An overview of gender and youth activities undertaken by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in East Africa.

1. CCAFS East Africa
Gender & Social Inclusion Activities in East Africa
Catherine Mungai & Maren Radeny

2. Background
• Agriculture is key for food and nutrition security, natural resource
management and economic development
 Contributes significantly GDP in East African countries e.g up to 45% in Ethiopia
• Over reliance on subsistence rain-fed agriculture
 Low productivity (10-40% achievable yield) and 5% cultivated area under irrigation
• Over 80% of farmers live in poverty, barely meeting own food consumption
needs
• About 33% of population undernourished estimated to rise to 320 million
by 2050
• EA exhibits spatial heterogeneity in climate, topography, agro-ecosystems,
livelihoods, and environmental challenges
• Climate hotspot – where climate change poses grave threats to food and
nutrition security and to human well-being
• Climate variabilities and change are an additional source of risks for
farmers and agricultural systems

3. Overview of Gender activities in EA
• Engagement with AGN on agriculture and gender as part of the
UNFCCC together with GSI
• National - Gender submissions to UNFCCC, Gender responsive
NDCs part of the GoK/UNDP project
• Gender and youth in the Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) – Ethiopia,
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

4. • High poverty incidence (46%) and high population density
(>400 per Km2)
• More than 40% of landscape degraded
• Annual rainfall 900-1200mm
Study site - Nyando
• Food insecurity, 81% of
families experience 1-2
hunger months a yr
• Another 17%
experience 3-4 hunger
months a yr

5. CBOs within Nyando CSV
• 3 Community Based Organizations (CBOs) - FOKO, NECODEP and
KAPSOKALE.
• CSV site split between 2 counties - Kisumu County (2), Kericho
County (1)
• 58 affiliate groups in total
• Kisumu County (45), Kericho County (13)
• Estimated reach of up to 2350 households

6. • Women are leading some
of the crop demonstrations
where they teach the local
community about improved
agronomic practices and
new resilient crop varieties
like pigeon peas.
6
• 6 women groups in Nyando CSVs
• Smart farms
• Seed bulking
• Innovative financing – table banking
• Alternative livelihood – basketry etc.
Women Groups

7. Table Banking
• Innovative financing mechanism for accelerating
uptake of CSA
• This is an intervention that is mainly done by
women groups affiliated to 3 CBOs
• Loan helps women to undertake farming activities
such as ploughing, purchase of farm inputs,
operating small businesses like basket weaving
• Purchase of small ruminants
Challenges
• Low literacy levels which sometimes compromise
leadership among groups
• Default in loan repayments

8. Studies
• Msc – Thesis: How institutional innovations influence the adoption
and financing of climate smart agriculture: The case of Community
Based Organizations in Nyando, Kenya by Seán Kelly
MSc CCAFS Programme, NUI Galway

9. Studies
• Uptake of CSA through a
Gendered Intersectionality
Lens: Experiences from
Western Kenya
• Targeted Interventions for
women and youth
• Context is key – social,
cultural, religious,
economic etc.

10. Youth activities – Nyando CSVs
Smart farms – combination of CSA practices
−Greenhouse production of tomatoes & green beans for better
disease and pest control, continuous production to meet market
demand and water efficiency.
−Irrigation - Rain water harvesting irrigation (RWHI)
−Aquaculture - fish farming for improved nutrition and income
 Improved small ruminants - uptake of resilient breeds of goats
(Galla) and sheep (Red Maasai) -
 Agroforestry- Integrating fruit trees and multipurpose trees for
fodder and fuel wood, and tree nurseries
4 youth groups in Nyando – Kamula, Onyuongo, Obinju and Kapsokale

11. Youth Activities - Online Discussions
• Youth Engagement in CSA and the 2030 Agenda 13 – 22 July 2016
• Engaging African Youth in Agribusiness in a Changing Climate 15 July – 12 August 2017
• Scaling Up Climate Smart Agriculture: Integrating Youth and The Digital Revolution 19
September – 20 October 2017
• Partnerships, innovations and financing for youth in climate-smart agriculture 23 April-21 May
2018
www.canafrica.com

12. Next steps – path towards outcomes?
• CBOs provide platforms for development of social
innovations which are novel, context specific and community
driven
• Examine discrepancies between uptake and usage of CBO
loans between genders focusing on issues such as land
rights, security of tenure and division of labour etc.
• Gender and youth in UNFCCC and National processes
• Examine youth activities and innovations around CSA
• More integration with GSI

13. Questions
Answers
&
Thank you