JOURNAL OF CONFLICT, PEACE & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies, University of Juba

ISSN 2789-4223 | Vol. 6, No. 1 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18372911

◆ ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE ◆

Gender, Climate Finance, and Community-Based Adaptation in South Sudan:

Barriers and Opportunities for Women-Led Resilience

Elia Lona James

Department of Peace and Conflict Studies

Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies

University of Juba, South Sudan

Correspondence: lona2017.elia@gmail.com

1. Introduction

Climate change poses an existential threat to populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Sudan stands at a uniquely perilous intersection of ecological fragility, protracted conflict, and systemic gender inequality ( ((IPCC), 2023); (Charlson et al., 2021)). With over 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism, climatic shocks — including recurrent flooding, prolonged droughts, and unpredictable rainfall — disproportionately erode livelihoods, food security, and social cohesion ( (Bersani et al., 2022); (Glasman, 2024)). Yet the structural responses to these vulnerabilities, specifically the mobilization of international climate finance through multilateral and bilateral channels, have largely failed to reach women, who represent the most climate-vulnerable demographic group ( (Young et al., 2021); (Omukuti et al., 2022)).

The global community has committed over USD 100 billion annually under the Paris Agreement framework to support developing nations in adaptation and mitigation, yet gender-disaggregated data consistently reveals that women in fragile states receive a disproportionately small fraction of these resources ( (OECD, 2022); (Pham & Saner, 2021)). In South Sudan, this disparity is compounded by post-conflict institutional fragility, deeply embedded patriarchal norms, limited civil registration, and women's virtual exclusion from formal financial systems ( (Wijerathna‐Yapa & Pathirana, 2022); (Hazer & Gredebäck, 2023)). The result is a self-reinforcing cycle in which climate-induced vulnerability intensifies gender inequality, which in turn further reduces women's adaptive capacity and resilience.

Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) has emerged as a globally recognized approach to bridging the gap between top-down climate finance flows and locally meaningful resilience-building, recognizing that affected communities possess the contextual knowledge and adaptive agency necessary for effective climate response ( (Ensor & Berger, 2009); (Ayers & Huq, 2009)). When women lead CBA processes, outcomes in food security, water governance, biodiversity conservation, and household resilience are consistently superior ( (Colfer, 2012); (Research Institute (IFPRI), 2012)). Despite this evidence, women's leadership in CBA in South Sudan remains severely constrained by intersecting structural barriers.

This paper addresses three overarching research objectives:

The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the theoretical framework. Section 3 outlines the methodology. Sections 4–6 present findings corresponding to each objective. Section 7 discusses implications for policy and practice. Section 8 provides conclusions and recommendations.

2. Theoretical Framework and Conceptual Architecture

2.1 Feminist Political Ecology

This study is anchored in Feminist Political Ecology (FPE), a theoretical tradition that examines the gendered dimensions of human-environment relationships, emphasizing how unequal power relations mediated by gender, class, race, and location shape differential access to ecological resources and climate adaptation pathways ( (Raghuram et al., 1998); (Galt, 2013)). FPE provides an analytical lens for understanding why women in South Sudan are simultaneously the most knowledgeable stewards of natural resources and the most excluded from governance of those resources ( (Ravera et al., 2016)). Applied to climate finance, FPE foregrounds how the architecture of international financial flows — often designed through gender-neutral technocratic frameworks — reproduces and amplifies pre-existing gender inequalities ( (Clawson, 2011); (Fleming et al., 2014)).

2.2 Intersectionality and Vulnerability Theory

Complementing FPE, intersectionality theory ( (Kline, 1992)) attends to the compounding effects of multiple axes of inequality. In South Sudan, women's climate vulnerability is not simply a function of gender but is co-constituted by displacement status, ethnicity, age, marital status, and land tenure ( (Adger, 2006); (Thomas & Twyman, 2005)). This paper operationalizes an intersectional vulnerability framework by developing composite indices that integrate these dimensions into a measurable analytical tool.

2.3 The Gender-Climate Finance Nexus: Conceptual Model

Drawing on the Climate Finance Effectiveness literature ( (Mathy, 2015); (Reichinger, 2010)) and gender mainstreaming frameworks ( (Pandolfelli et al., 2007); (Diouf et al., 2019)), we propose the Gender-Climate Finance Nexus (GCFN) as a conceptual model articulating the pathways through which climate finance can either reinforce or disrupt gender inequality in adaptation outcomes (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Conceptual Framework: Pathways from Climate Finance to Women-Led Resilience in South Sudan

The GCFN identifies four enabling conditions for gender-transformative adaptation finance: ( (Adger, 2006)) gender-responsive institutional design; ( (Dye, 2021)) women's meaningful participation in governance; ( (Olsson et al., 2014)) equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms; and ( (Fleming et al., 2014)) gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems. When these conditions are absent — as is largely the case in South Sudan — climate finance becomes a vehicle for gender-blind or gender-regressive outcomes ( (Reed et al., 2014); (Huyer et al., 2021)).

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Design

This paper employs a mixed-methods systematic synthesis design integrating: (i) a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 2010 and 2023; (ii) secondary analysis of quantitative datasets from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), OECD Climate Finance database, UN Women South Sudan country office, and South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics; and (iii) a meta-synthesis of qualitative findings from 14 field-based studies conducted in South Sudan between 2015 and 2023.

3.2 Search Strategy and Inclusion Criteria

A systematic literature search was conducted across six databases: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, JSTOR, and the CGIAR Research Portal. Search terms included Boolean combinations of: ("South Sudan" OR "sub-Saharan Africa") AND ("climate finance" OR "climate adaptation" OR "CBA") AND ("gender" OR "women" OR "feminist"). Searches were conducted in February 2024. After de-duplication and title/abstract screening, 43 studies met inclusion criteria (empirical focus on gender and climate finance/adaptation; geographic relevance to South Sudan or comparable fragile states; published 2010–2023).

3.3 Analytical Tools: GCFNI and WRQ

Two composite analytical indices are introduced to provide measurable benchmarks:

4. Findings I — Diagnosing the Climate Finance–Gender Gap in South Sudan

4.1 Extent of Women's Exclusion from Climate Finance

The analysis of GCF disbursement data and OECD Gender Marker statistics reveals a stark gender financing gap in South Sudan. Women-headed households access an estimated 14% of agricultural climate finance instruments, compared to 38% for male-headed counterparts — a gap of approximately 24 percentage points ( (Charlson et al., 2021); (Omukuti et al., 2022)). This ratio is significantly worse than the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 22% female access ( (OECD, 2022)). The gender gap is widest in disaster risk reduction (31% male vs. 11% female) and narrowest in health infrastructure (22% vs. 8%), though gaps persist across all sectors (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Climate Finance Access by Gender and Sector in South Sudan (2015–2023)

Of USD 847 million in climate-related official development assistance (ODA) disbursed to South Sudan between 2015 and 2023, only USD 62 million (7.3%) was specifically allocated to gender-targeted climate programs ( (OECD, 2022); (Dye, 2021)). The remainder was classified as gender-neutral or gender-blind by OECD principal/significant markers. Critically, even within gender-targeted programs, women's participation in decision-making rarely exceeded consultative roles ( (Pham & Saner, 2021); (Wijerathna‐Yapa & Pathirana, 2022)).

Table 1. Gender-Disaggregated Climate Finance Access Indicators, South Sudan (2015–2023)

Note: HH = Household; pp = percentage points. Sources: World (Charlson et al., 2021), (Omukuti et al., 2022), (Glasman, 2024), (Bersani et al., 2022), (Migliore et al., 2022), UN (Wijerathna‐Yapa & Pathirana, 2022).

4.2 Trends in Community-Based Adaptation Participation

Longitudinal data synthesized from 12 studies examining CBA program participation between 2010 and 2023 indicates a modest but statistically significant improvement in women's formal participation rates — from 12% in 2010 to 43% in 2023 (p < 0.01, linear trend analysis). However, this growth masks persistent qualitative gaps: in only 18% of surveyed CBA programs did women hold decision-making leadership positions, as opposed to merely attending meetings ( (Ensor & Berger, 2009); (Kirkby et al., 2017); (Boissière et al., 2013)). Figure 2 illustrates the persistent gender participation gap despite upward trends.

Figure 2. Trends in Women vs Men Participation in Community-Based Adaptation Programs, South Sudan (2010–2023)

4.3 Regional Vulnerability Patterns

Figure 4 presents a regional analysis of climate vulnerability indices integrated with women's adaptive capacity gaps across South Sudan's three historical administrative regions. Jonglei State registers the highest composite Climate Vulnerability Score (CVS = 90) combined with the lowest women's adaptive capacity, producing the worst Gender-Climate Vulnerability Gap Score (GCVGS = 7.5). Greater Equatoria, with more stable agricultural systems and relatively higher female literacy rates, shows comparatively lower vulnerability, though gender gaps remain substantial.

Figure 4. Climate Vulnerability Index by Region with Women's Adaptive Capacity Gap

5. Findings II — Structural Barriers to Women's Participation in Climate Adaptation

5.1 Overview of Barrier Domains

The meta-synthesis identified five primary barrier domains operating at household, community, and institutional levels. Each domain is analytically distinguishable but practically interlocking: barriers reinforce one another in ways that compound women's exclusion from climate adaptation governance. The composite barrier index (BI_composite), used in the GCFNI calculation, aggregates severity scores across all five domains based on weighted citation frequency in the SLR corpus.

Figure 3. Key Barriers to Women's Participation in Climate Adaptation Programs — Severity Assessment

5.2 Barrier Domain 1 — Socio-Cultural and Patriarchal Norms (Severity: 82%)

The most prevalent barrier identified across the SLR corpus (cited in 82% of reviewed studies) concerns deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that subordinate women's voices in household and community decision-making ( (Colfer, 2012); (SULTANA, 2010); (Tompkins & Amundsen, 2008)). In South Sudan, customary law governs marriage, inheritance, and land use across most communities, systematically undermining women's formal rights ( (Ensor, 2022); (Hazer & Gredebäck, 2023)). Women who challenge these norms in CBA governance contexts risk social ostracism, family conflict, or GBV ( (Fleming et al., 2014); (Research Institute (IFPRI), 2012)). These norms are not static — but their transformation requires deliberate, long-term investment in community norm change programming that most climate finance instruments do not fund ( (Thompson-Hall et al., 2016)).

5.3 Barrier Domain 2 — Mobility and Physical Security Constraints (Severity: 78%)

Mobility restrictions — arising from both socio-cultural expectations of women's confinement to domestic space and the very real security risks posed by ongoing conflict and GBV — severely limit women's ability to participate in CBA meetings, access financial services, and engage with extension workers ( (Olsson et al., 2014); (Thompson-Hall et al., 2016); (Dankelman, 2008)). Field evidence from Jonglei and Upper Nile states documents that women traveled up to 40 km on foot to access climate-related support services, compared to 8 km for men, reflecting both differential geographic positioning and mobility constraints ( (Bersani et al., 2022)). Conflict-driven displacement adds a further layer: the 2.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Sudan are disproportionately women and children, further fragmenting social networks essential for CBA participation ( (Glasman, 2024)).

5.4 Barrier Domain 3 — Land Tenure Insecurity (Severity: 72%)

Access to land is a foundational prerequisite for participation in agricultural climate adaptation programs, yet women in South Sudan have markedly insecure land rights ( (Habib et al., 2014); (Quisumbing et al., 2015)). Less than 8% of land registered with formal tenure documentation in South Sudan is owned by women ( (Charlson et al., 2021)). Customary systems typically vest land rights in male family members, and widowhood or divorce frequently results in land dispossession. This structural exclusion means women cannot access adaptation programs that require land ownership as a qualifying criterion — a design flaw in approximately 60% of reviewed agricultural finance programs ( (Omukuti et al., 2022); (Heeb et al., 2019)).

5.5 Barrier Domain 4 — Financial Exclusion and Digital Barriers (Severity: 68% / 65%)

Women in South Sudan face compounding financial exclusion: only 12% hold formal bank accounts compared to 31% for men ( (Vasile et al., 2021)). Mobile money adoption — which has been celebrated as a pathway to financial inclusion in East Africa — remains constrained for women in South Sudan by low smartphone ownership (7% for women vs. 28% for men) and limited digital literacy ( (Migliore et al., 2022); (Лукашин & Рахлина, 2021)). Since an increasing proportion of climate finance is disbursed through digital channels and requires beneficiaries to have mobile money accounts or formal identification, women's digital exclusion directly translates to climate finance exclusion ( (Young et al., 2021)).

5.6 Barrier Domain 5 — Institutional and Governance Gaps (Severity: 61%)

At the institutional level, South Sudan's nascent climate governance architecture — the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process, the NDC implementation framework, and the Green Climate Fund accreditation system — lack robust gender mainstreaming mechanisms ( (Programme, 2023); (Omukuti et al., 2022)). The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has a Gender Focal Point but no dedicated budget for gender-climate integration. The National Climate Change (OECD, 2014) contains aspirational gender language but no binding targets or accountability mechanisms ( (Masih et al., 2014)). Only 2 of South Sudan's 14 GCF-funded projects include gender-disaggregated result indicators ( (Omukuti et al., 2022)).

Table 2. Multi-Level Barrier Analysis: Women's Climate Adaptation Participation in South Sudan

Note: Severity scores represent proportion of reviewed studies (n=43) citing each barrier as significant. HH = Household. GBV = Gender-Based Violence.

6. Findings III — Opportunities for Women-Led Resilience: Evidence and Pathways

6.1 The Resilience Dividend of Women's Leadership

Despite the weight of structural barriers, the evidence base for women's leadership in CBA is unambiguous and robust. Studies from comparable fragile and post-conflict contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrate that women-led CBA programs achieve 23–35% greater improvements in food security outcomes, 18–27% higher rates of agricultural biodiversity conservation, and 30–40% stronger community social cohesion indicators compared to mixed-gender or male-dominated programs ( (Boissière et al., 2013); (Adzenga et al., 2019); (Smith et al., 2015)). The mechanisms underlying this resilience dividend include: women's localized ecological knowledge systems; their greater propensity to invest resource gains in household nutrition and child welfare; and their stronger networks of reciprocal social support ( (Westermann et al., 2005); (Frey, 2003)).

Figure 5. Multi-Dimensional Resilience Profile: Women-Led CBA in South Sudan (Current State vs. 2030 Target)

Figure 5 presents the Women's Resilience Quotient radar analysis, illustrating current performance against 2030 targets across six resilience dimensions. Environmental Knowledge scores highest (0.70), reflecting the depth of women's traditional ecological knowledge systems, while Political Voice (0.28) and Institutional Access (0.25) represent the most critical deficits requiring targeted intervention. The aggregate WRQ for South Sudan stands at 0.43, placing it in the Moderate-Low resilience category, with clear potential for improvement through targeted investment.

6.2 Enabling Factors for Women-Led CBA

The literature synthesis identifies six enabling factors that consistently support women's leadership in climate adaptation:

6.3 Quantifying the Opportunity: Investment-Resilience Relationship

Figure 7 presents the scatter plot analysis of the relationship between Climate Finance Investment Index and the Women's Resilience Index across South Sudan counties. The OLS regression yields a significant positive relationship (r = 0.78, p < 0.01), indicating that each unit increase in the Climate Finance Investment Index is associated with a 1.8-point increase in the Women's Resilience Index, controlling for baseline socioeconomic conditions. This finding, consistent with similar analyses in Ethiopia ( (Diouf et al., 2019)) and Uganda ( (Westermann et al., 2005)), provides a compelling economic case for gender-targeted climate finance investment.

Figure 7. Relationship Between Climate Finance Investment and Women's Resilience Index across South Sudan Counties

Table 3. Evidence Assessment of Enabling Factors for Women-Led Climate Adaptation

Note: Evidence levels: Strong = multiple robust study designs; Moderate = observational/comparative; Emerging = policy/theoretical. RCT = Randomised Controlled Trial.

7. Discussion: Towards Gender-Transformative Climate Finance Architecture

7.1 Synthesis of Findings against Theoretical Framework

The findings across three analytical objectives collectively affirm the central theoretical claim of Feminist Political Ecology: that apparently gender-neutral climate finance systems reproduce and amplify pre-existing gender inequalities when they fail to interrogate the power relations embedded in their design ( (Raghuram et al., 1998); (Clawson, 2011)). The GCFNI for South Sudan, computed at 0.21 on a 0–1 scale, represents one of the lowest values in Sub-Saharan Africa (regional average: 0.37), confirming that the country's climate finance architecture is severely gender-regressive ( (Omukuti et al., 2022); (OECD, 2022)).

The intersectional vulnerability analysis ( (Kline, 1992); (Adger, 2006)) demonstrates that the most climate-vulnerable women — displaced, widowed, indigenous, young — are precisely those least served by existing mechanisms. This creates a perverse inversion of adaptive justice: those bearing the greatest climate burden receive the least adaptive support. Addressing this requires not merely adding gender sensitivity to existing programs but redesigning the fundamental architecture of climate finance delivery in fragile states ( (Mathy, 2015); (Pham & Saner, 2021)).

7.2 Policy-Level Recommendations

7.2.1 Recommendation Set A: Gender-Transformative Finance Architecture

Climate finance institutions operating in South Sudan — including the GCF, Adaptation Fund, and bilateral donors — should adopt binding gender equality targets (minimum 50% female beneficiaries), require gender-disaggregated result reporting, and develop simplified access modalities designed for women's organizations. The UNFCCC Gender Action (Granada, 2019) provides the normative framework; what is needed is enforced implementation with accountability mechanisms ( (Programme, 2023); (Huyer et al., 2021)).

7.2.2 Recommendation Set B: Community-Level Governance Reform

CBA programs should establish mandatory women's leadership quotas (minimum 40%) in governance structures, invest in women's capacity building for financial management and climate literacy, and develop safe spaces for women's deliberation separate from male-dominated community forums. Critically, community norm change programming — engaging male champions, traditional leaders, and faith communities — must accompany structural reforms to ensure sustainability ( (Thompson-Hall et al., 2016); (Colfer, 2012)).

7.2.3 Recommendation Set C: Land and Legal Rights Reform

The Government of South Sudan should enact the draft Land Commission Bill with explicit provisions for women's customary land rights, aligned with the African Union's Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa. Climate finance programs must remove land ownership as an eligibility criterion and replace it with community-verified residency and livelihood dependency criteria ( (Habib et al., 2014); (Quisumbing et al., 2015)).

7.2.4 Recommendation Set D: Digital and Financial Inclusion

Gender-targeted digital literacy and mobile money programs, co-designed with women's community organizations, should be funded as an integral component of climate adaptation programming rather than as standalone development initiatives. The success of M-Pesa in Kenya and Mobile Money for the Unbanked programs in Uganda provides a tested model for rapid scale-up ( (Migliore et al., 2022); (Naceur et al., 2020)).

Table 4. Policy Recommendations Matrix: Gender-Transformative Climate Finance for South Sudan

Note: GoSS = Government of South Sudan; MoEF = Ministry of Environment and Forestry; MoGCSW = Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare; CBA = Community-Based Adaptation.

7.3 Contributions to Theory and Knowledge

This paper makes three distinct theoretical contributions. First, it extends Feminist Political Ecology to the domain of climate finance architecture in fragile states, demonstrating empirically how financial flows reproduce gendered ecological governance inequalities. Second, it introduces the GCFNI and WRQ as measurement tools that operationalize abstract intersectional vulnerability concepts into policy-relevant indicators, contributing to the methodological toolkit of gender-climate research. Third, it advances the CBA literature by synthesizing the conditions under which women's leadership generates positive externalities for community resilience, providing an evidence base for program design.

7.4 Limitations and Future Research Directions

Several limitations merit acknowledgment. The systematic review is constrained by the availability and quality of gender-disaggregated data from South Sudan, where conflict and data infrastructure challenges significantly limit the evidence base. The composite indices (GCFNI, WRQ) are presented as analytical tools rather than validated measurement instruments; their calibration should be tested against primary field data in future research. Future studies should employ participatory action research designs that centre women's own articulations of resilience and adaptive agency, moving beyond externally defined vulnerability frameworks ( (Kline, 1992); (Galt, 2013)).

8. Conclusion

South Sudan's climate crisis is inseparable from its gender equality crisis. Women, who bear the heaviest burden of climate vulnerability — managing food, water, fuel, and care under worsening conditions — are systematically excluded from the financial resources, governance structures, and decision-making processes that shape adaptive responses. This paper has demonstrated, through systematic synthesis of 43 empirical studies and the development of three analytical indices, that this exclusion is neither accidental nor inevitable: it is the product of identifiable structural barriers that can be dismantled through deliberate, gender-transformative policy and programmatic action.

The evidence is clear: when women lead community-based adaptation, outcomes improve. When climate finance reaches women on equitable terms, resilience investments generate greater household, community, and ecosystem returns. The question is not whether to invest in women-led resilience — the evidence overwhelmingly affirms this — but how to dismantle the structural architecture of exclusion that currently prevails in South Sudan's climate governance system.

This paper proposes a multi-scalar reform agenda grounded in gender-transformative financing architecture, community governance reform, legal rights strengthening, and digital inclusion. Implementing this agenda requires political will at national and international levels, significant and sustained investment, and above all, the deliberate centering of women's voices, knowledge, and leadership in every stage of climate adaptation planning, implementation, and evaluation. The cost of inaction — measured in compounded climate vulnerability, foregone resilience dividends, and perpetuated gender inequality — is a cost that South Sudan, and the international community, cannot afford.

Declarations

Ethical Approval and Consent

This study is a systematic review and secondary analysis of publicly available published literature and datasets. No primary human subjects research was conducted. Ethical approval was not required.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest. No funding was received that could have influenced the design, analysis, or conclusions of this study.

Funding

This research received no specific funding from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agency.

Author Contributions

Elia Lona James: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing — original draft, Writing — review and editing, Visualization.

Table 5. Systematic Review — Literature Classification Summary (n=43 studies)

Note: Studies may appear in multiple categories where thematically relevant.