Gender and livelihood assets: Assessing climate change resilience in Phalombe district – Malawi

Abstract

Access and use of livelihood assets are pertinent to recovery from impacts of climate change for rural households. This study investigated role of livelihood assets to recovery from the impacts of climate change for male and female headed households in Phalombe district in Malawi. Using exploratory sequential mixed methods design, qualitative data was collected using Participant Observation coupled with interviews in two successive phases. Quantitative data was collected using household questionnaire involving 217 households. Results show that erratic rainfall and floods are the main impacts of climate change in the study area. Male headed households have better access to human, financial and natural assets compared to female headed households. There is no significant difference on the recovery period from erratic rainfall for either type of household, but male headed households recover much more quickly from floods than female headed households. Results show that social assets are key to recovery from both erratic rainfall and floods for both male and female headed households. Natural assets contribute to recovery from erratic rainfall for male headed households while human assets are important for female headed households. Human assets are vital for recovery from floods for both male and female headed households while physical assets are important for male headed households. The study shows that enhancing social capital and developing human assets especially for female headed households can significantly contribute towards resilience to the impacts of climate change.