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This paper was presented on the 17^th 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