A systematic review of gendered access to climate information through community radio in Africa

Résumé

Introduction Community radio has been widely promoted as an accessible and inclusive medium for disseminating climate information. However, no systematic review has comprehensively synthesised evidence on gendered patterns of access, barriers, and enabling strategies across Africa. This review addresses that gap by examining how gender influences access to climate information through community radio and identifying factors that facilitate or constrain equitable access. Methods A systematic review protocol was developed before data collection, and the review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. Searches were conducted in ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Scopus for studies published between January 2015 and January 2025. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts using predefined eligibility criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklists appropriate to each study design, and inter-rater reliability was evaluated using Cohen's kappa. Data were synthesised thematically using Feminist Political Ecology as the interpretive framework. Results The search identified 9,617,716 records, of which 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. The evidence base was concentrated in West and East Africa, with no eligible studies identified from North Africa and only one from Central Africa (Chad), revealing substantial regional evidence gaps. Twenty-eight of the 33 studies reported that men had significantly greater direct access to climate information through community radio than women, who frequently relied on male relatives or social networks as intermediaries. Major barriers included restrictive gender norms limiting women's ownership of communication devices and mobility (reported in 27 studies), institutional biases in programme design (25 studies), time poverty resulting from unpaid domestic responsibilities (22 studies), and low levels of digital or general literacy (19 studies). Effective strategies identified across the studies included Radio Listener Clubs, participatory co-design of programme content, gender-responsive broadcast scheduling, and the integration of women's existing social networks into information dissemination. Discussion The findings demonstrate persistent gender inequalities in access to climate information through community radio across Africa. Addressing these disparities requires structural interventions that tackle underlying gendered power relations rather than relying solely on technical improvements in information delivery. Community radio has the potential to become a transformative tool for climate adaptation when women are engaged as co-creators of content and active decision-makers instead of passive recipients. Future research should prioritise longitudinal and intervention-based studies, expand evidence generation in underrepresented regions such as Central and North Africa, and adopt intersectional analytical frameworks to better understand the diverse experiences of women. Systematic Review Registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420261410142 .

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