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On 1 November 2025, the Youth Alliance for Agroecology and Climate held its second YAAC Talk, dedicated to the theme “Women, knowledge and agroecology: at the heart of sustainable climate adaptation.”
For more than two hours and thirty minutes, women leaders, changemakers and environmental advocates came together to share their experiences, their obstacles and their vision.
Knowledge that is already there
The session pushed back against a common assumption in climate programming: that adaptation techniques must be imported. Across the continent, women farmers already hold detailed knowledge of seed selection, soil cover, water management and crop association — knowledge built over generations and refined season by season.
What is missing is not expertise. It is recognition, land rights and access to finance.
Recurring themes
- Seed sovereignty. Control over local varieties is control over the ability to adapt.
- Time poverty. Adaptation work is unpaid work, and it lands disproportionately on women.
- Transmission. Knowledge that is not documented and taught is one generation away from disappearing.
The conversation ended on a concrete commitment: to document these practices and feed them into YAAC’s training programmes.