namibia.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2016crop, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Crop Adaptation through Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture (Gender Assessment Report)}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/gender-assessment-fp023-eif-namibia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }