Adikath Abiola is an agricultural economist who grew up in an urban area in Benin’s capital city, Cotonou. She holds the position of Officer in charge of the professionalization of cooperatives and professional organizations in Benin’s Ministry of Agriculture. She says that research exposed her to the realities of farmers in the rural areas, while working as a research assistant on a project on banana virus (BBTV-Mitigation project) and later during her PhD research on agricultural risks for banana farmers.

“It is from these surveys that I noticed that climate change is an important challenge for agricultural households especially in rural areas,” says Adikath.

She refers to a survey that demonstrated the impact of floods on banana farmers and drought on maize farmers whose yields were affected by erratic rainfall.

An AWARD Fellowship has been in her sight for a while, having applied for three years before finally getting selected after learning about the benefits from a colleague who was an AWARD Fellow.    “AWARD is a space where technical expertise and gender responsive action in the climate change field merge,” notes Adikath. Through the fellowship, Adikath hopes to gain more skills, build competencies on climate and be more involved in projects related to gender responsive actions.

“I want to build my leadership in designing policy and strategies that can help smallholder farmers as they are most affected by climate change,” says Adikath noting that women farmers are of particular interest.

She is also keen to build networks to elevate the vulnerable community voices through pushing for evidence-based policies to help policymakers build resilient rural communities. In addition, Adikath wants to strengthen her technical skills on climate change modeling to enhance her ability to find the best alternative options of climate resilience to benefit farmers.

One of Adikath’s highlights on climate change work was participating in a youth dialogue of adaptation action focusing on climate change and waste management. “It was very interesting especially as I used to do parttime work with an NGO working in rural areas, designing interventions on waste management and food security in relation to climate change issues,” explains Adikath. However, despite enjoying her work, she still experiences challenges.

“As a woman, it is difficult evolve and grow your career in a male-dominated field,” laments Adikath adding that combining professional and personal aspects of one’s life is also tricky. Adikath notes that is more challenging for women to establish visibility and build credibility.

“When they see a woman, they think she is not capable of doing some jobs.”

Funding for projects is also another challenge that she must contend with.

Through the AWARD Climate Action Fellowship, Adikath is confident that she will be able to enhance her leadership and communication skills to help counter some of the challenges aided by the support of her mentor.

“Mentorship is one of the best solutions to increase the visibility of women already on the path to access funding and gain representation in decision-making,” she adds.

Adikath Abiola is one of a growing number of Fellows in the CLARE-funded Fellowship on accelerating African women’s leadership in climate action. Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) is a flagship research programme on climate adaptation and resilience, funded mostly (about 90%) by UK Aid through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and co-funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. CLARE is bridging critical gaps between science and action by championing Southern leadership to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the UK government, IDRC or its Board of Governors. Learn more about CLARE