The meanings of resilience in climate justice: women smallholder farmers’ responses to agricultural shocks in Uganda under the spotlight

abstract

Climate crisis has become a global concern resulting in increased frequency of climate hazards and agricultural shocks. Women who dominate agricultural production in Africa are considered the most vulnerable to these shocks due to their reliance on the natural ecosystem for production, compounded by the persistent gender inequalities that make up the social ecology in which they live. Climate activism as a strategy for promoting social change has a potential for strengthening resilience, especially fostering change in the systems that limit women farmer’s resilience to climate change shocks. With multiple initiatives to support households to adapt to the various agricultural shocks, the question needs to be asked, to what extent do initiatives aim at changing the systems/structures and the social ecology that limit women’s resilience to climate change shocks? The article draws on a baseline survey conducted in two districts in Uganda in 2022 that employed a mixed methods approach. The article interrogates the existing initiatives’ potential to strengthen women’s resilience to climate related agricultural shocks in the context of climate justice. With reference to a social-ecological model of resilience, the article illuminates the extent to which these efforts have contributed to transforming the social ecologies that limit women’s resilience. The findings suggest the need for women’s climate activism and organising to effectively address the underlying social and gender norms that continue to limit women’s empowerment and resilience to climate related agricultural shocks in Uganda.

keywords:

• Climate Justice
• women smallholder farmers
• agricultural shocks
• Uganda
• social-ecological resilience

Acknowledgments

We thank Okello Pius and Brenda Onyango for supporting the review of relevant literature used in this article. This work was supported by a grant from the USAID Feed the Future Innovations Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience, Basis Research Program at the University of California, Davis, United States of America (A20-1825-S018).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Climate justice is the inclusion, fair treatment, meaningful involvement of all peoples regardless of race, gender, age, national origin or income when developing and implementing climate policy and initiatives (Mulinde 2022).

2 Resilience refers to the capacity to tolerate, absorb, cope with, and adjust to changing social or environmental conditions while retaining key elements of structure, function, and identity (Cinner & Barnes 2019).

3 See: Buwembo (2021), ‘Ugandan warriors fighting the climate war in different armies’.

4 A Uganda Government Loan Scheme to provide credit to farmers.

5 Provision of three sets of heavy earth moving equipment at subsidised rates to farmers to excavate water for production facilities.

6 https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/activity-database/ (accessed 19 July 2023).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Florence Kyoheirwe Muhanguzi

FLORENCE KYOHEIRWE MUHANGUZI is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and Senior Researcher in the fields of gender and social development. She has extensive experience in gender and feminist research in areas including education, sexual and reproductive health, social protection, gender-based violence, women’s economic empowerment and climate change. She has vast experience in both quantitative and participatory qualitative research and policy engagement. She has published widely in refereed journals and books on issues of gender, women and girls’ empowerment. She is a gender trainer, activist and passionate about empowerment of adolescent girls and women. Email: [email protected]

Brenda Boonabaana

BOONABAANA BRENDA is a Lecturer in the Department of Forestry, Biodiversity and Tourism, Makerere University, Uganda. Since 2021, she has been a Provost Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, USA. Her work focuses on gender and climate smart agriculture; climate change adaptation and resilience; women empowerment and sustainable tourism; feminist theory, gender focused research methods and participatory and qualitative methodologies. Brenda cares about women and girls’ empowerment, the quality of environmental resources, poverty free and food secure communities. Email: [email protected]

Losira Nasirumbi Sanya

LOSIRA NASIRUMBI SANYA is a Lecturer in the Department of Extension and Innovation Studies, School of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda. Prior to joining Makerere, she worked as a Senior Research Officer at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda. Losira is a Trainer for the Gender-responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) project, jointly implemented by Makerere University, Uganda and Cornell University, USA. Her research interests are in agricultural and rural innovation systems and management, value chain development, Women Empowerment, communication for development and the gender-responsiveness of agricultural research and extension systems. Email: [email protected]

Susan Namirembe Kavuma

SUSAN NAMIREMBE KAVUMA is an Academic and Researcher with over sixteen years’ experience in conducting policy research and analysis in various fields such as women empowerment, environment, labour and education economics. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Policy and Development Economics, School of Economics, Makerere University. Susan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Environment for Development Initiative Makerere University. Susan holds a PhD in Economics from University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. She is experienced in panel data analysis, experimental and action research. Susan has authored and co-authored several research papers in peer reviewed journals. Email: [email protected]

Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo

GRACE BANTEBYA KYOMUHENDO, is a Professor of Women and Gender Studies and advocate for gender equality, social transformation and respect for women’s rights. She has researched and published widely on gender and women’s empowerment fields. Her most recent publications are Teenage Pregnancy and Social Inequality: An impediment to achieving schooling for all in Uganda published in 2021 and in 2018 on empowering adolescent girls in developing countries, gender justice and norm change. Grace is a member of the Taskforce Management Committee for establishing Bunyoro University as a Public University (Schedule of Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs). Email: [email protected]

Nargiza Ludgate

NARGIZA LUDGATE is the Assistant Scholar at the University of Florida. She holds a BSc (Agricultural Economics), Ferghana State University in Uzbekistan, MBA (Agribusiness and Finance), New Mexico State University, and a PhD (Interdisciplinary Ecology, Gender and Development), University of Florida, in the USA. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist with over 12 years of experience in food security, gender and social equity, and natural resource management. She leads gender strategic research and the integration of gender in livestock, and agriculture research in Asia and Africa. Her interest is in mixed methods, participatory action research and gender transformative approaches. Email: [email protected]

Laura Meinzen-Dick

LAURA MEINZEN-DICK is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Villanova School of Business, Villanova University, USA. She has a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis. Laura is an applied microeconomist working in the fields of development economics, econometrics, and public economics. Email: [email protected]