CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION & GENDER EQUALITY

2 provinces, 5 districts & 30,000 households

With financing from the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Least Developed Country Countries Fund (LDCF), the “Improving the Resilience of the Agriculture Sector in LAO PDR to Climate Change Impacts” project is an important example of how UNDP is supporting multiple goals concurrently. This project fights climate change and addresses gender equality simultaneously. This project reduces vulnerabilities to climate change impacts relating to agricultural production and food security, serves as a demonstration of community-based adaptive agricultural practices and off-farm income generation, and improves the lives of women.

Two provinces, five districts and over 30,000 households are learning new practices to reduce the gender gap and increase resilience to climate change. By mainstreaming important issues, such as gender equality, the project seeks to build a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient world, and is making progress by taking a holistic approach to development.

UNDP is supporting efforts to “[c]ontribute to the eradication of poverty and the significant reduction of gender inequalities by empowering women and promoting and protecting their rights. By advancing gender equality and empowering women as agents of change and leaders in the development processes that shape their lives, UNDP envisages a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient world”. - UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017

Minimising food insecurity, reducing the gender gap

A NATIONAL PRIORITY

Building resilience to climate change in the agriculture sector is a central issue in Lao PDR, where almost a third of GDP (29.9 percent) is generated through the agriculture sector, and approximately 80 percent of the population is engaged in agricultural activities. In 2011, the Government of Lao, with support from UNDP, launched an important project, “Improving the Resilience of the Agriculture Sector in Lao PDR to Climate Change Impacts,” (IRAS) to minimize food insecurity resulting from climate change in Lao PDR and reduce the vulnerability of farmers to extreme flooding and drought events.

The IRAS project is working to address drought in the Savannakhet province, and floods in the Xayaboury province.

“Nowadays, the climate has been changing. Some years there are floods; some years there are droughts. The climate has changed for natural disasters. We see that rains do not start at their usual time. So, we see that some years there are floods and some years there are droughts.” - Mr Sila Phonepasert, Representative of the Farmers Group, Nongbuapinong Village, Phieng District, Xayaboury Province.

Increasing adaptive capacity & improving the resilience of food production

APPLYING AN APPROACH THAT WORKS

Increasing adaptive capacity and improving resilience in food production requires a consolidated approach that builds a strong knowledge base on how climate change impacts agricultural production and food security. Well informed sector planners and agricultural producers can proactively address the related risks and opportunities that climate change presents for local food production, and they can share this information and with community members – demonstrating and promoting diversified and adaptive agricultural practices in participating provinces and districts.

Sometimes the news on television informed us that “today there will be heavy rains.” So, we would not start planting. If the rains stopped, we would have to start planting immediately and finish quickly based on the weather’s forecast so that we could get 10 or 20 bags of rice. If we did not follow the weather forecasts, the paddy fields would be immersed. - Ms. Vanna, Representative of the Farmer‘s Group & Village Lao Women Union, Namhia village, Phieng District, Xayaboury Province

A key element to ensuring the new approaches are applied is through ongoing outreach efforts to communicate and disseminate information, and share lessons learnt.

If we would like to spread the information we need to have the equipment, to have the technology. For example, when the typhoon or storm came, we should know exactly what time, even the minute. - Mr. Vouthi Manipoun, Technical Coordinator of IRAS Project, Xayaboury Province

TACKLING GENDER inEQUALITY

A KEY COMPONENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES

Women in Lao PDR are key players in agriculture. Eighty one percent contribute to agricultural export, and women traditionally manage marketing of agricultural products and livestock production. They are typically given key responsibility for food security in the family, and as such are intrinsically linked to resource choices for family consumption. At the same time, there is a bias toward men in decision-making positions, which can be a barrier to women taking a proactive role in implementing the climate-friendly approaches that are being championed. The project in Lao PDR is putting into place specific measures to help ensure that women can be part of the solution.

“….[S]pecific measures are required to encourage and support the engagement of women in decision-making related to agriculture production and productivity, as well as in equitable benefit sharing from such decisions….” – Lao PDR project document

Getting to equal

STRATEGIES THAT WORK

There are proven strategies for attaining gender equality. The project in Lao PDR successfully implemented institutional measures that placed women as key stakeholders in the project, including the development of a Gender Action Plan and a gender mainstreaming programme. These were complemented by gender audits during the implementation period, plus gender check-lists for all technical activities undertaken on the ground. The project systematically integrated gender into all project components.

- Gender disaggregated data was used in the knowledge management component to allow for gender-specific interpretation and analysis of data and information.

- Awareness and training modules targeted the different functions of men and women in agriculture and farming households, and women were strongly encouraged to participate in the training.

- Women’s organisations were also included to ensure that extension activities reached both women and men.

- Gender-specific experiences and gender equity, not only related to climate change, but also with respect to general access to natural resources like water and land, were included in communication and information activities.

Women made up 70 percent of all participants, spanning four districts, in two training courses on gender and climate change impacts on the rural households that took place mid-2013. – UNDP Lao Project Document (September 30, 2010).

Making strides toward equality

DEMONSTRATED SUCCESS

The project in Lao PDR has demonstrated clear progress in closing the gender gap. Some striking facts help to tell the story, starting with 26% of project participants (1364 women) directly benefitted from the completed activities. At the progarmme’s mid-point evaluation, a large number of women at the national (77 out of 260), provincial (97 out of 300), district (71 out of 223), and village (43 out of 19) level accessed climate change information and gained knowledge and understanding on the risks and impacts of climate change.

Women in 214 households benefitted from water harvesting weirs, which eliminated the need for women to travel long hours to fetch water, especially during the dry season when water supply becomes particularly unreliable for meeting household needs. A significant number of poor farmers, including women, directly benefitted by the 20 percent increase in yields of local varieties - suitable for drought and/or flood conditions - experienced at all project sites.

Poor farmers who do not have the means to diversify their production activities are encouraged to adopt additional activities, including frog raising, small-scale fish farming, duck, chicken and pig farming. These activities reduce poor farmers’ reliance on predominantly rain fed rice cultivation, making them less vulnerable to fluctuations in crop production. They also help generate additional options for income during drought/flood events. – UNDP Lao Project Document (September 30, 2010).

I am very proud that the project comes to help us by improving agricultural activities to adapt to the climate change. The new seeds that they provided us are very effective, I am so happy. For myself, I will keep using those seeds because they are really good and they have high efficiency and they are various crops and seeds. It is not only the seeds that they provided are good but when we did, they are good. – Sien Chanthy, Farmer, Xayaboury Province.

For more information visit the UNDP-CCA Project Profile.

Text based on the Lao PDR Case Study in Gender Mainstreaming in UNDP’s Environment and Sustainable Development Projects: A compendium of good practices and lessons learned, October 2014.