Combined Final Report -Women’s Resilience to Disaster (WRD)

Prepared by Z M Sajjadul Islam , UN International Consultant

Contents

1.0         Introduction. 8

1.1         Gender dimension of the assessment countries. 9

1.2         Multi-hazard Background of the study area. 9

1.3         Overview of historical disasters. 10

1.4 Analysis of Disaster trends: 11

1.5 Assessment Methodology. 12

2.0         Main Summary Report: Findings of the assessment (guided by the questionnaire) 13

2.1         key policies/strategies frameworks in DRR in assessment countries. 13

2.2         Early Warning, Prevention, and preparedness information being accessed at the community level. 13

2.3         Existing DRM coordination structures at national, sub-national, and local levels. 14

2.4 UN/government support for collection and access to SADD.. 15

2.5         The UN engaged at national sub-national and local levels. 16

3.0 Engagement with Stakeholders. 17

3.1 : The main stakeholders in the DRR sector in order of priority. 17

3.2    UN/Government structures engaging women and women-led organizations in DRR and resilience initiatives. 18

3.4 Key gaps in gender integration within DRR and resilience building initiatives. 19

4.0 Differential Impacts of Climate-Induced Disasters [Cyclones, Floods, Drought] 19

4.1 The different coping mechanisms adopted by women and men to climate-induced disasters. 20

4.3 key barriers to effective women’s engagement in DRR and resilience building. 20

4.4 Recommendation on strengthening the resilience among vulnerable women and girls to climate-induced disasters. 21

5. 0 key findings from the Focus Group Interview with the community. 22

6.0         Chapter: Overall Technical Recommendations for the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) 30

6.1         Gendered DRR Frameworks and Approach. 30

6.2         Development and deployment of Early warning for all : 32

6.3         Improved Methodology, ICT tools, and stakeholder coordination for Development SADD  : 35

6.4         Improving UN , Government  and multi-stakeholder  coordination  mechanism  in DRM and DRR functionaries  37

6.5         Community-level risk-informed gender development approach. 38

6.6         SGBV tracking network and dissemination system (Proposed ) 39

7.0         Chapter: Actionable recommendations for stakeholders ( government, UN agencies, CSOs UN Women CO ) 41

8.0 Concluding Remarks : 42

Acronym :

AAP       Accountability to Affected Population

ADP       Annual Development Progarmme

AfDB      African Development Bank

AIP         Affordable Inputs Programme

CBFEWS               Community Based Flood Early Warning Systems

CBO       Community based Organizations

CBOs     Community Based Organization

CERF      Central  Emergency Response Fund

CFSVA   Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment

CPC        Civil Protection Committee

CRVA     Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

CSO        Civil Society Organization

DCCMS Meteorological Agency

DCP        department of Civil Protection

DCPC     District Civil Protection Committee

DDPs     District Development Plans

DDRMC District Disaster Risk Management Committee

DEC        District Executive Committees

DEM      District Education Manager

DIS         District Information Systems

DNA       Designated National Authority

DNCC   District Nutrition Coordination Committee

DRM      Disaster Risk Management

DRMA   Disaster Risk Management Act

DRMIS    Disaster Risk Management Information System

DRP Act.               Disaster Relief and Preparedness Act

DRR       Disaster Risk Reduction

DRVA     Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

DSWO   District Social Welfare Office

DWR      Department of Water Resources

EAD        Environmental Affairs Department

EOC        Emergency Operations Centre

EUMETCast          EUMETCast Europe

EWS       Early Warning System

FAO        Food and Agricultural Organization

FEWS   Flood Early Warning System

FEWSNET             Famine Early Warning System Network

FFS         farmers field school

FGD        Focus Group Discussion

FISP       Farm Input Subsidy Programme

GAM      Global Acute Malnutrition

GBV       Gender Based Violence

GCF        Green Climate Fund

GDP       Gross Domestic Product

GFDRR Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery

GFS        Gravity Fed Systems

GHI         Global Hunger Index

GiHA      Gender in Humanitarian Action

GIS         Geographical Information System

GNI        Gross National Income

GoM      Government of Malawi

GSD        Geological Survey Department

GVH       Group Village Headmen

HCT        Humanitarian Country Team(UN)

HIV         Human Immunodeficiency Virus

ICS          incidence command system

ICTZ       Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone

IDP         Internally Displaced Persons

IDSR       International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

IEC          Information Education and Communication

IFAD       International Fund for Agriculture

IFM        Integrated Farm Management

IGA         Income Generating Activities

ILO         International Labor Organization

INFORM               Index For Risk Management

INGD     Instituto Nacional de Gestão e Redução do Risco

INGO     International non-governmental organization

INM       Integrated Nutrition Management

IOM       International Organization for Migration

IPCC       Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IVR         Interactive Voice Response

KII           Key Informant Interview

LDF         Local Development Fund

MDF      Malawi Defense Force

MDG      Millennium Development Goals

MGDS   Malawi Growth and Development Strategy

MICS     Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys,

MIS        Management Information System

MoA      Memorandum of Understanding

MoAIWD             Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development

MOH     Ministry of Health

MoLGRD              Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development

MPHC    Malawi Public Health Committee

MRCS   Malawi Red Cross Society

MSMEs                 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises

MVAC   Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee

NABOP                 National Accounts and Balance of Payment

NAP       National Adaptation Funds

NCIC      National Construction Industry Council

NDC       Nationally Determine Contribution

NDMO  National Disaster Management Organization

NDPRC National Disaster Preparedness and Relief Committee

NEOC   National Emergency Operations Centre

NEP        National Environment Policy

NER       Net Enrollment Rate

NFIs       Non-Food Items

NGOs   Non-Governmental Organizations

NHP       National Housing Policy

NMHS   National Meteorological Hydrological Organization

NNPSP National Nutrition Policy and Strategic Plan

NRS        National Resilience Strategy

NRU       Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit

NSO       National Statistical Office

NWP      Numerical Weather Prediction

ODF       Open Defecation Free

ODSS     Operation Decision Support System

OPC       Office of President and Cabinet

PDNA    Post-Disaster Needs Assessment

PDNA   Post Disaster Needs Assessment

PiN         People in Need

RENA     rapid emergency needs assessmen

REOC     Regional Emergency Operations Centre

SADD     Sex, Age and Disability Disaggregated Data

SAM      Severe Acute Malnutrition

SARCOF Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum

SDGs     Sustainable Development Goals

SEA        Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

SEP         Social Economic Profile

SGBV     Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

SGBV     Sexual and Gender Based Violence

SME       Small and Medium Enterprise

SMES     Small and Medium-Size Enterprises

SMS       Short Messing Service

SoD        Standing Orders on Disaster

SoP        Standard Operating Procedures

STI          Sexually Transmitted Infection

SVADD Shire Valley Agriculture Development Division

TA or T/A              Traditional Authority

TCF         Tropical Cyclone Freddy

TWG      Technical Working Group

UBR       Unified Beneficiary Register

UN         United Nations

UN Women         United Nations Women

UNDP   United Nations Development Programme

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNICEF United Nation Children’s Fund

UNOPS United Nations Office for Projects Services

UNRCO United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator’s Office.

MVAC   Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee

VAC        Vulnerability Assessment Committee

VDC       Village Development Committee

VHF        Very High Frequency

VSLA      Village Savings and Loans Associations

WASH    Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

WLO      Women Led Organization

WMO     World Meteorological Organization

WOLREC               Women’s Legal Resources Centre

WRD      Women Resilience to Disaster

ZimVAC Zimbabwe  Vulnerability Assessment Committee

Executive Summary of Cross-border Analysis:  

The Women Resilience to Disasters (WRD) the wholistic issues of addressing intricacies of gender and climate insecurities and how to improve and retrofit the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) governance with a shift from traditional DRM paradigm to tools, methodology, process, and engagement driven robust risk management system where most vulnerable group ( women, girls, youth, children, disable population, elderly ) at the frontline be able to sustain from climatic shocks and enabling them in subsistence livelihoods over the changing climatic phenomena.

Women and gender groups face daunting challenges for their livelihood sustainability e.g.,   persistent and protracted food & human insecurity, poverty, social inequalities, and limited access to basic service deliveries of women and other gender groups because of systematic masculinity dominance governance system and top-down bureaucracies. The assessment counties (Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe) are geographically positioned in most sub-tropical hydrometeorological hazard-prone regions and have landscape vulnerabilities those being induced by terrain geographical, and topographical settings, narrow and shallow river and drainage systems, floodplain agroecology, etc., made those regions multi-hazard risk-prone and socioeconomic structures, settlements and croplands are having being impacted. Over the hydrometeorological settings, again those areas falling under multiple risk factors viz., west Indian ocean cyclonic zones, sub-tropical climatology, and rainfall variabilities of both torrential rainfalls induced flash flooding and hydro-meteorological droughts. In any given circumstance of occurring heavy rainfalls could trigger tremendous flash flooding, river flooding due to terrain landscape, shallow river and drainage system, and insufficient flood control mechanisms in the cross-border downstream country/region. Other recurrent hydrometeorological phenomena like hydrometeorological droughts, agricultural droughts, and flash droughts of the region largely impact the crop agricultural yield loss and dragged the region into persistent food insecurity and famine.

Over the demographical and socioeconomic vulnerability context, roughly 60% of the agricultural workforce are climate frontline women at the last mile, and a significant portion of single mothers, widows of their livelihood security being tangled with the climate-hindered landscape ecosystem productivity and dependency on agroecology and natural resources. The socio-economic vulnerabilities are persistent and derive from protracted poverty factors, women smallholders have extremely limited access to agroecology, and agricultural value chains for subsistence livelihoods. The central and local government and other stakeholders’ service deliveries to the last mile are insufficient for making frontline livelihoods adaptive to climate-induced hazards and enhanced coping capacities to absorb the climate change shocks.

The gender empowerment and responsive governance process requires much-needed gender machinery to mandate gender responsive informed planning, decision-making, and gender-responsive intervention, but the assessment identified systemic gender inclusivity gaps for instrumentalizing the gender machinery with proportionate gender participation in legislation and governance processes,  inclusivity of gender dimension in every sphere of governance and decision-making process and gender-responsive risk reduction and development planning & budgeting and interventions. The assessment proposed several methodologies, tools, and processes for informing every sector department to identify entry points to reinforce policy, strategy, and actionable planning that must consider gender equality, empowerment, socioeconomic vulnerability, and community-level disaster risk reduction measures. Recommendations are being proposed for improvements to the traditional paradigm of the disaster risk management structure and process into risk-informed, gender-responsible, robust DRM/DRR/CCA intervention planning and intervention decision-making.

The assessment proposed several strategic methodologies, ICT tools, and processes on how to improve the climate and multi-hazard risk and vulnerability assessment capacity, participatory roadmap, and stakeholder( assessment committee, civil protection committee, local level CSOs, youth group, and frontline vulnerable community as a whole ) management methodology, process and tools for conducting multi-level risk and vulnerability assessment for essentially meeting the demands of the risk-informed and gender-responsive planning process. The assessment outlined the areas where capacity enhancement of key state actors, and non-state actor stakeholders are essential for DRM/DRR service deliveries.

The assessment identified various systemic gaps in technical, methodological, forecasting preparation, bulletin development, forecast impact analysis, and dissemination to every remote corner, etc., for making early warning available for all.  Considering the early warning for all ( EW4ALL) for system development, deployable and actionable to reaching out to the remotest corner, the country level needs an enhanced institutional capacity in early warning development, impact forecasts, dissemination in local languages, and understandability by the vulnerable community living in the hart-to-reach areas and the tools for receiving the warning ( radio/TV/Pager/Wireless Loop/Drone Radio, etc.). A comprehensive methodological approach is being proposed on how to upgrade the early warning system with service deliverability at the community level.

Assessment underpinned inadequate DRM coordination structures, stakeholder engagement, and processes at the country central to the local level to instrumentalize government effective management at the local level. The assessment recommended strategic solutions to bridge the gaps of risk capturing, risk analysis, vulnerable group-based risk communication, and dissemination to end users, triggering forecast-based anticipatory early actions particularly saving the women, girls, youth, children, and other vulnerable groups. The assessment systemically recommended how to improve the whole DRM value chain and nexus (DRM structural process, stakeholder partnership mapping, coordination structure, Tools, methodology, process, and engagement) with standing orders to undertake effective engagements and timely action for disaster emergency preparedness and response mechanism at the local level. The UN cluster system needs to be proactively engaged in country-level stakeholder capacity-building mechanisms, Loss and damage ( L & D) assessment, preparedness, and response planning. 

1.0      Introduction

The cross-border assessment is intended to analyze the gendered impacts of climate-induced hazards in Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and seeks to explore how gender groups ( women, girls, children, persons with disability, men, and elderly) those Southern Africa are differently impacted by climate change in terms of the physiological, political, economic and societal causes for the differences experienced, the current coping and adaptation strategies and capacities to climate-induced disasters that the variability the group adopts, the capacity of women and men be strengthened to better adapt to climate change and climate variability,  explore the role of women and women-led organizations in disaster preparedness and response planning, and to review key DRM policies in target countries and identify key entry points for gender integration.

1.1     Gender dimension of the assessment countries

Gender dimensions in the government system structures and processes of those countries being recognized as the prototype nature and mostly gender affirmative characteristics when it comes to mainstreaming the gender issues across all policies, and programs.  On the other hand, at the intervention level, it is less instrumentalized as the policy, program, and interventions are inadequately addressing the priorities of marginalized gender groups and also inadequately informed about climate risk. The root causes appear to be the less women and gender group representation to the legislation, governance system, development planning, and decision-making system mainly because gender is not well represented in government power domains e.g., legislation, administrative bureaucracy, financial management, local governance system, and entrepreneurship development as well.   The assessment identifies the government service delivery systemic structures and processes are fundamentally centralized and bureaucratic, and the local-level development decision-making paradigm is not adequately participatory and inclusive. Therefore, the devising and the gender dimensions with regards to achieving the broader aspect of Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) need to instrumentalize gender dimension in the government domains, structure, and development decision-making process. However, the assessment proposed gendered risk management framework, strategy, and approaches for improving gender machineries to deal with disaster risk management programs and interventions.

1.2     Multi-hazard Background of the study area

The Assessment country’s diverse geographical & geological settings, proximity to the Indian Ocean, terrain topography, and positioning over the Sub-tropical climatological zone made the country highly vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards. The part of transboundary Zambezi, Limpopo, Olifants, and country-level internal river basins, catchments, and hydrologically active flood-prone zones triggers the flooding. In any given circumstance of cyclone accompanied by constant rainfall, the sudden occurrence of heavy rainfall is likely to trigger flash flooding in downstream settlements.

The climate risk and vulnerability factors of the cross-border countries.

1. Proximity of Indian west coast of Indian Ocean: Vulnerability to western Indian Ocean tropical cyclone. The Indian Ocean is spawning strong and deadly tropical cyclones.
2. Positioning of Intertropical Convergence Zones or Doldrums area:  Largely impacted by ICTZ, sub-tropical metrologies Sub-tropical climatology, El Nino -During the October-November-December (OND) season erratic rainfall alternated between below and above-average patterns in the region, etc. Several studies show that the warm Mozambique Channel becomes favorable for the development of Tropical Cyclones because of synoptic conditions. The buildup of settlements and basic utility structures and other elements in vulnerable lower flood-prone areas caused the larger loss and damage for the rapid onset cyclone accompanied by thundershowers induced heavy rainfall, other torrential heavy rainfall etc.

Figure 1: Map showing the transboundary river basins crossing over the assessment countries

1.1  Overview of historical disasters 

Malawi :

Malawi has been experiencing increased frequency, intensity, and magnitude of extreme weather events. From 1975 to 2024 over 50 disasters incidence caused by extreme hydrometeorological hazards and the aftermath of disaster shocks another level of disaster of disease/outbreaks being caused by ripple effects of floods/waterlogging. The table below shows the number of disaster events over the past 48 years.

Figure: Malawi Disaster events (1975-2023) : Source EM-DAT

The above disaster incidence graph shows that over the last 48 years, Malawi has experienced floods, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and incidentally the post-disaster flooding induced cholera/diarrheal outbreaks, which also causes mortalities of children, women, and youth for inadequate emergency WASH and hygiene services at the last mile. In the Gender Development Index 2022 ranked Malawi 172 Out of 193 which represents poverty, inequality, and inadequate stakeholders’ interventions for gender empowerment.

Mozambique  :

Mozambique has been experiencing increased frequency, intensity, and magnitude of extreme weather events. Since 1975, over 50 disasters have been triggered by hydrometeorological events.  

Figure: Mozambique Disaster events (1975-2023) : Source EM-DAT

The table above shows the number of disaster events showing that over the last 48 years, Mozambique has experienced tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, and incidentally the post-cyclone/flooding-induced cholera/diarrheal outbreaks, which also cause mortalities of children, women, and youth for inadequate emergency WASH and hygiene services at the last mile.

Zimbabwe:

In the Zimbabwean Population of 16.2 million (2023) , 68% currently reside in rural areas whilst only 32% of the population currently live in urban areas ZimStat, 2017.  In the gender development index, 2022 reveals that Zimbabwe ranked 159 Out of 193 which shows that the county’s largest female population living in abject poverty, gender inequality, and inadequate level of gendered risk-informed development and DRR interventions at the local level. 

Figure 2 : Zimbabwe, Disaster events (1975-2023) : Source EM-DAT

The EM-Dat database (1975-2023) shows that over the last 48 years, Zimbabwe has experienced droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones and incidentally the highest incidence of cholera/diarrheal-outbreaks aftermath of the heavy rainfall and cyclone-induced flooding, which represents inadequate disaster preparedness and response mechanism at the last mile. 

1.4 Analysis of Disaster trends:

The last 50 years of disaster analytics, show that riverine and flash flooding, cyclone disaster events are largely occurring by tropical depressions (cyclones) accompanied by thundershowers and rapidly developing thundershowers induced heavy rainfall immediately trigger flash flooding, landslides the colossal damages of high-value elements ( settlements, agriculture, infrastructure, and basic delivery structures/facilities ) , on the other hand, the hydrometeorological droughts trigger famine. Another critical hazard phenomena are the ripple effects floodings induced outbreaks of cholera and diarrheal disease claims human tolls. Consequently, ICT tools-based risk capture, risk communication and dissemination, and risk-informed DRM mechanisms can save lives and properties at the frontline of women, girls, and other vulnerable gender groups.  

1.5 Assessment Methodology

The methodological approaches of assessment follow through several strategic tools e.g., semi-structured Key Informant Interview (KII) interviews with key stakeholders (sector ministries/departments, UN Agencies, INGO, CSOs) for investigating the Key DRR Frameworks and Structures are in place, what are the stakeholder engagement and coordination mechanisms, the impacts of climate-induced disasters over the gendered group, etc. Comprehensive Desk reviews of all policy, strategy, and sectoral documents, reports, studies, etc., on DRM, DRR, and CCA.

Conducted Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with semi-structure conducted with climate frontline vulnerable community at remote vulnerable areas and investigation the Impacts of Climate-Induced Disasters over the gendered group (women, girls, children, person with disability, men and elderly), etc. Desk review of all policy strategies, and Review of early warning ICT and MIS systems relating to disaster risk management and informed planning.

2.0  Main Summary Report: Findings of the assessment (guided by the questionnaire)

2.1          key policies/strategies frameworks in DRR in assessment countries

DRM policy paradigms of the assessment countries by nature are centralized, gender affirmative rather than gender proactive, inadequate, and insufficient gender machinery, informed tools, mandates, guiding principles, and less instrumentalized to policy translating into actionable DRM gendered action planning at the district and local level. Multi-hazard risk, gender inequality, poverty, food insecurity, and spatial climate risk indicators are not adequately considered in DRM policy bindings and policy actions. Inadequate sectoral coherence, stakeholder roadmap in instrumentalized DRR and gender dimension and in actionable planning. The assessment identified that gender action plans in all cluster/sector departments are missing, so far gender mainstreaming guidelines, action plans, and frameworks for Gender are required in the sectoral planning and budgeting process.

Key recommendations:

• DRM Policies and strategies must consider the gender dimensions, inform gendered climate risk and vulnerabilities, and mandate local-level actors delivering gender-responsive DRM/DRR/CCA planning and interventions.
• Developing gendered climate fiscal framework and Influencing government fiscal budgetary allocations for women-led smallholder farming, green entrepreneurship development, and supporting individual women-headed households in DRR resilience building and more GDP contribution from the productive rural growth sectors (agriculture, livestock, fisheries, farming, value chain development, etc.)
• Gender-responsive National DRM Frameworks, policy action and translating policy into local actions and propagating through a decentralized local governance system, instrumentalization of strong institutional presence at the very local level, and mandating all stakeholder’s coordination and engagement to sufficiently drive the gender-responsive DRM services to the last mile. 

2.2    Early Warning, Prevention, and preparedness information being accessed at the community level.

The assessment countries positioning over the Intertropical Convergence Zones or Doldrums area impacted by intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), sub-tropical climatology, impacts of El Nino during the October-November-December (OND) season, and erratic rainfall alternated between below and above-average patterns in the region. Several studies show that the warm Mozambique Channel becomes favorable for the development of Tropical Cyclones because of synoptic conditions. Sprawling/scattered and poorly structured settlements along the lower flood-prone areas and downstream areas cause the highest susceptibility to multi-hazard risk and vulnerabilities of cyclones, flooding, landslides, etc., impacting rural livelihood and food security. Assessment countries having rapid-onset hazard triggering geographical, terrain topographical, and landscape settings. The most vulnerable elements are settlement and fertile agricultural lands falling over the lower floodplain/wetlands, flood-prone and river catchment areas being affected by the flood hazards. The terrain landscape creates flash floods in any given torrential/heavy rainfall occurs. To address all those daunting challenges and keep the frontline informed timely about the quick onset of impending hazardous events needs an early warning for all systems in operation.

Challenges:

• Traditional weather forecasting system – what weather would be rather than what weather will do and what would be impacts over the ground level elements.
• Weather forecast bulletin is not comprehensive, localized impact intensive, and has capacity limitation in numerical weather prediction of rapidly developing weather conditions (thunderstorms, heavy rainfall), limited ground-level observations, and inadequate short and medium-range forecasts.
• Not having any consensus of forecast interpretations by the Met agency, NDMO National Hydrometeorological Agency (NHMS), and sector departments for interpretations of forecasts into risks and impacts over the elements (settlement, agricultural lands, and other high-value elements)
• WhatsApp and social network group-based weather warnings are not appropriate in rapidly developing weather conditions (thunderstorms, tornadoes, heavy rainfall) and warning the rapid onset hazards like flash flooding, landslide, etc.  
• Community radio dependency dissemination methods have frequency limitations to reach the broadcasts to remote rural areas.

Recommendations:   

• Developing integrated weather forecasting, warning, alerting, and impact-based weather forecasts for the vulnerable sectors and sectoral elements, operational forecasts with long, medium, and short-range bulletins, and nowcasting services with weather bulletin and advisories at precision level.
• Real-time dissemination of weather forecasting and nowcasting to every remote individual with national radio( AM Radio) broadcasts, so that broadcasts can be tuned from any geographical location of the country,   TV and cell phone broadcasts with local language are highly demanded by the vulnerable gender group (women children, youth, elderly and disabled population) of the frontline in the given rapidly developing weather conditions, tropical storms and localized thunderstorms, tornadoes and triggering flash flooding causing the mortalities in flood-prone zone of Malawi. Zimbabwe and lower floodplains of Mozambique. 
• Developing operational forecasts for the sectors, women, and girls on the damaging impacts of onset hazards over the women, girls, and youth group lives and livelihoods. When, where how they will take shelter to safe ground, what evacuation route and the distance to evacuation center, etc.
• Developing impact-based weather forecasts on damaging weather phenomena over agriculture (seedling, sapling, and standing crops, soil moisture, soil water holding capacity, soil dryness, agriculture droughts), water stress (ground and surface water level), vegetation index, heatwave, dry spell, flash drawings impact on surface water resources, etc.
• Multi-lingual cell phone messaging, toll-free cell broadcasts, and Interactive voice response (IVR) messaging for accessing early warning easily and updated.

2.3        Existing DRM coordination structures at national, sub-national, and local levels

The national disaster management nodal agencies (DoDMA in Malawi, INGD in Mozambique, and Department of Civil Protection in Zimbabwe) in assessment countries are leading the DRR process. However, the challenges are inadequate multi-stakeholder (state and non-state actors) engagement at the province and district level for effectively governing the DRM/DRR functionalities. Most of the government respondents pointed out the inadequate roadmap and policy framework for institutional cohesion over the sector-specific DRM/DRR planning, budgeting, and intervention design process.  The main hurdles being identified as bureaucratic control over the annual fiscal budgetary allocation for the DRR interventions, inadequate fiscal budgetary allocations for sectoral DRR interventions, and inadequate DRR risk financing allocations for the local government (province, district, and local level).  The country level has an inadequate gender dimension and gendered climate risk information system, national risk financing framework, and policy instrument for advocating external climate finances (Green Climate Funds) to mainstream the DRR/CCA and green climate interventions at the local level. 

The assessment identified the key challenges of the DRM coordination process being derived by the inadequate policy actions, DRM laws inadequately mandate policy actions, devising the cohesive sectorial DRM policy action, inadequate gendered climate risk intergradation in sectoral planning, lack of sector-integrated planning and stakeholder coordination roadmap over the DRR and CCA planning process in assessment countries.  The DRM coordination structures work on an ad-hoc basis, which is less decentralized, and most of the weightage is being given to post-disaster humanitarian response efforts. The much-needed sectoral preparedness requires an ex-ante risk financing facility for demand-driven DRR and CCA planning and interventions.

• Develop DRM coordination framework, and structures at national, provincial district, and local levels (stakeholder map, roles and responsibilities during normal time and disaster emergencies, standing orders, etc.)
• Improved timeliness and effectiveness in disaster response and recovery with the development of full-time DRM staffing at the district level.
• Developing multi-hazard contingency plans, budgets, and funding allocations for the implementation of DRR interventions at the local level.
• Enhancing institutional (state and non-state actors) capacity in DRM service delivery capacity to all levels.
• Improved information flow for better coordination and assessment.

2.4 UN/government support for collection and access to SADD

Most of the respondent acknowledges the indispensable priorities of sex, age, disability disaggregated data (SADD) gathering, socioeconomic and sectoral disaggregated climate risk and vulnerability database for supporting gendered DRM, DRR, and climate actions at the local level. The assessment identified the inadequate methodology, tools, process, roadmap, and stakeholder coordination structures on who will do what and how to SADD on household-level climate risk and vulnerability, demographic profile, sectoral risk and vulnerability, gendered socioeconomic datasets, household and community level multi-hazards risk and vulnerability datasets.

Major barriers and challenges identified as inadequate engagement of the national statistical organizations as nodal agencies and aligning national energy operations center (EOC) as technical wings to govern the SADD process in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Inadequate methodology, tools and guidelines, and process for SADD data collection.

Key recommendations:

• Installation of EOC at Every District level for development of SADD data collections functional ICT system and network, engaging National Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for disaggregated disaster risk and vulnerability data collection, vulnerability assessment committee, disaster management organizations (NDMO, INGD, DCP) and other sector ministry and department in SADD process
• Anchoring Disaster risk management information system with SADD -EOC/Vulnerable Assessment Committee information management system.
• Develop District wise gendered climate risk information network and collection of gendered SADD from the household level.
• Developing web-based and app-based tools for SADD data collection from the household level.
• Enhance institutional/stakeholder’s capacity (district level), mandate, methodology tools, and guidelines, management of Stakeholders in SADD data collections, conducting post-disaster rapid emergency needs assessment (RENA), PDNA, etc.
• Development of improved coordination structure and management of stakeholders at Area/TA/administrative post and Group village level to conduct CRVA, DRVA, PDNA, and RENA at the local level, data processing, database development, and informed tools development for supporting gender responsive DRR/CCA interventions at the local level.
• Anchoring UN/INGOs information network with SADD database/information portal.
• Functioning District level EOC as an information hub with the capacity for risk assessment, risk communication, SADD and Risk repository development and maintenance, risk-informed planning tools development, early warning dissemination, and awareness-raising campaigning.

2.5      The UN engaged at national sub-national and local levels.

The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) led by UN-OCHA is responsible for coordinating UN emergency preparedness and response in support of the Government plan. Under the guidance of the HC, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) is responsible for the effective and efficient implementation of Inter-Agency disaster risk management activities. Coordinate in combating the Camp-based ESA, and SGBV during disaster emergencies. Coordinate national DRM platform and Operationalize the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) by conducting emergency humanitarian assistance through the UN Cluster system.

UN-led DRM coordinating mechanism functioning on an ad-hoc basis for the post-disaster crisis response over to conducting PDNA and mobilizing some humanitarian supports through the UN cluster system at the local level. The UN organs including the HCT, UN Clusters system, INGOs World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) support needs assessment and conduct humanitarian response. The UN-government coordination mechanism needs to be improved in developing a gendered DRM framework and strengthening the ex-ante risk financing mechanism, improving the coordination mechanism in localization of NAP and gendered DRM, DRR, and resilience building.   

UN Agencies support for central and local governments: UNICEF engaged in WASH, Nutrition, and Education service deliveries, WFP in emergency food assistance in most valuable districts and also handles food security clusters, IOM works on displaced people and maintains displacement tracking mechanism, UNHCR on handling climate refuges, UNDP supporting the government in DRM/DRR service delivery capacity building, UN Women in women empowerment, FAO in food security and climate adaptive agriculture development, WHO in health emergency relating to disease/outbreaks/epidemics.

3.0 Engagement with Stakeholders

3.1 : The main stakeholders in the DRR sector in order of priority

The national disaster management nodal agencies (DoDMA in Malawi, INGD in Mozambique, and Department of Civil Protection in Zimbabwe) in assessment countries are leading the DRR process. However, the challenges are inadequate multi-stakeholder (state and non-state actors) engagement at the province and district level for effectively governing the DRM/DRR functionalities. Most of the government respondents pointed out the lack of a roadmap and policy framework for institutional cohesion over the sector-specific DRM/DRR planning, budgeting, and intervention design process.  The main hurdles being identified as bureaucratic control over the annual fiscal budgetary allocation for the DRR interventions, inadequate fiscal budgetary allocations for sectoral DRR interventions, and DRR risk financing for the local government (province, district, and local level).  The country level has an inadequate gender dimension and gendered climate risk information system, national risk financing framework, and policy instrument for advocating external climate finances (Green Climate Funds) to mainstream the DRR/CCA and green climate interventions at the local level.  

The district local governments need to be the most functional local authority and the process of decentralized central government sector ministries and departments exclusively needs to be replicated at the district level to handle local development, DRR, and CCA functionaries at the last mile. However, assessment countries do not have elected local government representatives to synergize the people’s representation with local government bodies. Currently, the sector department-led District Executive Committees (DEC) which are chaired by the deputy commissioner as the focal point and there is other ad-hoc committees on DRR/DRM governing at the district level. Similarly elected local body also absent at Traditional Authority (Malawi), Administrative Post (Mozambique), Ward (Zimbabwe), Group Village & Village level (Malawi) instead having some extension officers and selected ad-hoc DRM/Civil protection committees to govern DRM/DRR functionalities to the last mile. The ad-hoc local government structure and governance process inevitably formulate gender-responsive legislation and create a level playing field for other non-state actors (UN Agencies, INGOs, CSOs, Women-Led Organizations) to interplay with local government system in inclusive DRM/DRR/CCA planning and decision-making process at the local level and ensuring that women, girls, and other gender group’s livelihood are enabling as climate resilient.  

Recommendation:

• Gender responsive Legislation and local governance process, decentralized local government system, transfer of government sector departments at the district level, district level stakeholder coordination roadmap and responsibilities for governing DRM, DRR, CCA planning and interventions, and community engagement in DRR/CCA resilience building actions.
• Implementation of District-level climate risk finance framework, annual fiscal budgetary allocation for the district and local level for DRM, DRR, and CCA interventions at the community level.
• District Climate and multi-hazard risk management framework, DRM contingency plan, CCA Plans, Gender development plan, gendered climate risk management framework for the district, District level DRM/DRR plans, Standard Operating Procedure(SOP), Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD), Multi-hazard and disaster contingency and preparedness plans, Disaster Emergency Response & Recovery Plan for District,  Traditional Authority (Malawi), Administrative Post(Mozambique), Ward(Zimbabwe), Group Village & Village level(Malawi).
• District-level resource mobilization (revenue) framework, District level DRM/DRR/CCA planning and budgeting system.
• District-gendered risk financing framework, District-level stakeholder (state, non-state, CSO, CBO) engagement roadmap, DRM/DRR risk management framework (early warning coordination, preparedness and response planning, humanitarian coordination, gendered DRM/DRR framework). 
• The district-level local government sector department and disaster management agency pointed out inadequate funding and resource mobilization (internal/external) strategies and a lack of gendered risk finance framework at the Province/District level.

3.2    UN/Government structures engaging women and women-led organizations in DRR and resilience initiatives.

The stakeholder’s discussions outline the persistent gaps and challenges that are being identified as DRM policy inadequately devising the policy actions, gender dimensions, and gendered risk management framework for engaging women and women-led organizations in DRR and resilience initiatives.

Inadequate efforts of UN / Government led multi-stakeholder in nexus building amongst the stakeholders, inadequate gendered DRM/DRR risk management framework at the national and sub-national level. The respondent mentioned the persistent central government control over the DRM/DRR planning propagation up to the local level and inadequate fiscal mobilization strategies which hurdles the DRM/DRR planning decentralization and coordination mechanisms for downscale DRM interventions.

The women-led organizations at the district level (Malawi) pointed out the weak institutional settings, coordination roadmap at sub-national institutes (province, District), and lack of persistent District level gender dimension & District level gendered climate/multi-hazard risk information network, lack of SADD repository for devising the gendered DRR interventions at the local level to consider the women as the largest demographic vulnerable population at the last mile.

Recommendations:

• Development of District-level stakeholder engagement framework/ roadmap, strategy, shared functional responsibilities, 5 W (who will do what, where, when, and how) work plan for DRM/DRR/CCA process and   Capacity development.
• DRM/DRR/CCA Policy, planning, and strategies need to clearly define the mandates for state and non-state actors (government, UN, CSO) on how to engage women and women-led organizations in DRR and resilience initiatives at the sub-national and local level.
• Instrumentalizing gendered climate and multi-hazard risk/vulnerability as priority issues in long-term Policy and Strategies
• Persistent DRM/DRR planning and annual fiscal budgetary allocations at the district level for women and women-led organizations in DRR and resilience initiatives.
• Participatory District level local governance, sectoral engagement, multi-stakeholder engagement strategy (women-led organization/right-based organization) and create a level playing field for other non-state actors (UN Agencies, INGOs, CSOs, Women-Led Organizations) to interplaying with local government system in inclusive DRM/DRR/CCA planning and decision-making process at local level. 
• Develop District-level risk-informed gender development strategy, District gendered risk management framework, climate and multi-hazard risk information network/SADD repository based on gendered needs and priorities inclusivity in the local planning process.

3.4 Key gaps in gender integration within DRR and resilience building initiatives.

The respondents of the assessment countries pointed out institutional capacity gaps, inadequately informed tools for gender integration within DRR, and resilience-building initiatives at the local level. The persistent gaps and challenges are being identified as inadequate policy actions and mandates, inadequate gender dimensions, gendered risk information framework, classified sectoral disaggregated datasets, and repository hurdles at the national and sub-national level to integrate gender in DRR and resilience building process.

Inadequate government central fiscal budgetary provision for DRR and resilience building and inevitable national fiscal budgetary segmentation for the (Province, District, TA, Administrative post, Group village level, and village level) for district level for gardened DRR interventions/planning and financing system. Lack of Risk-informed gender development plan at the district level. Inadequate gendered (women, Girls, Youth, elderly, disabled population) inclusive participatory local governance system at the TA/Area/Group Village and village level for local development.

Lack of women disaster/climate resilience framework, inevitable legislation, laws, mandates for Women and girls having access to government power structures, governance system, gendered inclusive participation to local level DRR and development planning and financing decision-making system. Inadequate community level.

4.0 Differential Impacts of Climate-Induced Disasters [Cyclones, Floods, Drought]

• Cyclone, Flood Disaster-induced displacement, and climate refuge-taking.
• Drop of schooling and engaging children and adolescents in household income-generating activities and fetching water, and firwoods for sustainable living.
• Recurrently become victim of incidence of SGBV and SEA
• Falling in epidemic, outbreaks/diseases/infections, and loss of lives
• Discrimination of accessing pos-disaster humanitarian assistance
• Male ownership of agricultural lands
• Loan defaulter.
• Discrimination of accessing government sector department services
• Inadequate access to inclusive finance for homestead-based IGA
• Less scope and access to education, access to agricultural lands, and agroecology, and little/no women’s access to other governmental services for having climate refugee status. 
• The camp management committee pushes evacuees from the schools just after 2-3 weeks to reopen the school and stop the emergency humanitarian food supply.
• Cultural norms, male domination over the household, and irresponsibility of male family members to stay away from home and letting every pain holder to female members of the family.

Differential impact of women/ girls:

• Women and girls are the last people to take refuge in disaster shelters in the difficult onset conditions of hazards that already turn into disaster, eventually the largest tolls are from this group.
• Less understandability about the extreme weather events, impending nature and anticipatory impact, magnitude and intensity of hazardous weather events, accessibility to precision level, and timely weather forecast/warning with local language.
• Around 60% of the frontline community are women and girls, and single mother and their agriculture-dependent livelihoods and food security are recurrently being impacted by the climate extremes which drag themselves protracted poverty cycle, hunger, and famine; therefore, climate adaptive alternative livelihood IGA options being highly demanded.
• Engaging women and girls in fetching water from long distances incurring the vulnerability to gender-based violence.
• Limited access to agroecology, agricultural lands, basic service deliveries, AVC, and inclusive finance for livelihood sustainability IGA.
• Cultural stigma of social negligence to women/ girls and patriarchal societal paradigm of men are owners of agricultural lands taking all disaster preparedness and evacuation decisions.
• Extreme poverty, single young mothers, women-headed households, child-headed households, girls-headed households, acute food insecurity, malnutrition due to climate change and recurrent disaster events.

4.1 The different coping mechanisms adopted by women and men to climate-induced disasters.

Coping Mechanism in Climate-induced disaster:

• Peace work, business.
• Selling productive assets
• TCF social cash
• Transactional sex
• Charcoal making and selling firewood.
• Post-disaster recovery Social Cash transfer Department of Disaster Management Affairs (NDMO)

The positive coping mechanism:

• Piecework – Day labor, causal job, south Africa to feed the households.
• Small business
• 50KG /yearly Govt/CSO food assistance is not enough
• Small business, peace works, begging for food,
• Support from relatives.

Negative coping mechanism:

• Cutting trees and making charcoal, selling firewood, etc.
• Selling productive assets, belongings, etc.
• Transactional sex
• Adolescent girls are being forced into early marriage.
• Trafficking of girls and children
• Migration
• Selling of humanitarian assistance, hygiene kits/food bags, selling stuffs,

4.3 key barriers to effective women’s engagement in DRR and resilience building

• Inadequate gendered disaggregated data and tailor-made informed tools determining the women, girls, and youth needs and priorities inclusive to disaster emergency preparedness, contingency plan, and humanitarian assistance mobilization.
• Lack of collective AAP Framework for monitoring and creating actors /stakeholders’ accountability in sectoral DRR interventions. 
• Inadequate climate risk information for gender groups, and lack of operational forecasts for women, girls, and youth. children, elderly, and disabled age groups to get them prepared for the impending multi-hazards. 
• Insufficient gendered climate risk and vulnerating information, informed tools to define gender entry point in risk-informed DRR /LDP planning because of sector department inadequately being informed by the gender disagreed and gender-differentiated climate and multi-hazard risk and vulnerability information.
• Inadequate tailor-made informed tools on multi-hazard risk and vulnerability information on differential gendered impacts and developing risk-informed GiHA in EAP, Early Warning Early Action (EWEA), Forecast-based early schemes, and interventions.
• Activation of Forecast-based SGBV, Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), reporting sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) incidence reporting.
• Lack of WRD (Gender DRR and Resilience Farmwork) framework, stakeholder coordination, and action plan for improving Gender Machinery addressing the DRM, DRR, NAP, and NDC
• Inadequate methodology, tools and guidelines, and stakeholder engagement (MVAC, ZimVAC, and other relevant stakeholders) in the Assessment of the socioeconomic vulnerability of women-headed households.
• Implementation of DRR projects for 5 years to harmonize the impacts of interventions.
• People’s mindset, culture, mindset, religion, and patriarchal paradigms discourage women from speaking and letting their voices be heard Women’s participation in local level decision-making process, Women are being discouraged, and Women’s inadequate influence capacity.
• Promoting Women’s education, developing legal framework mandating women’s education, cash for female-headed households.
• Access to Assets, women should own the land, economic decision of use of land by women, 
• Key gaps in Gender integration in DRR /resilience-building initiatives:
• Gender action plan in every cluster/sector department.
• Risks and recovery plan, gender information, gender integration, NDMO officers promoted to director, training.
• Raise awareness at district, gender-segregated gender tools (local languages)
• The national fiscal budget system focuses on the social cash transfer programe for food security.
• Lack of base case scenarios, Gender action plan in every cluster, lack of gendered recovery plan, gender information, informed tools (with local languages), gender integration, NDMOC officers promoted to director, training.
• National budget Not having systematic national risk financing mechanism over the national budgetary system for prioritizing the DRR interventions at the local level.
• Lack of Risk informed gender development plan at the district level
• Inadequate institutional structure limited decentralized governance (climate) mechanism, inadequate participatory scope of women, girls, and youth access to local DRM/CPC and local authority level decision-making process.
• Lack of gender machinery, gendered network /Gendered climate risk information network for supporting local government cluster (department) for gender risk consideration in gender-responsive DRM/DRR-related scheme implementation process

4.4 Recommendation on strengthening the resilience among vulnerable women and girls to climate-induced disasters.

From the summarized recommendations of respondents over to strengthening the resilience of vulnerable women and girls to climate-induced disasters depending on multi-criteria issues. The vulnerable women and girls are the last-mile community living at the climate frontlines. The resilience building depends on the improvement of governance, risk-informed last-mile livelihood resilience planning, access to precision level climate early warning, GiHA & Gendered needs-based contingency mobilization, social protections, food security and SafetyNet’s, climate adaptive livelihood options, access to agroecological resources, and agriculture and farming value chain etc.

From the assessment following key recommendations were proposed by the respondent: –

• Reform of land tenure policy and Women’s access to agricultural lands, wetlands, agroecology, agroforestry, and fellow lands for women-led GDP growth from the productive sector (agriculture, fisheries, livestock, agroforestry development)
• Distance adult learning (radio/TV) on climate change and disaster education.
• Gendered climate risk-informed tools on multi-hazard risk and vulnerability information on differential gendered impacts and developing risk-informed GiHA in EAP, EWEA, weather operational forecast for women marginalized farmers, smallholder farmers, women-led cooperatives, women-led green entrepreneurship development and integrated farm management (IFM)
• Women access to green financing (Soft loan and credit facility) for smallholder farming, entrepreneurship development and value chain operations.
• Activation of SGBV, SEA incidence reporting network
• Access to basic health care services

( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

5. 0 key findings from the Focus Group Interview with the community

1.  How do communities receive early warning of cyclone, flood and drought and is the information understandable

At the individual and community levels the early warning messages go through the domino effect over the group-based consultation (Civil protection committee) and finally alerts to the frontline community going in delay.  Other sources of information e.g.  WhatsApp groups, road shows, loudspeakers, megaphones, indigenous cultural shows, etc., are not accurate, and time-critical warning messaging causes the mortalities of women, children, and girls. Mobile free SMSs are effective but less than half of the population has access to cell phones and people living the hard-to-reach areas get alerts from people-to-people contact.

•  What suggestions would the community propose to the government about (improving) early warnings for cyclone, floods, flash floods, heavy rainfall and drought?

• The civil protection committees and vulnerable communities of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe recommended free radio sets(    Wind Up and solar PV powered) for the household  and precision level and timely early warning, instant Messing, common alerting with Local Language 
• The community demanded understandable impact-based multi-hazard early warning being broadcast through national Radio (AM), Community Radio, TV channels, and relevant agencies/actors to frequently broadcast special weather bulletins on cyclones, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, landslides, debris falls, thunderstorm, hailstorm, dry spell, heatwave, flash droughts etc.,  about intensity, anticipatory impacts, loss and damage and advisories for the high impact areas.
• Instant SMS/ Cell Broadcast/IVR etc., in local language   

• In what ways climate induced disasters impact?

• In what ways can the protection of women after disasters be enhanced?

• What coping mechanisms were adopted by the gender group?

Most of the respondents mentioned diverse and self-sustaining coping mechanisms with livelihood and local context. The livelihood diversification and using indigenous knowledge in which some strategies used in coping are unsustainable and degradable to the natural environment.

Positive coping mechanism:

• Peace work, Causal labor, seasonal labor, construction workers, technician jobs to other countries.
• Staring livelihood income-generating activities (maize cropping, fruit trees, poultry, livestock some extent etc.)
• Dependency on the government running food supply (Mazie of bag) aftermath of cyclone and floods.
• Dependency on Social Cash Transfer
• Dependency on Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) for starting small businesses.

Negative coping mechanism:

• Sales of productive assets (poultry, livestock, belongings)
• Transactional sex in exchange for money, support
• Cutting trees and making charcoal, selling charcoal, and selling firewood are contributing to deforestation.

Recommendations:

• Need technical and vocational training for income generating support: Welding, electrician, plumbing, mechanical technician jobs for livelihood sustaining income generation.
• Agriculture support – Seasonal cropping, seedling, sapling of winter vegetables
• Support for small business
• Support for Growing season (Winter season) cropping – Input supply (irrigation, fertilizer, seedling, sapling)
• Financial/seedling/sapling Support for livelihood productive assets
• Agriculture Farming(winter)

a] Women _____________

Positive coping mechanism:

1. Peace work – from casual labor which is not enough for purchasing maize for everyday meals.

Negative coping mechanism:

• Sales of productive assets (poultry, livestock, belongings)
• Transactional sex in exchange of money for the survival  
• Cutting trees and making charcoal, selling charcoal, and selling of firewood are contributing to deforestation and environmental degradation.

b] Men ____________

Positive coping mechanism:

• Peace work – from casual labor which is not enough for purchasing maize for everyday meals.

Negative coping mechanism:

• Sales of productive assets (poultry, livestock, belongings)
• Cutting trees and making charcoal, selling charcoal, and selling firewood are contributing to deforestation.
• Trafficking children

Recommendations:

• Need technical and vocational training for income-generating support: Welding, electrician, plumbing, mechanical technician training,
• Extra care for children
• Pregnant women – water cholera, diarrheal,
• Need psychosocial support to avert the emotional distress of losing everything.
• Person with disability need disability-friendly sheltering support

• To enable affected communities, to recover faster, what would your priority needs be?

• Capacity development for Human capital in DRR-related rural development funding.
• Access Financial capital
• Access to Natural Capital
• Access to inclusive finance for startup livelihood activities
• Training on productive assets development farming
• Technical and vocational training (animal husbandry, poultry rearing, fruit gendering)
• Technical Training in SMES development (food processing, small business, marketing, input value chain supplies for livestock, agriculture, poultry, vegetables, fruits, etc.)
• Technical and vocational training for lean period works.
• Startup capital for running small business.
• Engaging women in agriculture value chain development
• Inclusive financial support for group/cooperative women-led green entrepreneurship development (Integrated Farm Management, Fenced area development for livestock farming, Poultry farming, mini pond-based fish farming, Fruit gardening, agroforestry development, high-value cropping, etc.)
• Technical training on climate adaptive farming, rainwater harvesting, soil health improvements, IFM, FYM, etc., for round-the-year cropping.
• Vocational training on agroforestry development

• What are the key barriers in recovery here at the community level?

1. Government regulatory measures over the land and water management:
2. Inadequate institutional decentralized technical support services for the remote rural community for boosting growth from productive rural sector e.g., Water supply and irrigation for Agriculture and drinking, Livestock farming, Poultry farming and fish culture, agroforestry development, homestead gardening, value chain development, etc.
3. Government control over land management, land ownership, and land control policies are the most institutional barriers to getting rural communities access to agricultural land for cropping, fellow land for agroforestry development and fruit gardening, and other productive farming.
4. Most indicative barrier again the inadequate irrigation infrastructures, integrated water resource management infrastructure and services, and drainage network for producing surface irrigation access to rural farming.
5. Malawi having a lot of fresh water bodies (rivers, channels, lakes, wetlands) but inadequate rainwater harvesting structures, rural water control structures, drainage networks, and services for rural communities for access to surface irrigation for boosting rural agriculture.
6. Inadequate access to climate risk finance, DRR/CCA finances:
7. Inclusive financial support for group/cooperative women-led green entrepreneurship development (Integrated Farm Management, Fenced area development for livestock farming, Poultry farming, mini pond-based fish farming, Fruit gardening, agroforestry development, high-value cropping, etc.)
8. Startup capital for running small business.
9. Engaging women in agriculture value chain development
10. Access to inclusive finance for startup livelihood activities
11. Access Financial capital
12. Access to Natural Capital
13. Inadequate disaster recovery framework for rural income-generating productive sector (agriculture, livestock farming, poultry farming, fruit gardening etc.:
14. Inadequate intervention package for individual farmers, smallholder farmers
15. Inadequate sectoral climate risk and vulnerability assessment, local agroecology, soil health , ecology-based DRR/CCA scheme design, plot demonstration, and commercial farming
16. Inadequate/insufficient DAE/Agriculture/water sector initiative for essential irrigation support
17. Inadequate farmer’s field school (FFS) and horticulture development in every village and supporting individual and stallholder framers for round-the-year subsistence and conservational farming
18. Inadequate disaster risk finance, incentives, subsidies, financial package, green shed/greenhouse structure support for marginalized farmers for round-the-year cropping, etc. 
19. Inadequate Sectoral support for the productive farming:
20. Lack of farmer’s field schools, horticulture, and agriculture input supply trigger points for supplying seeding, and sapling to remote rural communities for subsistence and conservative farming.
21. Capacity building on income generating activity (IGA) , household level productive asset building:
22. Technical Training in SMES development (food processing, small business, marketing, input value chain supplies for livestock, agriculture, poultry, vegetables, fruits etc.)
23. Training on productive assets development farming
24. Technical and vocational training (animal husbandry, poultry rearing, fruit gendering )
25. Technical and vocational training for lean period works.
26. Technical training on climate adaptive farming, rainwater harvesting, soil health improvements, IFM, FYM, INM, etc., for round-the-year cropping.
27. Vocational training on agroforestry development
28. Technical training for the development of Human capital
29. Inadequate knowledge and understanding about changing climate and impending multi-hazards.
30. Lack of government mass education campaign (media outlet – Radio /TV based) for knowledge and awareness raising of marginalized rural community for DRR/CCA and resilience building.
31. Inadequate Gender Resilient Framework:
32. Lack of organizational interventions for marginalized women in scheme design, scheme financing, value chain development, and cooperatives framing for more GDP contribution from productive rural growth sector (Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Poultry farming, small  business, and entrepreneurship development)

• What are climate induced disasters impact women, men, girls, and boys differently? Justification

• Lessons from Cyclone Fredy, Idai, keneth etc., release that the patriarchal domination over the critical evacuation at the household level also contributes to larger casualties of women and children because they were the last people to level.
• Women and vulnerable members lack of awareness, and understandability about the intensity and destructive nature of impending cyclones, and flash floods in their locality as because they do not have access to Radio/TV broadcasts driven mass education campaigns about climate change, multi-hazards, disaster-related awareness dissemination factored the high impacts, loss, and damages of livelihoods assets, properties, and mortality.

What are the key recommendations for enhancing resilience opportunities for women and girls

( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

1. What are the key recommendations for enhancing resilience opportunities for women and girls

• Strengthening and implementing of GiHA ( gender inclusive humanitarian  action) at full scale until women-headed households, single mothers, and girls are building a livelihood better and more sustainable 
• Access to climate and multi-hazard risk-information system
• Access to DRR/CCA planning and decision-making process.
• Access to inclusive finance
• Access to Agroecology, agricultural land and farming
• Access to Farming value chain and inputs. 
• Access to Disaster and Climate Risk management Governance system
• Social Protection, reducing SGBV and SafetyNet’s
• Access to climate change and multi-hazard education and knowledge
• Development of Gender climate risk network

• What would you like to suggest government for making your household resilient to disaster and climate change?

• Liberalization of government land control policy, amendment of local government land management and land leasing act, and allocation of the category of lands to rural women for agriculture, livestock farming, Integrated farming, agroforestry development, fruit gardening, fish culture, etc. 
• Green banking facility, Access to inclusive finance, soft loan & micro-credit (VSLA) facility, green finance, green bonds, access to green climate finance for women-led green entrepreneurship development, Startup capital for running small business, smallholder adaptive farming, IFM, livestock, and poultry farming.
• Technical training on climate adaptive farming, animal husbandry, poultry rearing, fruit gendering rainwater harvesting, Integrated Farm Management, Farmyard Manure production, etc., for round-the-year cropping, agriculture value chain development.
• Agriculture department to develop Village based farmers field school (FFS), Horticulture center for supporting marginalized and smallholder farmers in round-the-year climate adaptive farming,
• Impact-based forecasts and operational forecasts for rural sectors, elements, and farming, etc,
• Forecast-based financing package for the women-headed smallholder farmers in productive asset protection from the hazards (crops, poultry farms, livestock farms, fish culture, integrated firms, high-value crops etc.)   
• Strengthening and implementing of GiHA  ( gender inclusive humanitarian  action) for  women-headed households, single mothers, and girls for starting livelihoods productive assets and income-generating activities  immediately after the disaster recovery phases
• Ensure Social Protection, reducing SGBV and forms of outbreaks of violence,  food security, and SafetyNet’s

1. In what ways can your voice be better heard by the authorities to enhance prevention to disasters?

( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

• Improving local governance structure (TA, Administrative post and Group Village/ and engagement of Women girls and youth in local development planning, local DRR/CCA planning, disaster preparedness, contingency planning, and humanitarian actions at the local level.
• Inclusive community participation in every DRR/DRM/CCA planning, and Develop community leadership.
• Enhance community DRR, and climate change learning via national media outlets AM Radio, FM Radio TV etc
• Develop community/village-based climate and multi-hazard risk and vulnerability atlas, social / community risk map, contingency plan, DRR /CCA plans.
• Develop village-level DRR plans, and design productive income-generating schemes for households and smallholder farmers.
• Community based Technical Working Group(TWG) for coordinating local government basic service deliveries
• Local DRM/DRR Technical Working Group(TWG)
• Forecast-based Anticipatory Early Action Protocol (EAP)
• Development of Community level Risk Assessment Committee
• Development Youth Climate Action Group
• Community-level DRR cooperative group
• Development of youth climate action group
• Development of youth humanitarian action group
• Development Youth Humanitarian Group Community-based TWG for coordinating local government basic service deliveries
• Development of Women/girls/youth (gendered ) climate risk information network for informing DRR/CCA planning the local level planning process.
• Developing forecast-based early action protocol for the community:  Local government and humanitarian actors need to understand impending cyclones, floods, flash floods, droughts, landslides, outbreaks, and diseases (cholera, diarrhea, infections disease, malaria, yellow fever, and other communicable  diseases)
• Developing forecast-based financing protocol and sensitizing humanitarian actors about the anticipatory finance and humanitarian assistance that need to be mobilized.
• Develop forecasts on medium-slow onset hazards e.g. hydrometeorological drought, agricultural drought, flash drought, water stress situation in drinking water crisis, etc. for early actions.
• Develop gender DRM network/framework for supplying tailormade information to sector ministries, departments, and other state, and non-state actors for risk-informed gendered DRM/DRR/CAA action planning targeting most vulnerable women-headed rural households.

6.0  Chapter: Overall Technical Recommendations for the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD)

Gendered DRR Frameworks and Approach

( Figure : Proposed Gender DRM Framework )( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

a) Establish DRM gender framework :

Without having the gendered DRM framework supported by the gendered climate risk information, it is apparently difficult to find the entry point and tangled bureaucratic system to understand the importance of the gender dimension of local economy development, potential investment for the gendered productive sector e.g., agriculture, livestock, poultry, fisheries, agroforestry, high-value cropping, food process enterprises, local green entrepreneurship, NAP, NDC localization and full scale climate adaptive rural growths being carried out largely be driven by the women population living at the frontline.

( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

The proposed gendered climate resilient framework outlined the functional components of local-level functionaries.

• Establishment of a Gendered Risk management Network based (Framework) 
• Improving Gender machinery Gendered DRM coordination at local level
• District-level Gendered DRM Information Network
• District-level SGBV information network 

1.  Capacity enhancement of government planning Ministry and planning commission in risk-informed planning, strategy development and decision-making process

• Risk-informed Policy, strategy, planning institutional capacity of the Planning Ministry, Planning Commission, and planning officials.
• DRR/CCA progmmare planning by relevant line ministries, and sector line departments.
• Identify of Entry point for Differential gendered impact of multi-hazard and climate risk and vulnerability integration in the planning process
• Capacity development of district-level stakeholders in developing gender dimension, gender machinery, gender risk management framework, SADD tools, methodology, and guidelines.
• District-level EAP, EWEA, Forecast based early action.

• Formulation of District Gender Risk Management Framework/ District Women Resilience Framework
• Capacity building of District local governments in developing of District Gender Risk management framework/ District Women Resilience Framework

• Gendered risk-informed Responsive District Development Planning Framework (DDPF)
• Capacity building of District duty bearer for transforming and transitioning from ad hoc based disaster emergency interventions to long -term disaster risk reductions for enhancing actors and vulnerable community capacity for averting the slow onset ripple effects aftermath of major hazards and disaster
• Improve coordination and decentralized structure of comprehensive community engagement in the local DRM/DRR process.
• District DRM progarmme (DRMP) essentially has to be five year strategy and  need to address/ consider the recurrent and persistent multi-hazard risks and vulnerabilities, residual/cascading  and ripple effects major disasters ( floods, landslides induced water borne disease and epidemics ).
• DRMP need to all articulating the legal framework to tackle SGBV, the  DRM laws also to  mandate  of state and non-state actors to strictly follow the legal procedures against  SGBV during disaster emergencies.
• District level Annual development programming (ADP) and interventions from the government DDP/DRMP and budgeting allocations need to set the annual targets of community-based DRR with pivotal milestones in the council’s commitment to enhancing resilience, preparedness, and response capacities of women-headed households. 
• Unique District council coordination structure and functionaries for developing DDP/DRMP/Contingency Planning at the district level
• District risk management governance needs to establish stakeholder stakeholder-integrated M&E framework for regular reporting and progress tracking of all stakeholders on DRR and resilience building(women-headed households).

6.2    Development and deployment of Early warning for all :

Inadequate clear road map of Sendai framework of Early warning for all functional processes as a result, impact forecast development, forecast broadcasting, transmission, and dissemination is being done haphazardly which leads to some level of untimely dissemination. It is highly recommendation for development and deployment of precision level detailed advisories also improvement issues that being entrusted to NMHS and sector department to work together to develop integrated forecasting. The proposed roadmap of EWS for all working in the following diagram.

Figure: Diagram of EWS development and dissemination process ( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

Figure: Proposed EWS for all  value chains to be handled jointly by  EoC/Met Agency /NMHS / National Disaster Management Organization (NDMO) and other sectoral ICT Units( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

1. Improving ICT-driven DRM governance at all levels (national, province, district, Administrative Post, ward, village) :

The current DRM governance mechanism is managing disaster emergency response paradigm which is inadequate to function the integrated multi-hazards, disaster, changing climate impacts, DRR, CCA, NAP portfolios, and multi-stakeholders coordination.

• Develop gender responsive and multi-stakeholders coordination DRM framework at all levels (national, district, province, ward, village). Strong multi-stakeholders coordinated and gender response DRM structures for gendered DRR and resilience building Challenges:
• Paradigm shift and transitioning from the existing DRM coordination process to undertake post-disaster emergency response-based ad-hoc interventions by the Civil Protection Committee to risk-informed multistakeholder coordination   DRM and DRR for local-level gender empowerment and development.
• Enhance the capacity of NDMO based on the current mandate (civil protection/ emergency preparedness and response)
• Improve DRM governances at Provincial and district level with DRM staffing and capacity building in DRM.
• Develop DRM planning at the Provincial and district level by clearly defining the multi-stakeholders map (state, nonstate, UN agencies, INGOs, national NGOs, CSOs, Charities, Private Sectors, Local Institutions, academia, youth girls organization, WLO, local charities etc.)
• Installation of Emergency Operations Center and SOP for supporting all early warnings, operational forecasts, EWS for women, girls/ youth groups, children, disabilities
• Sector and sectoral elements specific, farmers, Women-led category of entrepreneurs specific special impact weather forecast, operational forecasts.
• Structural DRM support for the women smallholder farmers (water access, drainage system, access to agricultural land, access to surface water /irrigation, access to solar PV powered irrigation, access to AVC inputs, horticulture supports,  access to market etc.) . Develop Local agroecology-based DRM and DRR projects and pilot demonstration in every village and community level horticulture for supplying all agricultural inputs for promoting community-based DRR scheme.

• Setup EOCs at the province, district level and improve of multi-hazard early warning system:

• Most of the respondent mentioned development of much needed precision level weather forecasts: Met agency need to develop more specialization in developing high-resolution seasonal, decadal, weekly, 3 days, 5 days weather forecasts, need to develop dynamic and statistical downscale model  rapidly developing thunderstorm (RDT of  meteo France) for predicting heavy rainfall and thunderstorm. 
• Improving surface observation system : Upgrading METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY  weather observations  system, acquisition of 5km grid data sets on surface observation,  install more AWS with synoptic conditions tracking sensors, drone radar, laser ceilometer, radiosonde, rain gauging instrument, uses of EUMETCast lightning sensor data for tracking thunderstorm, Flood level gauging from the river system , flood forecasting and modeling.
• Development of impact based weather forecasts and operational forecasts : Develop  methodology and guidelines on how to organize forecast briefing with guidelines on who will be the participants , how to interpret the risks by organizing discussion and analyzing weather model/outlook subject matter specialists ( Agrometeorologist, hydrologist, geomorphologist, water resource engineer, Plant scientist, Agri engineer, drought experts, landslide expert,  agroecologist, ecologists, meteorologist, synoptic engineers, geomorphologist, etc.) along with forecasters( long, medium, short range), Numerical Weather Prediction(NWP) engineers/specialists, Synoptic Engineer and organize the  forecast beliefs/discussion  about the anticipatory impacts, risk and vulnerability and eventually  developing impact forecasts. The multi-hazard risk analysis over the elements (is not a designated responsibilities of EOC operators) is a group work and the outlined specialists need to develop, customized tools, methodology, guidelines on impact-based forecasts and operational forecasts for the sector, sectoral elements, lives and livelihood elements on the ground. Analysis weather phenomena and interpretation of risks and vulnerabilities. 
• Meteorological agencies need to develop high-resolution gridded forecasts and analyze damaging and beneficial impacts of impending weather parameters on the lives and livelihoods(elements). Met agencies need to develop a pool of technical experts/specialists (Agrometeorologist, hydrologist, geomorphologist, water resource engineer, Plant scientist, Agri engineer, drought expert, landslide expert, agroecologist, ecologists, meteorologist, synoptic engineer, geomorphologist, etc.) for interpreting the extreme weather phenomena being forecasted. Developing methodology, tools, guidelines on transplantation and interpretation risk and vulnerabilities of predicted impending weather phenomena/parameters. Detailed analysis of Impacts and effects of ongoing onset weather events and developing bulletins. Developing special weather bulletins for women, elderly, girls and youth groups onset of tornadoes, thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, cyclones, flash flooding, landslides etc.

• Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to develop Early Action Protocol (EAP) :

• Develop forecast based early action protocol, anticipatory loss and damage (L & D), and impacts level and instantly broadcast the messages so that every women headed household is adequately warned /alerted. National media outlets need to play a pivotal role ( in local language) by broadcasting  distant learning education programs ( radio/TV) for awareness
• EOC to develop early wearing-based anticipatory early actions advisories/bulletins for the women headed households about what needs to be done in the given early warnings and impending hazard conditions so that they get well alerted and well prepared.

• The Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) : Development of forecast based  GiHA protocol for the women/single mother and girls-headed households

• Develop national risk financing framework (gender-focused) : The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs needs to develop a National risk financing framework and DRR budgetary allocation in every fiscal budgeting ( with gender-based allocations)

• Mandating Local authorities’ planning and budgets:  Local authorities’ budgets are separate from the central Government budget; these are composed of local revenue. When a disaster occurs at urban authority level, the urban council is responsible for disaster response. If the magnitude exceeds the urban council’s capacities, the urban council submits a request for assistance to NDMO, which can make use of the National Contingency Fund (or request additional funds to the Ministry of Finance) for emergency humanitarian support. However, the local government needs to develop DRR Planning and budgets for the TA level.

• Inadequate Urban councils planning and budget allocations for implementing community-level DRM/DRR schemes:  Urban councils do not have a budget for financing  DRM/DRR shames for poor households 

• Strengthen the National DRM Framework

• Apply an integrated approach from response, recovery, and reconstruction, to risk reduction and preparedness based on sound disaster risk assessment, and mainstream DRM in all sectors, through formulation/revision and enactment of DRM Bill, development of DRM Policy and DRM Strategy in line with Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

• Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development: Enhancing the capacity of NDMO based on DRM, recovery, and resilience mandate (emergency preparedness, response, risk reduction, recovery, and resilience). This entails increasing capacities at the central level in terms of staff, technical capacity, and resource; reinforcement.
• Improving Cyclone and Flood Forecasting and Early Warning: Enhance forecasting and early warning for cyclone and flood events through the strengthened real-time observation network, early warning system, and capacity development for NDMO and METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY.
• Anchoring SARCOF Southern Africa Region Climate Outlook Forum with METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY  and EOC at Lilongwe and District level.

6.3    Improved Methodology, ICT tools, and stakeholder coordination for Development SADD  :

SADD on demographic, socioeconomic, and sectoral multi-hazard and climate risk information data collection, collocation, and development of tailor-made informed tools is an essential component for risk-informed DRM, DRR, and CCA planning projects. Assessment countries (Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe) do not have any clear roadmap, methodology, guidelines, and tools for systemically collecting data from households. A clear roadmap, stakeholder map, and responsibilities headed by the Vulnerability Assessment Committee, National Statistical Office, NDMO, and other local government organs and CSO need to mobilize the SADD data collections for support gender responsive and risk-informed development. The following proposed diagram shows the stakeholder coordinating structure governing the SADD process. 

Figure : SADD Data collection mechanism( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

Figure : Proposed Stakeholder coordination, data and information exchange mechanism and SADD data collection functional process( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

Recommendations:

• Informed tools, gendered risk analysis, and gender inequalities in DRR/DRM/CCA planning considering the at local level
• Develop Methodology, tools and guidelines of CRVA, community risk assessment, PDNA, JNA, Rapid Impact and Needs Assessment (RINA) & Initial assessment by NDMO/Sector department/humanitarian agency   in first 1-6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours for saving lives (utilization of drone, satellite image, UAV, GIS maps, CRVA maps, and elements database)
• Methodology, tools process for analyzing gender impacts after conducting CRVA, PDNA, RINA, JNA, and other assessments using SADD, tools and process for clearly defining the differential impacts on exposure, risk,  vulnerability, and sensitivity over gender for better preparedness, operational planning, and capacity building.
• Capacity of national Statistical Office, sector department, and relevant R & D organizations in gender impacts disaster and multi-hazard and climate risk and vulnerability SADD data collection, and GIS-based informed tools processing, identifying where informed tools needed and generate additional data that captures gender issues including by organizational and household survey.
• Evidence-based planning and gender-responsive planning capacity of planning department, sector department.
• Capacity development of the National Statistical Office, Ministry for Development Planning, relevant line ministries, and government officials at national and subnational levels to understand the importance of collection, analysis and use of disaggregated data for DRR policy and planning; and (UN Women in collaboration with the UNDRR )  develop the capacity of governments to collect, analyze and report on sex, age and disability disaggregated data) ( Without gender analysis and SADD, the disaster vulnerabilities and impacts of disasters on women and girls are often rendered invisible and this deprioritizes their needs and capacities in disaster risk management and humanitarian response.
• Tailormade SADD for gender analysis in the necessary information to integrate gender perspectives into disaster risk reduction, climate change, risk-informed development, and resilience laws, policies, strategies, plans, programmes, and projects.
• Utilization of SADDD data in planning efficient disaster risk reduction, resilience, and risk-informed development strategies, programmes, and projects that address both men’s and women’s needs and reduce inequalities.

6.3    Improving UN , Government  and multi-stakeholder  coordination  mechanism  in DRM and DRR functionaries

The assessment identified key gaps in UN, Government, and multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms in DRM, DRR, CCA related actionable planning, programming, intervention design, and implementations. The UN HCT coordination is mainly limited to mobilizing emergency post-disaster humanitarian assistance. The government still to develop a climate risk management framework, actionable coronation structure, and localization of gender-responsive DRM, DRR, and CCA interventions at the local last mile. 

Proposed diagram showing the coordination structure and risk-informed tools to be incorporated for gender-responsive planning and intervention implementation.

Figure: Diagram Proposed UN-Government Coordination Structure for DRM Process

6.3    Community-level risk-informed gender development approach

To develop a roadmap to the WRD process from the assessment that has thoroughly investigated the existing systemic government structure, long-term perspective planning, medium-term planning and strategies( 5 years), and actionable short-term planning( Annual Development Program -ADP), strategies and identified that the in-place government system and top-down approaches are inadequately gender-responsive.

However, for bridging the last-mile bottom-up participatory gendered risk-governance gap, the assessment proposes following risk-informed community-level gendered climate governance and actional interventions implementation process.   

Figure : Community level risk-informed gender development approach( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

• Climate resilient green entrepreneurship development
• Women Access to green finances
• Women Access to forecast based finances
• Women/single mothers/adolescent girls leadership role in local civil protection and DRM community
• State, nonstate and CSO’s roles/responsibility,  accountability to affected population (AAP) at the local level
• Women’s leadership in local-level DRR/CCA intervention planning and scheme implementation
• State, nonstate and CSO’s running GBV reporting network
• Women-led agricultural value chain  development
• Women improve access to local government sectoral services deliveries
• Climate information network and information services for women entrepreneurships, awareness raising of girls, and youth groups.  
• Access to impact-based weather forecasts, forecast based early action services
• Distance  learning mass media based climate education, adaptive/conservative and subsistence agricultural practices at the local level. 
• Climate resilient green entrepreneurship development

6.3    SGBV tracking network and dissemination system (Proposed )

• Robust information management network & violence reporting (web-based/geospatial), Social monitoring, networking, and women-led policing  for reducing  PESA and SGBV incidence
• National media outlet(Radio/TV) based constant broadcasting on humanitarian  situations and GBV incidence

Figure : Proposed SGBV tracking and reporting network( Source : Z M Sajjadul Islam, UN Women – International Consultant)

6.0  Chapter: Actionable recommendations for stakeholders ( government, UN agencies, CSOs UN Women CO )

Undertake cross-border analysis of the gendered impacts of climate-induced hazards in Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Annexure 1: Detailed Actionable Recommendations (summarized from the assessment)

Table: High-level actionable recommendations for stakeholders including government, UN agencies, CSOs, UN Women

Proposed Institutional Capacity Building:

• Proposed Institutional Capacity Building:
• Capacity development of sector department in gender action plan in every cluster
• Capacity development in the MIS system for tracking data on the cluster’s gender progress.
• Revising DRM policy and inclusivity of  gender components/agenda of DRM/DRR issues  so that  all ensure that interventions are to be should be gender-responsive
• Capacity development of sector department in SADD  tools, methodology, guidelines development, coordination structure
• Capacity development of development Support the finance ministry in developing the finance framework.
• Capacity building of gender ministry in gender-responsive DRM action plan development
• Capacity building of NDMO in developing DRR in humanitarian action in National gender policy ( component on gender risk management ) and stakeholder maps ( UN Agency, Plan International, SCI other actors ).
• Capacity building of  EOC /Met Agency in the development of EAP and EWEA, impact-based forecast development, community-based early warning development, operational forecast development, Improvement of early warning dissemination
• Capacity building of WLO, CSO, Local NGOs, and Youth Groups in DRM ( preparedness, response )
• Coordination Capacity of District level state and non-state actors in the implementation of Anticipatory action (AA) DRM programs, Food security and logistics, preparedness  and response,

8.0 Concluding Remarks :

Females are the disproportionately larger demographic portion of the whole sum population of the assessment countries. They are largely contributing to domestic GDP( In 2022, agriculture contributed around 26.73 percent to the GDP of Mozambique, Malawi 22.1%, and Malawi 7.19 ) as most of the agricultural workforce are women and adolescent girls, significantly boosting the local economy. Unfortunately, the frontline women in society are suffering from climate shocks.  The last mile state and non-state actors must empower women and girls to lift from the protracted poverty tangles and food and livelihood insecurity induced by the impacts of climate change.

Considering the multiple intricacies of gender dimensions, the assessment pointed out that a comprehensive bottom-up risk governance approach needs to be implemented to empower women /gender resilience to disaster. The women and other gender groups at the frontline are suffering from multi-dimensional problems with poor gender machinery structures & processes and a gender-built government system that needs to be strengthened in every sphere. The process of institutional decentralization mostly handles the government’s administrative layers/post and some sector departments at the district level; however, the persistent centralized governance tangles hurdles the decentralization of local governance system, implementation of budget and fiscal autonomy for district-level government development perception still needs stronger political vide, and commitment, budgetary and fiscal facilities for gender empowerment, gender-engaged individual and smallholder farming, local agroecology-based entrepreneurship and rural economy development, and boosting local resilience. 

Typically, districts are recognized as local development domains. Still, in the given countries, local governments are not fully decentralized and have no electoral local government body to govern the local government gender machinery and simultaneously legislate local development, local-level gender-responsive development planning, budgeting, resource allocations, and government functionaries. However, the colonial centralized bureaucracies still control the local government system. The decentralization process needs a strong presence at the District level. However, as of today, there is a lack of roadmap and sector-level stakeholder coordination to mastermind the district-centric multi-stakeholder coordinated actionable DRM / DRR/CCA planning and interventions. On the other hand, the paradigm of local-level planning decisions is influenced by central bureaucracies and the power-structured political elite’s masculinity.

In these given circumstances, gendered DRR planning processes are hampered by the absence of structured gender machinery, gender dimensions, gender DRM/DRR framework, gendered climate risk-informed tools, gendered socioeconomic vulnerability tailormade & evidence-based informed tools to sufficiently influence the government planning and budgeting entities to identify the entry point of inclusivity of gendered responsive DRM/DRR planning and inclusive budgetary process. However, to date, the central government’s strides in gender inclusivity to local planning and DRR development process come generically and reactively with some narratives not as indispensable agenda of considerations of the larger size of the female population and potential the GDP contribution from the rural growth sector (agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, livestock, agroforestry, SMEs, food processing, etc.) essentially being driven by women farmers/smallholders to contribute hugely to the local and national economy.

Only the institutional level designating some gender professionals at some sectoral level can hardly influence the persistent masculine bureaucratic dimension of power and decision-making process at the District and local level rather than the stronger gender machinery, gender-represented legislative body, decentralized governance,  mandates, climate risk-informed tools, gendered socioeconomic vulnerability, climate risk information network, and gender DRR/DRM network can advocate gender fitness over the all administrative process, local development planning, DRM, DRR, CCA planning process.

Creating the much-needed sense of ownership at the central (National/Provincial/District) and local (District/TA/Administrative Post /Village) levels administrative agent over the paradoxical bureaucratic governance pattern, which hurdles the women’s voices being hard, however, ensuring the inclusive participation of women ear evidence-based and gendered climate risk-informed tools for fostering the planning and budgeting processes. 

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The Assessment team is having specialization with wide-range of  ICT tools e.g., GIS & Remote Sensing Mapping, Surveying with Global Positioning System -GPS, Apps based Surveying(Kobo-Toolbox), Drone/UAV based multi-dimensional Surveying( detailed spatial mapping), Inventorying primary datasets with Apps based tools from the field level ,  database  design, geospatial analytics  of all attribute information, Online Geospatial tools based dynamic & action mapping, online GIS map deployment ( for map and data visualization ) for conducting any sorts of assessment ,  gendered impacts of climate-induced hazards , Multi-hazard and disaster impacts on gender( women, girls, children, elderly , person with disability ) please contact at +88-01711 979179 (WhatsApp) , Skype : zmsajjad