Water, Disasters and the Gendered-Impact of Vulnerability: Case Study on the Budalangi Flood Plains
It has certainly been made clear that those who are already the most marginalised within society are also those who experience the greatest impacts of climate change. It is therefore of no surprise that disasters expose these inequalities further.
In spite of their high propensity towards vulnerability, it must be made clear that women can be active and effective agents of adaptation and mitigation towards climate change; with regards to this I highly recommend reading these papers by Denton (2002) and Terry (2009) Today we will be talking about vulnerability in the Budalangi Flood Plains and discuss a brief comparison with a similar paper about vulnerability in Egypt.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2001) conceptualises vulnerability as a function of both the nature of the biophysical climate and the state of social system. In Sub-Saharan Africa, despite several decades of analysis and study, disaster risk reduction (DRR) does not adequately address issues of social vulnerability. After reading a paper about whether vulnerability to climate change is gendered, focusing on insights from Egypt, I was keen to move the discussion to sub-saharan Kenya. Daoud mentions how climate change literature tends to "downplay" the gendered nature of vulnerability and reinforced its importance to climate change. The strongest takeaway I made from the paper was the importance of gender analysis to policy. The paper successfully incorporated concepts by Judith Butler concerning pressures of "performances" of femininity, something that I had never seen in a geographical context before.
In spite of their high propensity towards vulnerability, it must be made clear that women can be active and effective agents of adaptation and mitigation towards climate change; with regards to this I highly recommend reading these papers by Denton (2002) and Terry (2009) Today we will be talking about vulnerability in the Budalangi Flood Plains and discuss a brief comparison with a similar paper about vulnerability in Egypt.
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2001) conceptualises vulnerability as a function of both the nature of the biophysical climate and the state of social system. In Sub-Saharan Africa, despite several decades of analysis and study, disaster risk reduction (DRR) does not adequately address issues of social vulnerability. After reading a paper about whether vulnerability to climate change is gendered, focusing on insights from Egypt, I was keen to move the discussion to sub-saharan Kenya. Daoud mentions how climate change literature tends to "downplay" the gendered nature of vulnerability and reinforced its importance to climate change. The strongest takeaway I made from the paper was the importance of gender analysis to policy. The paper successfully incorporated concepts by Judith Butler concerning pressures of "performances" of femininity, something that I had never seen in a geographical context before.
Now to Kenya...
The Budalangi Flood Plains in Busia county are at the mouth of the River Nzoia which causes floods to the region annually. The effect of flooding in this area is extensive, for example, the flooding of the Nzoia River in 2010 left 2,633 people living as refugees in makeshift shelters (Mukana, 2015). The degree of vulnerability to inhabitants in the Budalangi Flood Plains is dependent on the interplay of physical factors such as the quality of infrastructure available and the degree of access to resources.
Unfortunately, the responses to social vulnerabilities has tended to focus on the "vulnerable groups" rather than on the social systems, community structures and power relations that reinforce vulnerability. Though Africa does have a Regional Plan of Action and Guidelines for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Assessment into development where the importance of gender is discussed, it fails to address the different stages African countries are at with regard to gender mainstreaming. There needs to be tangible commitments and greater coordination efforts to pursue gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction at an operational level.
The Budalangi Flood Plains in Busia county are at the mouth of the River Nzoia which causes floods to the region annually. The effect of flooding in this area is extensive, for example, the flooding of the Nzoia River in 2010 left 2,633 people living as refugees in makeshift shelters (Mukana, 2015). The degree of vulnerability to inhabitants in the Budalangi Flood Plains is dependent on the interplay of physical factors such as the quality of infrastructure available and the degree of access to resources.
Unfortunately, the responses to social vulnerabilities has tended to focus on the "vulnerable groups" rather than on the social systems, community structures and power relations that reinforce vulnerability. Though Africa does have a Regional Plan of Action and Guidelines for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Assessment into development where the importance of gender is discussed, it fails to address the different stages African countries are at with regard to gender mainstreaming. There needs to be tangible commitments and greater coordination efforts to pursue gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction at an operational level.
The case study in the Budalangi flood plains focuses on the importance of disaster risk reduction education and recognises it as a multidisciplinary way of reducing the vulnerability of society (Mondoh, 2013). For example, the BUCODEV (Busia Community Development Organization) has focused on promoting the utility of indigenous knowledge on early warning signs of disasters. Further, community members have been trained in the use of Geographic Positioning systems for vulnerability analysis and how to identify hazards and risks to transmit the information to the wider community using the Bulala radio station. This multifaceted approach to disaster risk prevention should better enable individuals in the community to be agents of change.
With regards to primary education, very few skills in the area and more generally in Kenya have integrated disaster risk and climate change education into the school curriculum, impart due to the lack of resources, no national examination on the topic and the loss of time from the evacuation and resettlement after floods. General life-skills’ education would undoubtedly provide fertile ground for disaster risk management and if taught from an early age would be particularly useful for women who are often forced to drop out of schools from an early age. Thus, this case study proposes an important notion that hasn't been mentioned in the blog series thus far, that being, the importance of primary education in combatting issues entrenching women. Personally, I think it is often very easy to forget the value in proactive responses regarding gender and water, particularly those targeted at the younger generation.
Ultimately, drawing comparisons to Daoud's paper, evidence in both Egypt and the Budalangi Flood Plains draw evidence to the differentiated nature of vulnerability and impact of disasters yet the lack of interventions and policy which is gender sensitive. Comments about how best policy can adapt to vulnerability and disaster risk response would be very welcomed.
With regards to primary education, very few skills in the area and more generally in Kenya have integrated disaster risk and climate change education into the school curriculum, impart due to the lack of resources, no national examination on the topic and the loss of time from the evacuation and resettlement after floods. General life-skills’ education would undoubtedly provide fertile ground for disaster risk management and if taught from an early age would be particularly useful for women who are often forced to drop out of schools from an early age. Thus, this case study proposes an important notion that hasn't been mentioned in the blog series thus far, that being, the importance of primary education in combatting issues entrenching women. Personally, I think it is often very easy to forget the value in proactive responses regarding gender and water, particularly those targeted at the younger generation.
Ultimately, drawing comparisons to Daoud's paper, evidence in both Egypt and the Budalangi Flood Plains draw evidence to the differentiated nature of vulnerability and impact of disasters yet the lack of interventions and policy which is gender sensitive. Comments about how best policy can adapt to vulnerability and disaster risk response would be very welcomed.
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