This assessment explores the barriers to clean cooking among vulnerable communities in Chikhli slums, Nagpur, using a compounding vulnerability framework. Despite access to LPG connections, most households rely heavily on biomass due to affordability issues, cultural norms, and lack of awareness. Women, especially those in hazardous informal jobs, face severe health risks from continued chulha use. The report highlights the need for multifaceted policy interventions—ranging from targeted subsidies and IEC campaigns to land rights and localized LPG delivery—to support a just transition. It urges Nagpur Municipal Corporation to address intersecting socio-economic, gendered, and occupational vulnerabilities holistically.
Report-category: Gender & Climate
Social and Behaviour Change for Reducing Household Air Pollution Handbook for the Facilitator
This facilitator handbook is part of the Cleaner Air and Better Health (CABH) project and aims to reduce Household Air Pollution (HAP) in Jharkhand through community-led Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC). Designed for use with Self-Help Group (SHG) women, it outlines three interactive group meetings focused on HAP awareness, promoting clean cooking alternatives like LPG, and enabling economic empowerment. Activities such as conversation maps, flashcards, and games guide participatory learning. The handbook culminates in a community meeting to reinforce key messages and catalyse collective action, with a strong focus on inclusivity, behavioural change, and local ownership.
Women’s Health and Household air Pollution
Gender Just Transition – A Communication Toolkit
This policy brief examines how drought Early Warning Systems (EWS) in Maharashtra can be made more gender-transformative. Drawing from field research with women farmers in Dharashiv, it highlights how current EWS fail to reach or support women due to technological barriers and gendered social norms. Women bear disproportionate burdens during droughts but remain excluded from planning and decision-making. The brief recommends localised, accessible communication, women-led committees, integration of traditional knowledge, and better access to food, water, health, and livelihoods. It advocates for a feminist, inclusive EWS that centres women’s voices, builds resilience, and ensures equitable drought preparedness.
Working Paper | Framing the Gender and Just Transition Discourse in India Perspectives of Women from the Informal Economy Across India
Just transition is an emerging concept in India, and the understanding of how gender intersects with it is evolving. Our study aims to bridge this gap in the discourse on gender just transition by listening to the perspectives of women in the informal economy through a theme based listening tool. Globally, it is recognised that the transition to a green economy will have disproportionate adverse impacts on women across the value chain
– owing to their higher dependence on carbon-reliant economies for livelihoods and energy
consumption, lesser resources to adapt, disruption of livelihoods and forced displacement,
and increased burden of caregiving. Our findings reveal that women’s participation in the
energy transition is equally critical as they are an integral part of the workforce and as
caregivers are primary consumers of energy at the household level. But their participation
is limited by access to green skills, impact on health due to lack of timely and affordable
care and social safety nets given the informal nature of their work. The gender just transition discourse and policies in India will have to recognise the societal gender norms that limit women’s participation and decision making in the energy transition and a whole
systems approach is suggested as a way forward for framing and guiding policy on gen-
der-just transition in India.
Designing A Gender Transformative Drought Early Warning System – Perspective of Women Farmers from Dharashiv, Maharashtra
India faces acute vulnerability to climate-induced droughts, with regions like Marathwada in Maharashtra experiencing persistent and severe drought impacts. Despite advances in drought Early Warning Systems (EWS), these systems often fail to reach or serve the most affected populations—particularly women farmers—due to their heavy reliance on technology and lack of gender-responsive design.
This policy brief highlights findings from a mixed-methods study conducted in Dharashiv district, one of the most drought-prone areas in India. The study employed literature reviews, media analysis, and direct engagement with women farmers through focus group discussions (FGDs) and listening exercises. The goal was to examine existing EWS mechanisms, assess their gender responsiveness, and recommend actionable pathways to build a more inclusive and effective drought early warning system.
Key Findings:
- Disproportionate Impact on Women: Women bear the brunt of drought-related hardships—ranging from food and water insecurity to mental health issues and increased caregiving burdens. Their role as primary caregivers and household managers amplifies their vulnerability.
- Limited Access to EWS: Existing EWS—primarily reliant on mobile, television, and radio communications—fail to adequately reach women due to barriers like limited technological access, low literacy, and exclusion from community-level decision-making.
- Traditional Knowledge Undervalued: Women rely significantly on traditional and indigenous forecasting systems, which remain largely excluded from formal EWS frameworks.
- Barriers to Participation: Patriarchal norms, domestic responsibilities, and social perceptions restrict women’s involvement in drought preparedness planning, both at the household and community levels.
Recommendations:
- Localised and Inclusive Communication: Use community-based tools like temple speakers, SHG meetings, and women’s gram sabhas for timely, simplified drought warnings in local languages.
- Women’s Leadership in EWS: Institutionalise women’s participation in drought planning through village-level committees and representation in Gram Panchayat meetings.
- Strengthen Food and Water Security: Promote women-led food preservation, seed banks, and water storage infrastructure; enhance Public Distribution Systems with targeted provisions for vulnerable women.
- Support Livelihood Resilience: Improve women’s access to credit, employment (e.g., NREGS), and drought-resistant farming techniques; encourage bio-farming and local input generation.
- Enhance Health and Safety: Train frontline workers to address gendered health needs during droughts and provide safe spaces to counter rising gender-based violence.
- Media and Policy Engagement: Develop media toolkits and encourage coverage that centers women’s voices and links drought to broader climate change narratives.
This brief concludes that a gender-transformative approach to drought EWS—one that integrates women’s knowledge, addresses intersectional vulnerabilities, and ensures equitable access to warnings and resources—is not just inclusive but essential for building resilient farming communities.
Gender and Climate Change: A Climate Equity Vision for Now
The document titled “Gender and Climate Change: A Climate Equity Vision for Now” by Asar Social Impact Advisors, published on April 25, 2023, presents a framework addressing the intersection of gender and climate change in India. Recognizing that women, especially from marginalized communities, are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, the framework emphasizes the need for their inclusion in climate policies and decision-making processes.
Developed in two phases, the framework first identifies the root causes of gender inequalities linked to climate vulnerabilities and proposes strategies that integrate mitigation, resilience, and adaptation efforts. These strategies are aligned with national government schemes to ensure relevance and applicability. In the second phase, feedback from stakeholders working in gender and climate change was incorporated to refine the framework.
Central to the framework is the promotion of inclusive governance by integrating women and marginalized groups, particularly indigenous communities, into all levels of decision-making. It advocates for innovative capacity-building and empowerment measures, adopting a rights-based, transformative approach to achieve long-term inclusive governance.
This evolving framework aims to bolster women’s leadership and resilience against climate change, ensuring that their voices and experiences shape effective and equitable climate action.
Women’s Role in Inclusive Governance of Commons amid Climate Challenges – A Facilitator’s Guide
The relationship between gender, commons, and climate change in India is complex and deeply interconnected. Commons—shared natural resources like forests, water, and land—represent collective heritage and are vital for cooperation, sustainability, and resilience. Gender plays a critical role in this equation, particularly in the context of climate change.
Women are central to the conservation and management of commons. Their traditional knowledge, practices, and deep understanding of biodiversity and climate contribute significantly to local ecosystems. Women use commons for household needs and livelihoods, making them essential to food security and community wellbeing. Their experiences and insights are vital for developing innovative, community-based climate solutions.
Facilitator’s Guide Overview
Target Audience: Indigenous women from Koraput district, Odisha.
Objective: To empower community members—especially women—with knowledge and tools to understand the commons and the regulatory frameworks governing them in Odisha. This guide supports mapping of local commons and facilitates dialogue with stakeholders for improved governance and ecological outcomes.
Duration: 5 days (40 hours)
Rooted in Power – Women’s Grassroots Leadership and Climate Action in India
Climate change exacerbates existing gender inequities, with women from vulnerable and marginalized groups facing a harsher reality of climate-induced challenges. The broader discourse on climate, often technocratic and top-down, tends to overlook women and gender diverse identities, focusing instead on macro-level conversations centered around emissions, mitigation, and policy strategies.This leaves a significant gap in understanding the lived experiences of those who face the differential impacts of climate change and cope with the crisis despite limited resources.
Women are frequently portrayed as victims of the climate crisis, seldom recognized as active agents in mitigation and adaptation efforts. However, in India, countless women confront climate change daily, driving local solutions and building community resilience through their leadership. Rooted in Power: Women’s Grassroots Leadership and Climate Action in India is a graphic narrative series that aims to uncover such powerful stories of hope, resilience, and transformative leadership at the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Our first series narrates the following stories:
In Karnataka, Geetha and the remarkable women working with Hasiru Dala exemplify the critical role of waste pickers in mitigating climate impacts. Their story traces the journey of waste from our homes to landfills, revealing how small efforts can alleviate the hardships faced by thousands of waste pickers while highlighting their indispensable contribution to climate resilience.
In the narrow alleys of New Delhi’s slums, Rama, a former ASHA worker, leads a campaign against household air pollution. She tirelessly advocates for the adoption of cleaner cooking stoves, addressing an issue that increases the drudgery of thousands of women forced to rely on biomass due to financial and social constraints.
Janet, a writer, researcher, and artist from Bangalore, embarked on a journey along the Malabar coast, documenting the challenges faced by coastal communities deeply impacted by climate change. Her narrative sheds light on the lived realities of those on the frontlines, offering a poignant glimpse into the human face of the crisis.
In Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, Malan Raut, a determined farmer, practices the one-acre farming model championed by Swayam Shikshan Prayog. Despite recurring droughts and agrarian crisis, Malan has managed to secure a steady income for her family through climate-resilient agriculture, embodying resilience and innovation in the face of adversity.
From Odisha’s Koraput district, we share the inspiring tale of Malati and her community. With the support of NGO SPREAD, these women have developed a model for generating livelihoods from common lands, protecting them from private interests and environmental degradation. Their collective effort demonstrates the power of community-driven solutions in the fight against climate change.
Through these compelling stories, this graphic narrative celebrates the resilience, ingenuity, and strength of women actively addressing the climate crisis but rarely finding space in mainstream discourses on climate change. Their journeys are a testament to the power of grassroots action and the indomitable spirit of those who dare to make a difference.
Barriers to Access, Adoption and Sustained Use of Cleaner Fuels Among Low Income Households: An Exploratory Study from Delhi and Jharkhand, India
Household Air Pollution (HAP) combined with poor air quality is associated with several health hazards, posing a greater risk for women and children in low-income households across India. Burning biomass for cooking and heating is a major contributor to HAP and switching to cleaner fuels like LPG, can be effective for mitigating HAP. The government’s efforts to promote clean cooking fuels such as LPG through schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has increased the coverage, yet several barriers exist in access, adoption, and sustained use of LPG.
This exploratory study was undertaken to help understand the use and perceptions around biomass and LPG and capture the perceptions of household air pollution among low-income households. Ten focus groups and nine interviews were conducted in five urban slums of Delhi (both notified and non-notified bastis) and five in villages in rural Jharkhand. The study was carried out during the latter half of May and first half of June, 2022. The findings highlight that for the users, ease of access is more important than ease of use when deciding which fuel to use. Users’ perceptions regarding LPG, such as LPG being unsafe, food cooked on LPG being unhealthy and less tasty, combined with supply-side bottlenecks such as challenges in applying for and getting an LPG cylinder, lump-sum cash outflow during ordering refills for an LPG cylinder are some of the factors that act as a hindrance in its sustained use by women in low-income households.
This study was carried out for a specific intervention under the Cleaner Air and Better Health project, which is focused on transition to clean cooking fuels to reduce the exposure to household air pollution. The findings of this study will be used to recommend context level solutions and design pilot interventions with respective State governments that will help improve access to cleaner fuel for low-income households in India.
As part of the study, consultations were held with stakeholders in both Delhi and Jharkhand. In Jharkhand, dialogues and consultations were organized with members of the women Self Help Groups linked to the Jharkhand State Livelihoods Promotion Society (JSLPS), ward members, as well as members of civil society and NGOs working in the state, and specifically in the study district – Lohardaga. Similar process was followed in Delhi, where stakeholders in the community, such as anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, teachers, LPG distributors, community heads and opinion leaders
were consulted during the study.