Pour un processus de Plan National d’Adaptation (PNA) qui réponde aux questions de genre au Bénin

The report analyzes the intersection of gender and climate change adaptation in Benin, highlighting how patriarchal land tenure and social roles increase women's vulnerability. It identifies institutional gaps in the current NAP process and provides specific recommendations for gender-responsive adaptation in agriculture, water, health, and other priority sectors.

• Climate change impacts in Benin are differentiated by gender due to socially constructed roles and responsibilities. Women, particularly in rural areas, face increased vulnerability in food security as they are responsible for harvests and small livestock, but are severely limited by unequal access to land. In 2011, 85.1% of plot owners were men, while only 14.9% were women, with only 12% of women accessing land through inheritance.
• Environmental stressors like drought increase the burden of non-productive work for women and girls, such as collecting water and firewood. This leads to a loss of control over their daily schedules, which can interfere with agricultural adaptation activities like sowing and fertilizing. Additionally, social norms often require women to prioritize their husbands' fields over their own, increasing the risk of improductivity for women's crops.
• Significant gender inequalities persist in Benin's decision-making and public life, which hinders effective climate adaptation. Men hold 81.46% of national and departmental director positions compared to 18.54% for women. Political representation is also low, with women averaging only 7.62% of the National Assembly across the fifth to eighth legislatures, and only one female mayor among 77 communes in 2015.
• While Benin has a legal framework for gender equality, including the 1990 Constitution and a 2008 National Gender Promotion Policy, there is a disconnect between these policies and climate planning. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Microfinance (MASMF), the primary body for gender coordination, is not formally part of the Technical Commission for the NAP (CTPNA).
• Institutional capacity to implement gender-responsive adaptation is limited by a lack of resources and high staff turnover. 'Gender Focal Points' often consist of a single person with insufficient budgets, making their role more administrative than technical. Furthermore, there is no existing mechanism to facilitate exchange between Environment/Climate Change Focal Points and Gender Focal Points.
• The report recommends specific gender-responsive measures across priority sectors: in agriculture, promoting public-private partnerships for land leasing for women; in water, using quotas for women in community water management groups and adopting solar pumps to reduce physical labor; and in health, integrating sex-disaggregated indicators to track climate-related health risks.

APA

Biokou, A. E., & Pofagi, K. M. (2019). Pour un processus de Plan National d’Adaptation (PNA) qui réponde aux questions de genre au Bénin. NAP Global Network. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/napgn-fr-2019-pour-un-processus-de-plan-national-dadaptation-qui-reponde-aux-question-de-genre-au-benin.pdf

Chicago

Biokou, Aurore Egounlety, and Komla Mathias Pofagi. Pour un processus de Plan National d’Adaptation (PNA) qui réponde aux questions de genre au Bénin. NAP Global Network, 2019. https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/napgn-fr-2019-pour-un-processus-de-plan-national-dadaptation-qui-reponde-aux-question-de-genre-au-benin.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Biokou |first1=Aurore Egounlety |last2=Pofagi |first2=Komla Mathias |title=Pour un processus de Plan National d’Adaptation (PNA) qui réponde aux questions de genre au Bénin |publisher=NAP Global Network |date=November 2019 |url=https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/napgn-fr-2019-pour-un-processus-de-plan-national-dadaptation-qui-reponde-aux-question-de-genre-au-benin.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{biokou2019pour, author = {Biokou, Aurore Egounlety and Pofagi, Komla Mathias}, title = {{Pour un processus de Plan National d’Adaptation (PNA) qui réponde aux questions de genre au Bénin}}, institution = {NAP Global Network}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://napglobalnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/napgn-fr-2019-pour-un-processus-de-plan-national-dadaptation-qui-reponde-aux-question-de-genre-au-benin.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }