Assessing Women’s Adaptation in Response to Floods in Karonga District, Malawi

In the face of perpetual flood hazards, adaptation becomes an unavoidable option. Globally, flood hazards have increased their frequency and severity; hence women with limited resources are often at a greater risk of the hazard's impacts due to a lack of access to crucial livelihood capitals. The study assessed women's adaptation strategies to respond to flood risks in Karonga District, Malawi. The study was a cross-sectional survey design employing quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative method collected data using a Household structured questionnaire, while the qualitative method collected data using a semi-structured questionnaire. The sampling technique for quantitative was probability simple random sampling to select the three villages and to select female-headed households from the three villages. The qualitative sampling technique used purposive sampling to choose KII and FDG participants intentionally. The sample size for quantitative was 120, calculated using the 2010 Fisher's formula; the target adoption rate was 9%. The sample size for qualitative data was 17 participants, five (5) from government departments, two (2) from nongovernmental organisations, two (2) traditional leaders and eight (8) members of FDG comprising some members of ACPC and VCPC. Quantitative data were analysed using R and Excel, while qualitative data was analysed using Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Miner 6.0. Results showed lower women participation in disaster training (12%), discussion participation (35%) and low proactive DRM actions (20%). Other results indicated higher participation in agriculture (62%). Bivariate statistical analysis with association significant at (p-value 0.05) was run, and results showed occupation influencing pre-flood actions (p-value=0.043). Bivariate statistics showed occupation to influence women's ownership and control of land (p-value=0.041), while education influenced women's participation in male-dominated activities (p-value=0.003). The study concluded that women in the area were less resilient to flood hazards due to their low-income levels and patriarchal system, which hindered their access to adaptive capacity domains like assets and agency. The study recommends that policymakers in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, as well as implementers, should set a clear Time frame to ensure an effective and efficient shift from a reactive to a proactive approach in DRR activities, which should also be gender inclusive.