Flavia Amayo

Adaptation to climate change: Gender relations and the decisions of smallholder women farmers in Uganda

Supervisors Professor Fiona Nunan and Dr Merisa ThompsonFlavia Amayo

Flavia Amayo’s doctoral research is about climate change adaptation decisions of smallholder women farmers in Uganda. She aims to generate in-depth evidence on how adaptation decisions of smallholder women farmers are influenced by gender relations. Using qualitative research approach and participatory methods, Flavia seeks to understand the different adaptation decisions that smallholder women farmers make and how the manner in which males and females relate with respect to resources, responsibilities and power contributions to those decisions. Through interacting with smallholder women farmers, these will be comprehended based on their experiences, perceptions, and observations.

Flavia’s research interests are:

  • agriculture
  • climate change
  • gender
  • natural resources – land and water
  • sustainable livelihoods
  • food security
  • rural development

Qualifications

  • MA Development Studies, Uganda Martyrs University (Distinction)
  • BA Uganda Christian University (First Class Honours)

Biography

Flavia was awarded Commonwealth Scholarship in 2020 to pursue doctoral studies in International Development Department (IDD) at the University of Birmingham. She has been teaching in the Department of Development Studies at Makerere University since 2016. Previously, she taught at Uganda Martyrs University and Kumi University. She has also been engaged in research. In 2019, Flavia was awarded a grant by the Government of Uganda through Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (MAK-RIF) to implement a project entitled ‘Farming techniques and livelihood sustainability of rural women in Eastern Uganda’. This project aimed to understand how farming techniques utilised by women links to sustainable livelihoods. From 2018 – 2021, she was involved in a longitudinal study which sought to understand the challenges that people face in accessing water and land in rural Uganda in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, UK.

Moreover, Flavia also works with farmer groups and women and have engaged in research that concern with women’s access to micro credit and the transformation of financial assistance into improved wellbeing.

Conference Papers

Climate change adaptation: Do gender relations enable or disable the decisions of smallholder women farmers in Uganda Fifteenth International Conference on climate change: Impacts and Responses (2023) Vancouver, Canada

Livelihood assets and adaptation to climate change: Experiences of Women Farmers in Eastern Uganda. Economic and Social Research Council: Midlands Graduate School - Doctoral Training Partnership (2021) University of Birmingham, UK

Impact of Climate Change on Food security in Uganda. National Conference on the Advancement of Geography for Sustainable Development (2015) Mkwawa University College, Tanzania

Publications

Amayo, F. et al. (2021) ‘Farming methods and the livelihood outcomes of women in Eastern Uganda’, Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, 13(3), pp. 182–191. doi:10.5897/JAERD2021.1249.

Research Interests

  • Agriculture
  • Climate change
  • Gender
  • Natural resources – land and water
  • Sustainable livelihoods
  • Rural development.
Email: fxa989@student.bham.ac.uk