The Gendered Patterns of Climate Information Service Use in Africa

Abstract

Climate information services (CIS) are increasingly viewed as a means to achieve greater resilience to climate hazards. However, the architecture of CIS is not always sensitive to the needs of all of its users. To understand better how to engage users through CIS requires an approach that highlights decision‐making processes relevant to both the material and non‐material elements of one’s livelihood. This research, as part of the wider USAID-funded Climate Information Services Research Initiative (CISRI) uses the Livelihoods as Intimate Government (Carr 2014) framework to understand the more non‐material processes relevant to livelihood decision‐making. Through this approach, we were able to identify gendered patterns of climate information services in Sub‐Saharan Africa and uncover how one’s gender identity impacts one’s modes of agricultural production, access to land, information, and capital, thus highlighting how certain users may be limited or excluded from CIS. The results of this work include recommendations on how to best refine systems of monitoring and evaluation of CIS programs in Africa.