A gendered analysis of Cyclone Idai disaster interventions in Chimanimani district, Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

When disasters happen in the world, government departments and NGOs collaborate to support survivors through various interventions. Whether these interventions respond to the gendered impacts of these disasters is an area that has not been given adequate research attention. This paper provides a gendered analysis of the interventions targeted at Cyclone Idai survivors in Zimbabwe’s Chimanimani District. It draws from data generated through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key-informant interviews with cyclone survivors and representatives from government agencies and NGOs that provided humanitarian assistance in Chimanimani District. The study revealed that the interventions were implemented without comprehensively integrating gendered issues due to the absence of a clear gender responsive national policy framework for disaster management in Zimbabwe. The study recommends gender sensitive training to those who assist in distributing humanitarian assistance and the need to address gender-skewed responses caused by treating gender as synonymous with women.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyclone Idai
• gender
• Zimbabwe
• disasters

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the reviewers’ comments which added insightful and critical contributions to the different versions of this manuscript. We are also grateful to the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law for the small grant that supported the research done to produce this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Available at: http://www.worldvision.org [Accessed 18 October 2020].

2 The authors’ affiliated university ethics committee.

3 This the second biggest Pentecostal church in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa

4 This was prevalent and always the case.

5 Participants were referring to donations brought by Auxilia Mnangagwa, wife to Zimbabwe’s current President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

6 Available at https://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/progress/reports/v.php?id=42232&pid:223

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Sweden: [Grant Number N/A].