In the flood-prone district of Chókwè, southern Mozambique, a group of women sit in a circle inside a modest flood refuge centre, exchanging ideas, taking notes, and challenging long-held gender norms that have excluded women from community decision-making. Among them is Paula Cossa, a community leader and active participant in the Women Climate Change Forum. For Cossa, these sessions represent more than sharing knowledge. They signal a fundamental shift in identity and responsibility.
A Gender-Transformative Response to a Region Under Pressure
Mozambique is highly vulnerable to climate shocks. In Chókwè, floods regularly displace families and deepen gender inequalities by increasing women's unpaid care responsibilities, disrupting their livelihoods, and limiting their access to productive resources and economic opportunities. Migration compounds the challenge: men and youth frequently leave to neighboring countries, leaving women to manage households, tend the land, and sustain family livelihoods alone, while extreme climate events continue to intensify.
That gap is what the Gender-Transformative Climate Resilience Project set out to address. With USD 950,000 in funding from the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), a multidonor trust fund hosted by the African Development Bank to support climate finance commitments and advances efforts to strengthen Africa's climate resilience. The project is being rolled out by Oxfam across Malawi and Mozambique to promote inclusive leadership, sustainable practices, and community-driven resilience through training, advocacy, and women-led platforms, including village savings and lending schemes.
The project's participatory training sessions, involving local partners, as well as Oxfam cover climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and financial literacy. Beneficiaries are subsequently able to apply organic methods, diversify their practices, and improve their harvests.
For Cleto Manjova, Programme Adviser at Oxfam Southern Africa, the ambition goes beyond skills. "We are not just transferring knowledge. We are creating a space where women can reflect, question, and take ownership of their role in climate resilience," he notes.
A Deeper Transformation
"Before, we depended mostly on our husbands. Now, we understand that we can also contribute financially and make decisions." -- Paula Cossa, community leader and member of the Women Climate Change Forum, Chókwè, Mozambique
The project has reached over 55,450 people, including 12,863 in Chókwè, where its impact extends well beyond agriculture. Women that were on the margins are now shaping community decisions, influencing processes that were traditionally male-dominated, and building greater economic independence.
"This project helped us a lot, because it changed our behavior from being dependent as women to having a voice as women," says Olga Domingos Manhía, one of its beneficiaries. Before, they used to say that a woman cannot do this, only the man should do it. But it changed us."
The social shifts are visible across the community; domestic violence, typically exacerbated by climate stress and economic pressure, is down.
"The situation of domestic violence has been observed a lot here in rural areas, but because of this project, these situations are decreasing little by little, more and more. Besides that, I see significant changes in the way agriculture is being practiced. Farming, which was previously done in a traditional way, is now being done with improved production techniques," observes Carlitos Mussica, Councillor for Social and Gender Affairs of the Municipality of Chókwè.
Mussica also sees a broader shift taking hold. "When communities are empowered with knowledge, they become partners in development," he says. This is essential for building long-term resilience."
Women as Decisionmakers
For the ACCF, this initiative reflects a core conviction that gender equality is not a side objective of climate action. It is central to it.
ACCF Coordinator Rita Effah affirms this, saying "Gender equality is central to climate resilience. When women are empowered, the entire community benefits."
In Chókwè, what began as a response to climate vulnerability is becoming a model for community-driven resilience, one where women are not just beneficiaries, but leaders shaping a more sustainable future.
