This thesis examines how livelihood diversification is also a site in which gender relations are unsettled, maintained and (re)configured. With the aim of strengthening the links between feminist and agrarian change scholarship, I present ethnographic material from Naga, a medium-size city in Bicol, Philippines, to explore how daily discourses, practices and performances of livelihood change are instrumental in mapping ways of life that are gendered. In the first part of the thesis, attention is devoted to the inadequate, or at least outdated, attention to gender relations in previous models of livelihood change, and to spell out some of the implications its integration may bring. In the remaining part of the thesis my aim is to indicate how this integration should be achieved. Specifically, I highlight some of the problems stemming from ‘structural’ analyses of gender, and emphasize the fresh perspectives opened up by a post-structural, performative approach. I then proceed to the Naga context, where I present two case studies to ‘flesh out’ these theoretical claims in more depth. Part One traces the involvement of state institutions in these changing political economies. Specifically, I consider how local state policies and practices associated with agrarian change are not simply implicated in people’s tendency to diversify, but also in the (re)production of gender identities. Notions of male responsibility and women’s rightful position in the home emerge as particularly important in this respect. In Part Two, I move to Pacol, a small farming community located on Naga’s peri-urban fringe. By drawing on interview and focus group material provided by ten ‘diversifying’ households, I consider how these discourses come into being; how they are worked through and (re)produced inperformances.

This thesis examines how livelihood diversification is also a site in which gender relations are unsettled, maintained and (re)configured. With the aim of strengthening the links between feminist and agrarian change scholarship, I present ethnographic material from Naga, a medium-size city in Bicol, Philippines, to explore how daily discourses, practices and performances of livelihood change are instrumental in mapping ways of life that are gendered. In the first part of the thesis, attention is devoted to the inadequate, or at least outdated, attention to gender relations in previous models of livelihood change, and to spell out some of the implications its integration may bring. In the remaining part of the thesis my aim is to indicate how this integration should be achieved. Specifically, I highlight some of the problems stemming from ‘structural’ analyses of gender, and emphasize the fresh perspectives opened up by a post-structural, performative approach. I then proceed to the Naga context, where I present two case studies to ‘flesh out’ these theoretical claims in more depth. Part One traces the involvement of state institutions in these changing political economies. Specifically, I consider how local state policies and practices associated with agrarian change are not simply implicated in people’s tendency to diversify, but also in the (re)production of gender identities. Notions of male responsibility and women’s rightful position in the home emerge as particularly important in this respect. In Part Two, I move to Pacol, a small farming community located on Naga’s peri-urban fringe. By drawing on interview and focus group material provided by ten ‘diversifying’ households, I consider how these discourses come into being; how they are worked through and (re)produced inperformances.

This thesis examines how livelihood diversification is also a site in which gender relations are unsettled, maintained and (re)configured. With the aim of strengthening the links between feminist and agrarian change scholarship, I present ethnographic material from Naga, a medium-size city in Bicol, Philippines, to explore how daily discourses, practices and performances of livelihood change are instrumental in mapping ways of life that are gendered. In the first part of the thesis, attention is devoted to the inadequate, or at least outdated, attention to gender relations in previous models of livelihood change, and to spell out some of the implications its integration may bring. In the remaining part of the thesis my aim is to indicate how this integration should be achieved. Specifically, I highlight some of the problems stemming from ‘structural’ analyses of gender, and emphasize the fresh perspectives opened up by a post-structural, performative approach. I then proceed to the Naga context, where I present two case studies to ‘flesh out’ these theoretical claims in more depth. Part One traces the involvement of state institutions in these changing political economies. Specifically, I consider how local state policies and practices associated with agrarian change are not simply implicated in people’s tendency to diversify, but also in the (re)production of gender identities. Notions of male responsibility and women’s rightful position in the home emerge as particularly important in this respect. In Part Two, I move to Pacol, a small farming community located on Naga’s peri-urban fringe. By drawing on interview and focus group material provided by ten ‘diversifying’ households, I consider how these discourses come into being; how they are worked through and (re)produced inperformances. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Masters of Art / Diversifying livelihoods has over the last two decades been identified as an important theme in the development work, particularly concerning the poverty reduction agenda. In the developing world, farm households, urged on by their survival instinct, diversify away from traditional subsistence agriculture to the production of high-value crops and at other times engage in off-farm and non-farm activities. This has become necessary due to the failures of agriculture to guarantee farm households sustainable livelihoods and improve their welfare. In sub-Saharan Africa, diversification is a vital instrument for reducing rural people’s risk to poverty. In recent years, however, diversification has been closely linked to food security. This is due to the fact that chronic food insecurity and its accompanying vulnerabilities continue to thwart poverty reduction efforts in the developing world. Paradoxically, whereas available statistics suggests that there is enough food to feed everyone, close to 900 million of the world’s population is still food insecure. By implication, the food security challenge hinge on ‘access’ rather than food availability. In sub-Saharan Africa and for that matter Northern Ghana, the phenomenon is quite pervasive, often affecting rural farm households. This signals one thing – a travesty to the existence of international human rights frameworks. Already, available empirical studies on the extent to which diversification amongst farm households impact on assuring household food security have revealed mixed results and are silent on the gender consequences. Using World Food Programme’s 2012 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis survey conducted in northern Ghana and an ordinary least squares estimator, this study sought to examine how livelihood diversification contributes to household food security and subsequently validate its effect for male and female-headed farm households in the Bole district of the Northern region of Ghana. Results from the study revealed a significant positive relationship between livelihood diversification (the number of livelihood activities farm households engaged in) and household food security (household food consumption score). Whereas similar result was observed for male-headed households, that of female-headed households was insignificant even though positive. Following this, the study proposes a two-fold policy strategy for optimizing the impact of livelihood diversification on guaranteeing food security amongst farm households in the case study district in particular and northern Ghana in general. Firstly, support for boosting smallholder agriculture should be pursued rigorously, taking advantage of programmes such as the Savannah Plan for Accelerated Growth. Secondly, sustaining, up-scaling and re-orienting programmes such as Rural Enterprises Project and creating the policy milieu for farm households to explore local opportunities like eco-tourism should be mainstreamed, taking into account concerns of gender.

This case study analysis looks at four communities in Rift Valley, Kenya including Matisi, Moi’s Bridge, Sirende and Waitaluk. The research focuses on the role of markets in achieving food and livelihood security for the smallholders in these communities and smallholders’ perceptions of the roles of the Government of Kenya and other institutions in facilitating market access. The largest challenges to market participation, as reported by the smallholders in the studied communities, include low yields, weather inconsistencies, and lack of land. In terms of the Government of Kenya, many smallholders noted the benefits of participating in groups as they are subsequently offered training or field days and subsidies. A significant group of respondents did comment on their lack of interest in joining similar groups as they were seen as unstable or corrupt. The potential roles of formal and informal markets to increase food security were also analyzed. All smallholders wished to be participating in informal markets, but twenty-five percent were constrained by the lack of surplus produce. Similarly, although many reported their desire to be participants in formal markets lack of surplus produce, price fluctuations, inconsistent weather patterns, transportation costs and post- harvest losses or food waster were recognized as significant barriers. In order to mitigate these constraints, most smallholders recommended subsidies on inputs and the overall restructuring of markets. It is recommended that organizations and governments implement a livelihood diversification policy program or initiative to diversify and intensify agricultural activities and other non-agricultural activities. This case study analysis demonstrates the need to recognize the importance of local contexts, specifically Rift Valley as much of the research done in Kenya is found in Nairobi and surrounding areas and cautions labeling communities as food secure based on favorable conditions.

In the last century, many mobile pastoralists have transitioned to more sedentary lifestyles. Mobile people can be both pushed into a more settled existence by environmental or political forces, or pulled by new economic opportunities. While researchers have examined the causes and consequences of growing sedentarization, few contemporary studies have examined the patterns of settlement among mobile groups who are shifting to sedentary lifestyles and how these patterns may be related to socio-economic outcomes. This research examines settlement site selection by using GIS and remote sensing techniques to quantify settlement patterns in four Maasai villages in northern Tanzania, exploring the environmental and infrastructure correlates of settlement locations. A subset of these geographic variables is used with social survey data for 111 Maasai households in the study site to test the hypothesis that settlement location impacts livelihood strategies and economic outcomes by creating and constraining access to important resources and infrastructure. Landscape level evaluation of settlement pat-terns show that certain soil types limit occupation and the potential for agricultural expansion in 30% of the study area. Settlement density and existing agriculture are also clustered in certain parts of the landscape. The spatial models support the hypothesis that proximity to roads and village centers plays an important role in shaping overall settlement patterns. However, models that combine these factors with environmental and geophysical elements show improved explanatory performance, suggesting that competing factors are at play in influencing settlement patterns. Spatial models also indicate that agricultural development may be limiting land available for settlement in some parts of the study area. Results of the household level outcomes are more ambiguous, with few relationships between geographic variables and household livestock holdings, land under cultivation, annual income. Rather, these factors are influenced largely by demographic variables such as household size, age of the household head, and asset allocation. However, there appears to be less income diversity in households more distant from permanent water sources. / Master of Science

Marginal communities living in semi-arid Namibia face significant challenges in sustaining rural livelihoods due to environmental degradation and poverty. Research has shown that livestock farming depends on rain-fed agriculture among other things, thus making communal farmers vulnerable to climate change in the future. Given this, it often makes sense for farmers to sell their livestock and explore alternative livelihood options. However, farmers in northcentral Namibia are reluctant to sell their livestock despite a noticeable temperature increase and rainfall decrease over the past forty years. This study analyses the barriers to selling livestock in the face of a drought in the Omusati region of north-central Namibia. The study was carried out in three villages namely Omahanene, Okathitukeengombe and Oshihau, in the north-central Omusati region of Namibia. Household livestock distribution, perceptions of climate change, barriers to the sale of livestock and alternative livelihood strategies from other semi-arid regions were explored among 30 households using semi-structured household interviews and a systematic literature review. Results from the study indicate that 80% of communal farmers predict future droughts in the region and able to recall climate change through frequent droughts, increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall. Farmers claimed that these changes have affected their livestock numbers. However, several barriers including cultural beliefs, lack of financial security, access to information, lack of institutional support and lack of efficient markets hinder livestock sales. The study suggests that the imminent impact of climate change coupled with the reluctance to sell livestock will threaten food security in the future. The study argues that rural livelihood diversification strategies are critical to safeguarding sustainable livelihoods in the future, including those of communal livestock farmers specifically. Additionally, policy recommendations like access to credit through public and private funding, access to markets by providing transportation facilities, encouraging market participation by improving quality of grazing lands, increasing water availability, building veterinary facilities, employing extension officers and access to information through reliable channels can help build a sustainable future in the face of climate risks.

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This study aims to investigate the influence of livelihood strategies and gender structures for climate change adaptation among rural households in two mid-hills agrarian mountain communities in Nepal. The Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) framework has been used to provide a holistic and micro-level perspective of livelihood strategies. The method used was qualitative semi-structured interviews to reach respondents views, opinions and feelings of their reality and experiences. Findings suggest climate change may increase smallholder agriculture households’ vulnerability in rural mid-hills mountain areas of Nepal, where women as a group are disproportionately affected; the success of livelihood diversification as a autonomous adaptation strategy to climate change is dependent on local opportunities and socioeconomic aspects and must be understood in the broader context, not just related to climate change; and livelihood strategies do not necessarily present equal opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for men and women, as it may even increase existing structures of gender inequalities. / Den här studien syftar till att undersöka hushålls anpassningsstrategier och genus-strukturers betydelse för klimatförändringar, på landsbygden i två medelhöga bergssamhällen i Nepal. Ramverket hållbara uppehällen (Sustainable Livelihoods, SL) har använts i denna studie för att ge ett holistiskt- och mikronivå perspektiv på anpassningsstrategier för landsbygdshushåll. Kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer har använts för att nå respondenternas vardag och erfarenheter i form av tankar, känslor och åsikter. Studien visar att klimatförändringar förmodligen ökar småskaliga jordbrukshushålls sårbarhet i medelhöga bergssamhällen på landsbygden, där kvinnor som grupp påverkas oproportionerligt i förhållande till män; att diversifiering av uppehällen som anpassningsstrategi till klimatförändringar är beroende av lokala möjligheter och socioekonomiska aspekter och måste förstås i en bredare kontext utöver enbart klimatförändringar; att olika anpassningsstrategier inte nödvändigtvis skapar lika möjligheter för män och kvinnor, denna studie indikerar istället på att det kan öka redan existerande ojämställda strukturer mellan män och kvinnor i hushållet.

The electricity sector around the world is significantly changing towards the adoption of cleaner energy sources and its implementation through distributed generation technologies. The need to expand rural electrification to reduce energy poverty and the trends in decentralizing power generation are becoming major drivers of change. In Mexico, there are very few comprehensive studies on energy use and its impact on rural livelihoods. Energy studies in the development literature tend to analyze livelihoods that do not have access to modern energy services, and do not take into account that many rural communities, although connected to the grid, still may be considered energy poor. This research presents findings of current livelihood conditions of three rural communities in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, in the context of livelihood diversification and energy poverty. This paper also presents a feasibility study for the development of a community energy model that will fulfill energy and vegetable intake requirements for each community analyzed. Results show that these communities can potentially improve their livelihood conditions through the implementation of what this research calls a Community Integrated Sustainable Energy (CISE) model by reducing energy poverty and food insecurity. By adopting a CISE model, communities will become healthier by becoming supporters of energy conservation and energy efficiency strategies. The adoption of this community energy model will also encourage climate change mitigation by increasing resilience to vulnerable communities through enhancing food and energy security. The aim of this research is to inform stakeholders (including policy makers, urban planners, and community members themselves) of the current status of Chihuahua's communities and to start a dialogue in Mexico about engaging in a community-led, clean energy project that would generate electricity for those communities while preserving rural livelihoods.