Women on the front line, communities in the lead: drought resilience takes root in Southern Africa

Across Southern Africa, drought is no longer an occasional shock — it is a recurring reality shaping landscapes, economies and daily life. 

As climate variability increases, pressure on land, water systems and rural livelihoods continues to grow. In Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Madagascar, the impacts are increasingly severe and they fall hardest on women and local communities who depend on land and natural resources to feed families and earn an income. 

In Madagascar, more than 9 million hectares (over 15 per cent of the country’s land area) are affected by drought, with some regions experiencing near-total crop failure during prolonged dry events. Mozambique faces frequent seasonal droughts that threaten food security for over 4 million people, particularly in its central and southern provinces. In Zimbabwe, recurring drought episodes have put nearly three million hectares of farmland at risk, with smallholder farmers and pastoralist communities most affected. Across these countries, drought disproportionately impacts women, who make up the majority of smallholder farmers, and other vulnerable groups dependent on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. 

Yet the story is not only about risk. It is also about opportunity: how these countries are designing gender-smart, community-led solutions that turn drought resilience into livelihoods, restore degraded land and protect food and income while advancing sustainable land management and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). 

A key shift is placing women and local communities at the center — not only as beneficiaries, but as leaders of resilient livelihoods and value chains. This means recognizing women’s role in managing farms, water and household food security while tackling the barriers they face in accessing land, finance, skills, markets and decision-making. It also means strengthening community institutions so local knowledge and priorities shape what resilience looks like on the ground. 

Another big change is using drought risk data together with economic and livelihood analysis to identify where resilience investments can create real opportunities. In practice, this helps countries move from broad vulnerability profiles to concrete ideas that match local realities: which landscapes are most at risk, which groups are most exposed, what options can reduce pressure on land and water, and which interventions can generate reliable incomes even during dry periods. 

Countries are also working to develop scalable investment ideas — from climate-resilient agriculture to water management — that can attract blended finance and align with national priorities. Examples discussed through this work include community-based water management that secures access during dry spells, climate-resilient agriculture that stabilizes yields, and women-led enterprises that diversify income while reducing vulnerability and restoring degraded land. These solutions are designed to be practical, locally anchored and capable of expanding beyond pilot sites. 

“Women and local communities are already on the front line of drought. When they lead the solutions — supported by secure land tenure together with access to finance and investment-ready plans — resilience becomes real: it protects food and incomes today and restores land for generations to come,” emphasizes Louise Baker, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. 

This work is being advanced through the Gender-Transformative Drought Resilience in Transition States in Southern Africa (GRDSA) Project, supporting Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to help countries prepare drought investment plans, strategies and pipelines. The GRDSA Project does not finance investments directly. Instead, it focuses on project preparation so countries can later mobilize additional public and private finance, building on existing national policies, drought monitoring systems and vulnerability assessments rather than duplicating them. National inception workshops held in 2025, alongside a regional exchange, helped set this work in motion. 

The project is financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Canada and implemented by the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD. 

Photography (c) : Global Water Partnership Southern Africa, Krees Raharison