Effect of Institutional Support for Climate Change Adaptation on Gender Roles among Maasai Communities in Laikipia North Sub- County

Kaiyongi K Elizabeth – Institute of Women and Gender Studies

Susan Njogu – Institute of Women and Gender Studies

Shadrack Cheplogoi – Department of Agricultural Education and Extension

Egerton University, Kenya

Email: elizabeth.kaiyongi@gmail.com

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of institutional support for climate change adaptation on gender roles among Maasai communities in Laikipia North Sub-County. The study adopted a mixed-method research design. The target population comprised 1,469 respondents, including self-help groups, community institutions, government bodies, and NGO/CBO representatives. A Sample size of 147 was drawn, a combination of purposive and cluster sampling techniques was used to select respondents. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGDs). The study evaluated content, construct, and face validity to ensure that the questionnaires and FGD guides accurately captured the targeted information and aligned with the research objectives. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were applied to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that households receiving institutional support were more likely to agree that such support improves women’s access to productive resources (M = 3.87, SD = 1.04) than those without support (M = 3.31, SD = 1.22), t (106) = 2.56, p = 0.012. This demonstrates that institutional interventions produce measurable, statistically significant improvements in resource access beyond household efforts. The study concluded that institutional support is the most gender-transformative of the three adaptation strategies examined, generating the largest gains in women’s decision-making, joint household governance, and resource access. However, its reach remains limited to about half of households and performs poorly on workload reduction, constraining its transformative potential. Government agencies, NGOs, and community institutions such as self-help groups should expand coverage through mobile-extension models and peer-network outreach in remote pastoral wards while integrating labor-saving support into their programming.