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Paper short abstract

This paper examines households' capacity to cope with with weather shocks by exploring the roles of informal networks and intrahousehold farm decision-making in relation welfare. Focusing on Tanzania, this paper uses climate data merged with household and plot-level in the empirical analysis.

Paper long abstract

In many developing countries, households are engaged in informal networks or associations for a number of reasons such as providing social support. Also, among households, there are variations in intrahousehold farm decision-making power, which could result in gender variation in land rights, ownership, and control. Households informal networks or associations and intrahousehold farm decision-making power could play have effects in the households' capacity to mitigate or cope with weather shocks. In spite of the relevance of informal networks and intrahousehold decision-making power in climate resilience, studies on how gender differences in informal networks and intrahousehold farm decision-making power affect household welfare have received limited attention in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. This study, therefore, examines the relationship between gender differences in informal networks and intrahousehold farm decision-making on household welfare among smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Using climate date, household-level and plot-level data from the Tanzanian National Panel Surveys and fixed effect regressions, the results of the study indicate that informal networks and intrahousehold decision-making power matter for household capacity to cope with climate risks. The findings of this study support the assertions that informal networks and the characteristics of plot managers play important roles in sustainable livelihoods and socio-economic inequalities.