This paper was presented on the 17th June 2011 at the Greater Horn of
Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF) 28 in Nairobi, Kenya. The GHACOFs are fora
where the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), provide
Climate forecasts for the IGAD countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan). GHACOF can take place
in any of the member countries. During
GHACOF, apart from climate forecasting, sessions are given to special topics or
emerging issues. On this particular case,
climate smart agriculture, disaster risk reduction, and gender and youth were
key issues due to variations in impacts of disasters on women, men and youth.
The presentation covered an
introduction to Disaster risk reduction, gender and youth, gender constraints,
Disaster risk reduction, gender and resources, and action points. The purpose of the presentation was to
highlight the linkages between disaster risks, gender and youth, particularly,
climate risks and disasters, and possibly point out some relevant action
points.
The presentation emphasized that for
women and youth, both natural and human-made disasters increase their
vulnerability to homelessness and to the negative impacts of climate
variability and change. Some of gender
constraints mentioned in this presentation include lack of inadequate gender
mainstreaming in most institutions and at different levels of the value chain,
limited access to productive resources and technology by women, inadequate
research on gender and related issues, as well as limited membership in key
organizations. These barriers disfavor
women and youth and increase their vulnerability to climate risks and
disasters, among other disasters. As
women spend most of their resources on their families, more resources available
to women would increase agricultural productivity, improve household food
security and nutrition and reduce the effects of famine.
As a result, gender equality in terms
of access to productive resources would ensure that women, men and youth have
well designed programmes to cushion them from climate risks and disasters,
leading to better climate change adaptation and mitigation. Gender equality is
even more important at the high and more lucrative nodes of the value chain to
re-distribute productive resources to women, men and youth equally. For
example, how many women Directors, Assistant Directors, Financial Managers,
Climate modelers, etc do we have in institutions? And how many men Cleaners,
Secretaries, Office Assistants, etc do we have in institutions?
We must therefore be proactive by
establishing information and programmes for women, men and youth in distress to
minimize disasters. The youth require
information on emerging issues such as drug abuse, sexuality, abortion, rape,
HIV/AIDS, among others, which are driving forces for homelessness and
poverty. Gender mapping and capacity
building is also necessary in various sectors, among other activities. More important, women should participate in
conflict resolution and management.
As SI, we
can engage in disaster risk reduction by collaborating with like-minded
institutions, and taking advantage of the network and home hospitality approach
to assist fellow women in distress due to various disasters (both natural and
man-made). Using Clubs in various
countries, SI can obtain reports on risks and disasters and act to reduce their
impacts. The database is important for isolating priority areas of
intervention.
For more information on this topic, visit the April Monthly Focus File: Women and Girls in the Aftermath of Natural Disaster .
By: Alice Odingo
University of Nairobi, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Soroptimist
International Representative Designate to UNEP