Gender and inclusion toolbox: Participatory research in climate change and agriculture

Why is the tool important?

Increasing climate change impacts affect women and men differently around the world.

We need to understand the different options men and women pursue to reduce their climate vulnerability so that strategy and policy can respond supportively.

This requires robust participatory research skills and effective use of qualitative tools to collect, synthesize and analyze data that throws light on how men and women are adapting to climate change and ensuring food security.

Who is the tool for?

The tool supports NGO practitioners, program designers and field practitioners in doing gender-sensitive and socially inclusive research for climate change programs in the rural development context. It helps people gather gender-sensitive data at the start of a program.

How can I use the tool?

The tool introduces a wide range of participatory strategies and tools for research to guide the implementation of climate-smart agriculture and efforts to achieve food security in rural communities.

It includes key participatory tools for context analysis and for gathering a wide variety of information on perceptions of wealth, empowerment and overall socioeconomic dynamics in a community.

The tool:

• is easy to use
• increases users’ research capacity, skills and knowledge
• supports data collection at the beginning of a program (and throughout)
• emphasizes participatory and qualitative approaches, but can produce quantitative data
• is modular and can be used as teams wish

The learning areas comprise four parts:

• An overview of concepts in gender, climate change, participation, qualitative research, and gender and social analysis
• Team-based learning and reflection activities to support gender and inclusion concepts
• A logistics and planning guide supporting sampling strategy, research-planning guide, sex-disaggregation, and field-work best practices
• Easy-to-use guides on participatory research tools covering co-production of knowledge, climate resilient agriculture, climate information, and mitigation for socially differentiated data-collection and analysis (including how to organize and analyze qualitative data)

For CCAFS, the tool moves away from expert-driven, top-down approaches—and supports the participation of women and men who are less powerful in influencing the debate on climate change and adaptation.

When and how was it developed?

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), CARE International and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) developed this tool in 2014. Its development was supported by dozens of practitioners, scientists, farmers, NGO professionals and academics, because the tools and concepts were developed in various workshops, field tests, reflection sessions and forums. The current tool builds on the strengths of the FAO–CCAFS manual, but changed significantly when it was co-designed throughout 2013–2014.

Where can I get the tool? Who can I contact?

You can access the tool on CGIAR’s CGSpace.