Closing the gender gap in natural resource management is key for achieving food security and strengthening resilience to climate change. Cambodian women play a crucial role in agriculture and rural livelihoods. They are responsible for 80 percent of food production and strongly contribute to household resources to meet their families’ needs for nutrition and health. 

However, women are most likely to bear the heaviest burden associated with climate change impact, as they are among the poorest of the poor in rural areas. Women´s vulnerability stems from a variety of sources, including basic gender inequality, distribution of rural work effort, and lower access to economic, health and educational opportunities.

At the same time, women are effective agents of change with the potential to lead community efforts for climate change adaptation and resilience. Women´s considerable knowledge about water resources due to their rolein household water supply, being  primary responsibility for food production and preparation, care of domestic animals, personal hygiene, care of the sick, cleaning, washing and waste disposal, remain mostly invisible for climate change adaptation strategies. Nevertheless, meaningful involvement of women in natural resource management as watershed management can indeed lead to the design of effective, innovative solutions to water problems, food security and make projects more sustainable.

In this regard, the Global Environment Facility funded project, namely the Life and Nature Project (LNP), implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), considers gender equality and women’s empowerment key to strengthen the adaptive capacities and resilience of rural communities to climate change. Using a micro-watershed approach, the project focuses on three main themes - watershed management, improved farm resilience and alternative livelihoods for women - all being complementary.

As explained by Antonio Schiavone, Head of Operations for FAO in Cambodia, “gender equality is key to achieve sustainable adaptation to climate change. That is why the climate change resilient alternative livelihood options targeting women is one of our central focus. We work to make sure that gender is integrated across project components, and  mainstreamed in all project activities.”

In collaboration with the Ministry of Women’s Affair (MoWA), the project supports the setting up of Women’s Producer Groups to improve women’s participation in decision-making and provide them with opportunities to diversify their livelihoods at the commune level. To accelerate and strengthen the project implementation, in collaboration with MoWA, a gender workshop was conducted from 3 to 4 July 2019 in Siem Reap province. More than fifty key stakeholders of LNP, namely the Provincial Department of Environment (PDE), Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA), Fishery and Forestry (PDAFF), Provincial Department of Women’s Affair (PDoWA) and other responsible counterparts, participated in this workshop.

With the purpose of enhancing LNP-implementers capacities on conducting gender analysis, formulate, implement and monitor gender-responsiveness, as well as understanding of gender mainstreaming in the project, the workshop was designed to offer a mix of lectures, discussions, practical exercises and exchange of experiences, as well as hands-on planning. It facilitated knowledge and experience sharing by implementers and other projects staff, with a focus on developing capacities to implement a project-wide gender work plan.

H.E. Kim Nong, Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Administration for Nature Conservation and Protection of the Ministry of Environment, mentioned that, “gender mainstreaming is important to achieve projects goals. The participants should learn how to conduct gender analysis to properly respond to the problems faced by women and men, and to guarantee the success of the project.”

Ms Khorn Dinravy, Advisor to MoWA on Gender and Climate Change, explained that the ministry created a Gender and Climate Change Committee (GCCC) to lead, facilitate and coordinate gender and climate change related work to guarantee sustainable rural development. She stressed that women and their concerns must be considered for governance structures in planning, policy-making, and infrastructure development. She further added that, “the ministry strongly supports and collaborates with various ministries and partners to reduce vulnerability, particularly for women, children, the elderly, and people living with disabilities to climate change and hazards.”

This workshop also offered opportunity for exchange of good practices with visits to women producer groups in Pok commune, one of the target areas of the project. The workshop was successful and contributed to strengthen the capacity of the responsible LNP-staff and counterparts to design, monitor and implement gender-responsive interventions. The workshop’s main output was the development of gender roadmaps in each province. These strengthen women’s livelihood as adaptation strategies to Climate Change and include timelines, roles and responsibilities aligned to projects activities, for improved delivery on the gender front.