Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe

Climate change is increasingly recognised as a global phenomenon with potentially far reaching implications. Sub- Saharan Africa has already started experiencing climate change. It is threatening food security with vulnerable groups who include female headed households most likely to suffer due to t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ruparanganda, L., Nyoni, C.
Format: Book chapter
Language:English
Published: Springer, Singapore 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7861-5_6
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/5040
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905262191116288
author Ruparanganda, L.
Nyoni, C.
author_facet Ruparanganda, L.
Nyoni, C.
author_sort Ruparanganda, L.
collection DSpace
description Climate change is increasingly recognised as a global phenomenon with potentially far reaching implications. Sub- Saharan Africa has already started experiencing climate change. It is threatening food security with vulnerable groups who include female headed households most likely to suffer due to their heavy reliance on rain-fed systems to supplement household food security. This paper sought to explore strategies employed by female heads in building resilience to the effects of climate change. This was done by analyzing adaptation strategies employed by female heads in responding to climate change induced food insecurity as well as limitation to adaptation. An approach based on the understanding that resilience is a function of adaptation. The study is based on the action oriented theory of adaptation by Klaus I, 2011 as basis for understanding social action processes shaping climate change resilience building processes within female headed households. It makes use of the qualitative research approach through application of case study research design in which in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Findings from the study reflect that whilst female headed households have adopted numerous coping and adaptation mechanisms in building resilience to the threats of climate change on food security which include cultivation of traditional grains, shifting planting dates and diversifying livelihoods through participation in community savings groups and extraction of non-timber products for sale. Female heads remain constrained in their ability to adopt a wide range of local available adaptation strategies due to existing socio-cultural barriers, lack of resources and gender imbalances. Hence, the importance of designing policies, programs and implementation strategies that is gender sensitive for maximum benefit by female heads.
format Book chapter
id ir-11408-5040
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Springer, Singapore
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-50402022-08-02T18:38:12Z Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe Ruparanganda, L. Nyoni, C. Adaptation Climate change Food security Female headed household Gender Climate change is increasingly recognised as a global phenomenon with potentially far reaching implications. Sub- Saharan Africa has already started experiencing climate change. It is threatening food security with vulnerable groups who include female headed households most likely to suffer due to their heavy reliance on rain-fed systems to supplement household food security. This paper sought to explore strategies employed by female heads in building resilience to the effects of climate change. This was done by analyzing adaptation strategies employed by female heads in responding to climate change induced food insecurity as well as limitation to adaptation. An approach based on the understanding that resilience is a function of adaptation. The study is based on the action oriented theory of adaptation by Klaus I, 2011 as basis for understanding social action processes shaping climate change resilience building processes within female headed households. It makes use of the qualitative research approach through application of case study research design in which in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Findings from the study reflect that whilst female headed households have adopted numerous coping and adaptation mechanisms in building resilience to the threats of climate change on food security which include cultivation of traditional grains, shifting planting dates and diversifying livelihoods through participation in community savings groups and extraction of non-timber products for sale. Female heads remain constrained in their ability to adopt a wide range of local available adaptation strategies due to existing socio-cultural barriers, lack of resources and gender imbalances. Hence, the importance of designing policies, programs and implementation strategies that is gender sensitive for maximum benefit by female heads. 2022-08-02T18:38:12Z 2022-08-02T18:38:12Z 2022-02-10 Book chapter Ruparanganda, L., Nyoni, C. (2022). Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe. In: Poshiwa, X., Ravindra Chary, G. (eds) Climate Change Adaptations in Dryland Agriculture in Semi-Arid Areas. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7861-5_6 978-981-16-7860-8 978-981-16-7861-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7861-5_6 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/5040 en Climate Change Adaptations in Dryland Agriculture in Semi-Arid Areas;Pages 77 – 91 open Springer, Singapore
spellingShingle Adaptation
Climate change
Food security
Female headed household
Gender
Ruparanganda, L.
Nyoni, C.
Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title_full Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title_fullStr Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title_short Building Resilience to Climate Change: A Case Study of Female Headed Households in Arid Region of Buhera District, Zimbabwe
title_sort building resilience to climate change: a case study of female headed households in arid region of buhera district, zimbabwe
topic Adaptation
Climate change
Food security
Female headed household
Gender
url https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7861-5_6
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/5040
work_keys_str_mv AT ruparangandal buildingresiliencetoclimatechangeacasestudyoffemaleheadedhouseholdsinaridregionofbuheradistrictzimbabwe
AT nyonic buildingresiliencetoclimatechangeacasestudyoffemaleheadedhouseholdsinaridregionofbuheradistrictzimbabwe