Paper short abstract:

Research on gender issues in climate adaptation and resilience on the one hand and gendered outcomes of social protection programs on the other hand have remained largely separate. This narrative review explores the gap between both bodies of gender research with a specific focus on the Sahel region

Paper long abstract:

Several decades following the prolonged drought in the Sahel in the late 20th century, the negative effects of drought are still prevalent across different regions in the Sahelian country. With the increasing climate shocks and extreme events such as droughts and heavy rains, the Sahel region remained one of the key climate hotspots in the world. Due to the greater vulnerability of the Sahel region to climate change, there have been calls for more gender-responsive design and implementation of social protection responses to climate change challenges across levels and scales in Sahel countries. This narrative review explores the gap between two bodies of gender research; gender and social protection and gender and climate resilience, with a specific focus on the Sahel region. The Gender Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) framework is used to assess the (still limited) evidence on connections between gender, social protection, and climate change in six gender equality outcome areas— economic security and empowerment, women’s voice and agency, protection, health, education, and psychosocial well-being. Emerging linkages between both research strands include interactions between climate adaptation strategies and features of social protection programs. Also, the importance of addressing inequitable gender norms in social protection design as well as for climate resilience became evident in several GRASSP areas. Overall, engagement between both research communities needs to be strengthened, for instance through the research questions provided.