CARE’s Mudansa Kilimatica iha Ambiente Seguru (MAKA’AS) project aims to build the adaptive capacity of women and men in vulnerable households living in seven sukos in Liquiça District on two highly degraded watersheds. The project goal is to increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through improved water management and water resource protection, improved land management and agricultural practices and micro-to-meso level processes that support natural resource management at the watershed level. The project will be implemented by a consortium led by CARE with WaterAid and four local partners; Centro do Desenvolvimento da Economia Popular (CDEP), Naroman Timor Foun (NTF), Malaidoi, and Hafoun Timor Lorosae (HTL).

The Gender Analysis found that men and women often shared productive workload, although there were some gender specific activities such as fishing for men and seed storage for women. Men and women share the burden of agricultural work, coffee harvesting and caring for home gardens. However, in terms of the domestic or reproductive sphere there is generally little change from traditional gender roles where women care for children, cook and clean and pay attention to household food security. Men are starting to undertake some household tasks such minding children and collecting water but addressing the burden of work shouldered by women within the household is essential in order to enable them to participate in other community activities. Women’s and men’s roles mean they will be affected differently by climate change with women likely to be more concerned with the health and household food security impacts. Read More...