Abstract This article examines how vocational skills-based interventions shape resilience pathways among women and youth in climate-vulnerable regions of Zimbabwe, drawing on qualitative evidence from Matabeleland North and South. Using a phenomenological approach combined with resilience storytelling, the study analyses how participants mobilise skills, networks, and resources to respond to drought and Covid-19- related shocks. The findings show that vocational skills strengthen absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities in distinct ways. While skills enable coping and livelihood diversification, their ability to support sustained poverty reduction is uneven and shaped by structural constraints such as access to capital, labour markets, and gender norms. Youth were more likely to leverage skills for labour mobility and diversification, while women’s pathways were more locally anchored and shaped by collective organisation and care responsibilities. The study argues that vocational training contributes to resilience but requires supportive economic and institutional environments to enable inclusive and transformative outcomes.
Keywords vocational skills, youth, women, resilience capacities, drought, Covid-19, Zimbabwe.
When droughts or floods hit, prices rise, harvests fail, and the people with the least room to manoeuvre (often women and young people) are the first to feel it and the last to recover (Djoudi et al. 2016; UN Women 2020). In response, a growing body of research suggests that vocational and skills-based training can strengthen climate resilience by enabling people to diversify livelihoods beyond rain-fed agriculture. However, in many low‑income and crisis-affected economies, livelihood diversification reflects risk management under constraint rather than pathways to accumulation or poverty escape. Studies across sub-Saharan Africa have shown that households frequently engage in multiple low-return activities as a way of spreading risk and stabilising consumption rather than building sustained economic mobility (Ellis 2000; Loison 2015). In such contexts, skills training may enable adaptation and diversification without necessarily overcoming structural barriers to income growth.
Moreover, among groups who do engage in livelihood diversification, we still know too little about how these resilience benefits differ between different categories of women and youth, and especially how poverty status shapes who is able to turn new skills into real economic progress. Both ‘women’ and ‘youth’ are heterogeneous social groups whose experiences of climate vulnerability and economic opportunity are shaped by intersecting factors such as poverty status, gender norms, access to assets, and labour market opportunities (Kabeer 2012; Shepherd et al. 2013).
This tension is particularly relevant in Zimbabwe, where economic contraction, climate variability, and prolonged macroeconomic instability have significantly constrained labour markets and rural livelihoods. Recent research on poverty dynamics in Zimbabwe highlights the structural persistence of poverty, with between 49 and 61 per cent of households estimated to have been chronically poor between 2011 and 2017, and only a small minority managing to escape poverty during this period (Bird et al. forthcoming). These findings suggest that while households frequently diversify livelihoods and experiment with new economic activities, such strategies often operate within conditions of limited accumulation and high vulnerability (Scoones et al. 2012).
The rest of the article is structured as follows. Section 2 presents a review of the literature on skills training and climate resilience, with a focus on women and youth. Section 3 then introduces the conceptual framework guiding the analysis. Section 4 outlines the Zimbabwean context, Section 5 describes the methodology, Section 6 presents the findings, and Section 7 concludes with key implications.
The rest of the article is structured as follows. Section 2 presents a review of the literature on skills training and climate resilience, with a focus on women and youth. Section 3 then introduces the conceptual framework guiding the analysis. Section 4 outlines the Zimbabwean context, Section 5 describes the methodology, Section 6 presents the findings, and Section 7 concludes with key implications.
Access to vocational training and its benefits is shaped by gender and social inequality. Women’s adaptation strategies are often constrained by unequal access to resources, decision-making power, and institutional support (Djoudi et al. 2016). Climate change further deepens existing inequalities, particularly for women who already experience constrained access to land, capital, and political voice. In rural contexts, women’s adaptation strategies often depend on access to skills, finance, and supportive social networks, yet these pathways are rarely supported at scale by formal policy or training systems (UN Women 2020). Indeed, while women are frequently identified as vulnerable in climate strategies, their potential as active agents of adaptation is often overlooked.
There is thus need for gender-sensitive approaches in climate education and skills development, given the risk that training programmes that ignore power relations may reinforce existing inequalities (Tanner and Seballos 2012). Part of the challenge is that structural barriers within labour markets, financial systems, and social institutions often limit the returns women can obtain from skills, capital, and entrepreneurship (Kabeer 2012; Chant and Sweetman 2012). This highlights the importance of understanding resilience not only in terms of individual capabilities but also in relation to the institutional and structural conditions shaping gendered economic opportunity.
Within Zimbabwe and the broader Southern African region, scholars have also long pointed to the structural marginalisation of youth in agricultural and rural development policy. Rietveld et al. (2026) highlight that traditional farming systems and agricultural extension models often fail to resonate with young people, who increasingly seek alternatives to agrarian livelihoods. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2013) situates youth marginalisation within deeper historical and political processes that have limited economic opportunities in regions such as Matabeleland. This literature relatedly suggests that vocational training as a solution is most effective when it responds directly to young people’s economic realities and ambitions. At the same time, as with women, youth vulnerability is shaped by limited participation in programme design and decision-making (Adaptation Fund 2022).
Moreover, the context of economic opportunities may be constrained; small enterprise development in low-income contexts often occurs within highly saturated and competitive markets, with many informal businesses generating limited returns, reflecting survival-oriented strategies rather than pathways to sustained economic growth (Berner, Gomez and Knorringa 2012; Meagher 2018). In such contexts, skills training may expand the range of activities individuals can undertake but does not necessarily overcome structural constraints such as limited demand, restricted access to finance, and weak labour markets.
While the literature on gender and on youth provide important insights into vulnerability and adaptation, these bodies of work often treat women and youth as separate analytical categories. As a result, the specific experiences of young women are sometimes insufficiently examined. Young women frequently occupy an intersectional position where gendered constraints related to land access, care responsibilities, and social norms interact with age-related barriers such as limited access to capital, employment opportunities, and participation in decision-making processes (Djoudi et al. 2016). This intersection of gender and youth can shape livelihood opportunities and resilience strategies in distinctive ways, influencing both access to opportunities and exposure to risk (Thorsen, Glover and Cabral 2024). Recognising young women as both agents and subjects of structural constraint therefore requires a more nuanced understanding of how resilience capacities are shaped by overlapping social inequalities.
Despite this growing literature, important gaps remain. In particular, there is limited empirical work examining how vocational skills training interacts with structural economic constraints to shape differentiated resilience outcomes among women and youth in highly climate-vulnerable regions. Much of the research discusses resilience in broad terms without clearly distinguishing between different types of resilience capacities or examining how these operate differently for women and youth. In addition, relatively little work explicitly examines how vocational skills training interacts with wider political-economic conditions, including weak labour demand, macroeconomic instability, and saturated informal markets (Sumberg et al. 2021). These conditions are particularly relevant in countries such as Zimbabwe, where prolonged economic crisis and climate stress intersect to shape livelihood opportunities or constrain longer-term, poverty-reducing transformation (Diwakar 2026).
Additionally, existing studies rarely disaggregate resilience outcomes by poverty status, age, or gender. As a result, it remains unclear why some individuals can translate skills into sustained economic progress while others remain confined to survival-oriented strategies. This article responds to these gaps by examining vocational skills-based resilience pathways through a differentiated lens that considers gender, youth status, and poverty. By grounding the analysis in absorptive, adaptive, and transformative resilience capacities, the study moves beyond general claims about skills training to explore how different forms of resilience are built, who benefits from them, and under what conditions they contribute to sustained poverty reduction in climate-vulnerable contexts.
Resilience is commonly understood as the capacity of individuals, households, or systems to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses while maintaining or improving their wellbeing (Folke et al. 2010; Béné et al. 2014). This article is grounded in a resilience framework that conceptualises resilience as the capacity of individuals and households to respond to shocks through absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities (Folke 2006; Béné et al. 2012). These categories are widely used in climate and development literature to distinguish between short-term coping mechanisms, medium-term adjustments, and longer-term structural change in livelihoods and wellbeing.
Absorptive capacities refer to the ability to withstand and cope with shocks without fundamentally altering livelihood structures. In many climate-vulnerable contexts, these capacities often include temporary coping strategies such as migration, reliance on social networks, remittances, and informal income-generating activities. Social networks and kinship-based support systems can be effective in managing idiosyncratic shocks affecting individual households. However, in the case of covariate shocks, such as widespread drought, inflation, or pandemic disruptions, many households are affected simultaneously. Under such conditions, the capacity of social networks to smooth income and consumption becomes significantly constrained, as fewer actors have surplus resources available to share.
Adaptive capacity generally refers to the ability of individuals or households to adjust livelihood strategies, resource use, and economic activities in response to changing environmental and economic conditions (Folke et al. 2010; Béné et al. 2014). Research on gender and climate adaptation emphasises that women’s adaptive capacities are often shaped by unequal access to land, finance, and decision-making power (Djoudi et al. 2016), while studies on youth highlight constraints related to labour market access, capital, and participation in economic decision-making (Mukwashi et al. 2024). Adaptive capacities involve adjustments to livelihood strategies that allow individuals to better manage future shocks. The ability of households to move from absorptive coping to adaptive strategies is strongly shaped by their initial conditions, including asset ownership, education levels, access to capital, and social position. Households with stronger asset bases and capabilities may be better positioned to experiment with new livelihood strategies and invest in skills development, while poorer households may remain confined to short-term coping strategies due to resource constraints and risk exposure.
Transformative capacities refer to changes that fundamentally alter people’s livelihood trajectories and their position within economic and social systems. In this article, transformative capacity is most clearly associated with vocational and technical skills development that enabled participants, particularly youth, to move beyond subsistence-oriented activities and access highervalue labour markets and entrepreneurial opportunities. For the purposes of this analysis, transformation is understood as changes that generate sustained improvements in livelihood security and economic positioning. This may include stable income growth, asset accumulation, reduced exposure to climate-sensitive livelihoods, or increased bargaining power in labour and product markets. However, transformation should not be assumed simply from livelihood diversification or engagement in small enterprises. In many cases, individuals may diversify into multiple low-return activities that improve coping capacity without fundamentally altering poverty trajectories. Moreover, for women, transformative outcomes may be uneven, constrained by adverse gender norms, care responsibilities, and weak access to capital.
This article examines how different groups build and benefit from resilience capacities in unequal ways. By using absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities as an organising lens, the study links vocational skills development to broader questions of poverty reduction and climate resilience. It argues that while coping and adaptation are essential in the face of repeated shocks, transformative, skills-based interventions are critical for enabling more durable and inclusive resilience outcomes for women and youth living in highly vulnerable contexts.
Zimbabwe is among the countries in Southern Africa most exposed to climate variability, with rising temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall patterns intensifying drought frequency and severity. Over the past century, average temperatures have increased by approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius, with significant implications for rain-fed agriculture and rural livelihoods. An estimated 70 per cent of rural households are exposed to climate-related shocks, with droughts posing a particularly severe threat to food security and income stability (Bird et al. forthcoming).
These climate pressures interact with wider structural challenges including prolonged macroeconomic instability, high unemployment, and declining formal labour markets (Scoones 1996). Over the past two decades, repeated economic crises, inflationary pressures, and constrained public investment have significantly limited livelihood opportunities, particularly in rural regions (World Bank 2021; Bird et al. forthcoming; Chirau, Nkambule and Mupambwa 2014). As a result, households increasingly rely on diversified livelihood strategies, informal economic activities, and migration to manage risk and sustain basic consumption. Within this national context, Matabeleland North and South stand out as some of the most climate-vulnerable and socioeconomically marginalised regions in the country. Located in south-western Zimbabwe, Matabeleland is characterised by low and highly variable rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and frequent crop failure. Livelihoods in the region are heavily dependent on agriculture, yet the ecological conditions make agricultural production highly uncertain (Scoones et al. 2012; World Bank 2021). Environmental degradation has further intensified vulnerability through increased runoff, flash flooding, and siltation of rivers and dams, reducing the reliability of water resources for both farming and domestic use. Many smallholder farmers rely almost entirely on rain-fed production, which increases exposure to rainfall variability and climate shocks (Bird et al. forthcoming).
Historical and political factors have also shaped the region’s vulnerability. Matabeleland has experienced persistent underinvestment in infrastructure, markets, and development services relative to other parts of the country. This structural marginalisation has constrained local economic opportunities and reinforced patterns of poverty and out-migration, particularly among young people. As a result, migration, both internal and cross-border, especially to South Africa, has become a common livelihood strategy, reflecting both economic necessity and limited local employment prospects (Nhapi 2022).
Women and youth in Matabeleland experience these climate and economic pressures in distinct and often unequal ways. Women’s engagement in agriculture is constrained by limited access to land, productive inputs, and decision-making power at household and community levels. In many rural areas, women gain access to land primarily through marriage and typically hold use rights rather than autonomous ownership (Jacobs 2000; Munemo, Manzvera and Agbelie 2022). These rights can become insecure following divorce, separation, or widowhood, which may influence women’s willingness and ability to invest in agricultural production (Kabeer 2012; UN Women 2020). Cultural norms frequently restrict land ownership until marriage, while unpaid care responsibilities further limit women’s time and mobility (Goebel 2005).
Young people similarly face barriers to land access and capital, often remaining economically dependent within extended family structures well into adulthood (Thorsen et al. 2024). These constraints reduce their incentives to invest in agriculture and contribute to widespread perceptions of farming as an unattractive or unviable livelihood option (Mukwashi et al. 2024; Rietveld et al. 2026). It is within this setting that vocational skills‑based initiatives have emerged as a potential pathway for strengthening resilience among women and youth, particularly by expanding livelihood options beyond climate-sensitive agriculture.
This study adopted a qualitative phenomenological research design to explore how women and youth perceived and experienced vocational skills training as a pathway to resilience in contexts of climate stress and wider economic disruption. Phenomenological research seeks to understand how individuals interpret and make sense of their lived experiences within particular social and environmental contexts (Creswell and Poth 2018). A phenomenological framework was particularly appropriate because it centres participants’ lived experiences and the meanings they attach to drought, livelihood shocks, and skills development in shaping their responses to these challenges.
The research was conducted in the Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces of Zimbabwe, focusing on the districts of Lupane, Nkayi, Bubi, Umguza, Umzingwane, Insiza, and Matobo. These districts were selected because they were programme implementation sites within a United Nations Development Programme-supported resilience initiative implemented between 2017 and 2022, which aimed to strengthen household resilience through vocational skills development and livelihood diversification among vulnerable populations.
Data was collected using a resilience storytelling approach embedded within the broader phenomenological framework. The resilience storytelling approach focuses on narrative accounts describing how individuals, households, or communities mobilise resources and capacities to respond to shocks within contexts of structural constraints and opportunity. Central to this approach is the concept of differential vulnerability, which recognises that people experience shocks and stresses in unequal ways depending on their levels of exposure, sensitivity, and access to resources shaped by factors such as poverty, gender, age, and asset ownership.
In this study, resilience storytelling was used to document how participants experiencing different levels of exposure and sensitivity to climate and pandemic-related shocks mobilised skills, networks, and resources to construct absorptive, adaptive, or transformative resilience pathways. Data collection therefore combined in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and observational methods. A total of 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with women and youth aged between 15 and 35 years who were engaged in vocational skills initiatives, agriculture, small businesses, and community-based organisations. Participants were purposively selected to ensure diversity in gender, age, livelihood activities, and varying levels of engagement with the resilience programme. Table 1 summarises the distribution of participants by gender, age group, and data collection method.
Focus group discussions were held in each district with groups of six to eight participants enabling collective reflection on experiences of climate shocks, economic instability including the Covid-19 pandemic, and vocational training initiatives. These discussions generated insights into shared challenges, community dynamics, and livelihood aspirations. In addition, observational data was collected to examine participation patterns and levels of engagement in vocational training programmes and agro-based resilience activities including attendance levels, expressions of interest, and patterns of sustained involvement. All interviews and discussions were transcribed and analysed using inductive thematic analysis, with key nodes relating to livelihood shocks, coping strategies, skill utilisation, and livelihood diversification. Emerging themes were then interpreted in relation to the study’s analytical framework of absorptive, adaptive, and transformative resilience capacities, enabling the identification of different resilience pathways among participants.
It is important to note that the qualitative design of the study does not aim to establish causal attribution between programme participation and specific livelihood outcomes. Rather, the research seeks to understand how participants themselves interpret the role of vocational skills training within the broader economic, climatic, and social conditions shaping their livelihoods. This interpretive approach recognises that livelihood trajectories are influenced not only by programme interventions but also by wider structural factors such as labour market conditions, climate variability, and macroeconomic instability.
It is important to note that the qualitative design of the study does not aim to establish causal attribution between programme participation and specific livelihood outcomes. Rather, the research seeks to understand how participants themselves interpret the role of vocational skills training within the broader economic, climatic, and social conditions shaping their livelihoods. This interpretive approach recognises that livelihood trajectories are influenced not only by programme interventions but also by wider structural factors such as labour market conditions, climate variability, and macroeconomic instability.
6.1 Absorptive capacities: coping, survival, and short-term resilience
Absorptive capacities were most visible in the strategies that women and youth used to cope with immediate livelihood disruptions caused by drought and the pandemic. These strategies enabled households to withstand shocks and stabilise basic consumption, but they largely functioned as short‑term survival mechanisms rather than pathways out of poverty. In this sense, absorptive strategies primarily served to buffer households against immediate crises rather than fundamentally altering underlying livelihood structures or economic vulnerability. These patterns reinforce the distinction between absorptive resilience and longer-term adaptive or transformative change, highlighting how coping mechanisms can stabilise livelihoods without necessarily altering structural conditions of poverty.
Outbound migration emerged as one of the most significant absorptive strategies, particularly among young men compared to older men or young or older women. Although the programme initially sought to retain young people within their communities, many participants viewed migration, especially to South Africa, as a more reliable way of sustaining household livelihoods. As one young man explained, ‘My family benefits more from my remittances than if I try to be employed in Zimbabwe, whose market is small and has no capacity to absorb me’ (INT4, young man, Matabeleland South). Vocational skills acquired through the programme were perceived by many young men to enhance competitiveness in external labour markets, particularly in construction, hospitality, food and beverage services, and other semi-skilled sectors. In this sense, skills training strengthened absorptive capacity by enabling youth to respond to economic stress through labour mobility and remittance flows. Migration therefore represented a form of resilience built through labour mobility rather than through the creation of new local economic opportunities.
However, while remittances supported household consumption and reduced immediate vulnerability, they did not necessarily alter the underlying structural conditions that reproduce poverty and dependence on external labour markets. For young women, absorptive strategies were more locally anchored and relied heavily on informal economic activities and social networks. Women focused on small-scale income generation, food processing, and community-based support systems to ensure household survival during periods of stress. These strategies reflected gendered constraints related to mobility, care responsibilities, and access to resources. Women’s coping strategies were therefore shaped not only by climate shocks but also by structural gender inequalities that limited access to land, capital, and formal employment opportunities. Younger women were often more disadvantaged in terms of access to these assets and opportunities. Moreover, while such coping mechanisms were essential for food security and daily household functioning, they remained closely tied to precarious and low‑return economic activities, limiting their potential to generate sustained poverty reduction.
The pandemic intensified the importance of absorptive strategies. Movement restrictions and market disruptions forced participants to seek immediate alternatives to protect household livelihoods. Youth participants described relying on short-term opportunities such as producing and selling masks, hand sanitisers, and hygiene products during the early stages of the pandemic. One participant explained, ‘We survive by trying different things and supporting each other where we can’ (INT12, woman, Matabeleland North). Although these activities were temporary and eventually declined due to market saturation, they illustrate how participants mobilised available skills and resources to absorb sudden economic shocks. These examples illustrate how vocational skills enabled rapid responses to crisis conditions, but the resulting economic activities were often temporary and highly sensitive to shifts in demand. Similarly, young and older women alike relied on local networks and informal trade to maintain access to food and essential income.
Across both women and youth, absorptive strategies were characterised by flexibility, creativity, and agency in the face of crisis. However, these coping mechanisms primarily addressed immediate needs rather than building durable livelihood security. Many of these activities functioned as risk-spreading strategies that allowed households to stabilise income and consumption without necessarily improving their long-term economic position. For poorer participants in particular, limited access to capital, technology, and stable markets meant that absorptive strategies often became repetitive cycles of survival rather than stepping stones towards transformation. In terms of climate resilience, absorptive capacities played a critical role in buffering households against drought and pandemic-related shocks. Yet their contribution to poverty reduction was modest. They reduced short-term vulnerability but did not substantially weaken dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods or external labour markets. This pattern illustrates the limits of coping-oriented resilience in contexts characterised by constrained labour markets, climate stress, and limited local economic opportunities.
6.2 Adaptive capacities: livelihood adjustment, diversification, and reduced climate sensitivity
Adaptive capacities were reflected in the ways women and youth adjusted their livelihood strategies to reduce dependence on climate-sensitive agriculture and increase flexibility in income generation. Unlike absorptive strategies, which focused on immediate survival, adaptive strategies involved deliberate shifts in how people engaged with markets, skills, and resources to better manage future shocks. These adjustments often represented attempts to stabilise livelihoods in uncertain economic and climatic conditions rather than immediate pathways to sustained economic transformation. This highlights how adaptive strategies often represent efforts to manage uncertainty and reduce exposure to climate risk, rather than immediate transitions into higher-return economic activities.
A central adaptive pathway was the growing preference for value addition rather than primary agricultural production. Young women in particular expressed strong interest in engaging with processing, packaging, and marketing activities rather than working directly on land preparation, planting, and harvesting. One participant explained, ‘You don’t have to farm yourself, you can buy, package, and sell, and still earn from agriculture’ (INT9, young woman, Matabeleland South). They reported controlling packaging of small grains, buying produce from farmers for processing, and acting as intermediaries within value chains – although young women were over-represented in lower-value levels of value chains. This allowed them to avoid climate-related production risks while still benefiting economically from agriculture. Value-added activities such as food processing, jam making, packaging, and branding were seen as more profitable, less labour-intensive, and more resilient to rainfall variability. In this sense, value addition represented an adaptive strategy that reduced direct exposure to climate risk while maintaining participation in agricultural value chains. These strategies reflect an important shift away from climate exposure towards market‑oriented adaptation.
Youth also demonstrated adaptive capacity through diversification across multiple sectors. Rather than specialising in a single activity, many young men and women deliberately acquired gender-differentiated skills in different trades such as hairdressing, plumbing, painting, food and beverage services, hospitality, and construction-related work. This diversification reduced their exposure to any single shock and allowed them to switch between activities depending on market conditions. Participants described this approach as more secure than relying solely on agriculture or one income source, particularly in an environment characterised by economic volatility and climate uncertainty. Diversification therefore functioned as a form of risk-spreading that allowed youth to navigate unstable labour markets rather than as a guaranteed pathway to sustained income growth.
Young women’s adaptive strategies were more collective and community-based compared to the strategies of young men. Many vocational skills were taught in group settings, enabling young women who were taught these skills to pool labour, share knowledge, and strengthen solidarity. Community collaboration supported small-scale enterprises and strengthened product value addition, allowing young and older women to stabilise incomes even when agricultural production was unreliable. As one participant noted, ‘We support each other in the group and it helps us earn something, but the business is still small because we lack resources’ (INT6, woman, Matabeleland North). These collective strategies were especially important for women with limited access to capital and formal markets, as they provided social protection alongside economic opportunity. However, while collective organisation improved livelihood stability, these activities frequently remained small in scale and embedded within local informal economies. As a result, while these adaptive pathways reduced vulnerability, they often remained constrained by limited access to finance and wider market linkages.
Technology played an important role in shaping adaptive capacities, especially during the pandemic. Young women and men described using social media platforms and WhatsApp groups to market products, connect with clients, and organise distribution networks. These digital spaces linked them to urban markets and former schoolmates, expanding their customer base beyond local communities. Digital adaptation allowed continued economic engagement even under movement restrictions and demonstrated how technological access can reduce spatial and market constraints. However, access to smartphones, data, and stable connectivity was uneven, meaning that poorer youth were less able to benefit from these opportunities. As one participant reflected, ‘These things need data and smartphones, and not everyone here can afford that’ (INT11, woman, Matabeleland South). Moreover, women in poverty and older women were generally less engaged with digital platforms, not due to lack of interest, but because of lower access to devices, limited digital literacy, and time constraints linked to unpaid care responsibilities.
These dynamics illustrate that adaptive capacity is shaped not only by the availability of skills but also by broader economic and institutional conditions that influence whether diversification can translate into sustained economic progress. From a climate resilience perspective, these adaptive strategies were significant because they reduced dependence on rainfall-based livelihoods and expanded engagement with non-farm economic activities. They enabled households to anticipate and manage future shocks more effectively than absorptive strategies alone. However, their poverty-reducing potential remained uneven. For participants with access to capital, networks, and technology, adaptive strategies created meaningful livelihood stability. For poorer women and youth, adaptation improved flexibility but often stopped short of generating substantial upward economic mobility. This suggests that while vocational skills supported adaptive resilience, their transformative potential remained contingent on wider economic conditions such as access to finance, market demand, and technological resources.
6.3 Transformative capacities: skills, empowerment, and pathways out of poverty
Transformative capacities were most evident where vocational skills enabled participants to move beyond coping and adjustment, and to potentially change their livelihood trajectories and economic possibilities. However, the extent to which vocational skills translated into sustained transformation varied significantly depending on access to capital, labour market demand, and broader economic conditions. In this study, transformation was closely linked to technical and vocational education and training (TVET), which expanded access to higher‑value labour markets, entrepreneurial opportunities, and new forms of social and economic agency.
Among youth, vocational training significantly enhanced employability, particularly in sectors with strong labour demand such as construction, hospitality, food and beverage services, plumbing, and painting. Participants consistently noted that these skills were more market-relevant than traditional agricultural training and created real opportunities both locally and in neighbouring South Africa. One young man observed that the skills gained through training made him ‘more competitive’ and ‘employable beyond farming’, especially in economies where demand for semi-skilled labour was higher (INT7, young man, Matabeleland South). In these cases, vocational training expanded the range of livelihood opportunities available to youth and increased their ability to access labour markets beyond subsistence agriculture. In this sense, TVET functioned not only as an adaptive tool but also as a potential pathway towards transformation, altering young people’s position within labour markets and enabling transitions into more diversified and sometimes higher-income opportunities.
For young women, transformative capacity was strongly associated with confidence, empowerment, and decision-making power. Vocational training created spaces where women developed not only technical skills but also collective identity, leadership, and self-organisation. ‘Because I can now contribute financially, I also have a voice in household decisions’ (INT7, woman, Matabeleland South). Group-based training environments enabled women to exercise control over production processes, negotiate household roles, and participate more actively in economic decision-making. These shifts suggest important changes in agency and social positioning among younger women, which are often recognised as key dimensions of transformative resilience. Such changes align with understandings of transformation as not only economic change but also shifts in power relations, voice, and access to opportunity.
However, transformative outcomes were uneven and shaped by structural inequalities. Young and older women’s ability to scale enterprises was constrained by limited access to capital, markets, and time due to unpaid care responsibilities. While skills enhanced confidence and income-generating potential, transformation often remained partial, particularly for poorer women who lacked financial and institutional support to expand businesses. Similarly, for young women, poverty status shaped whether vocational skills translated into long-term mobility or remained confined to precarious employment and short-term contracts. This suggests that while vocational training expanded capabilities, the translation of skills into sustained economic transformation depended heavily on wider enabling conditions.
These findings therefore suggest that while skills development can expand capabilities and opportunities, its transformative potential remains closely linked to wider enabling environments. From a poverty reduction perspective, transformative capacities offered the clearest pathways towards sustained livelihood security. Unlike absorptive and adaptive strategies, which stabilised households or reduced risk exposure, transformative strategies had the potential to alter economic positioning and income opportunities. Yet transformation was not automatic. It depended on whether skills were supported by enabling environments, including access to capital, functioning markets, supportive policies, and freedom from restrictive gender norms.
In terms of climate resilience, transformative capacities reduced long-term vulnerability by shifting livelihoods away from climate-sensitive systems and towards diversified, skills-based economic engagement. They enabled participants to build resilience that was less dependent on rainfall patterns and agricultural productivity, and more grounded in transferable skills and innovation. At the same time, the findings indicate that skills alone are insufficient to guarantee transformation, highlighting the importance of supportive economic and institutional environments. This underscores the central argument of the article: that durable and inclusive climate resilience requires moving beyond coping and adaptation towards transformative, skills-based pathways that actively reduce poverty and expand opportunity, even in the face of compound shocks such as drought and pandemics. However, the study also demonstrates that the transformative potential of skills-based interventions remains contingent on broader structural conditions shaping labour markets, access to finance, and economic opportunity.
6.4 Synthesis of differentiated resilience pathways
Taken together, the findings show that resilience capacities among women and youth are not uniform but are shaped by gender, age, and poverty status. While both groups demonstrate absorptive, adaptive, and transformative strategies, the nature, depth, and poverty-reducing potential of these capacities differs significantly. These differences illustrate that resilience pathways are socially differentiated and shaped by structural inequalities that influence access to resources, markets, and opportunities.
This reinforces the importance of examining resilience not only as a set of capacities but also as a socially differentiated process shaped by structural inequalities. In particular, poverty status influences whether individuals remain confined to short‑term coping and adjustment or are able to translate skills into sustained livelihood transformation. Participants with stronger asset bases, wider social networks, and greater access to capital markets were generally better positioned to convert vocational skills into adaptive or transformative livelihood strategies. Conversely, poorer participants were more likely to experience resilience as a sequence of coping and adjustment strategies rather than a clear pathway to sustained economic mobility. To make these differences explicit, Table 2 provides a comparative summary of how absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities manifest among women and youth, and how these capacities vary between poorer and less-poor participants within each group. The table highlights who is primarily able to cope, who is able to adapt, and who is able to move towards more transformative and poverty-reducing resilience pathways. Rather than presenting resilience as a single outcome, the table illustrates the layered and unequal nature of resilience-building processes within the study context.
At the absorptive level, vocational skills supported coping strategies that enabled households to withstand immediate shocks and stabilise consumption. Migration, informal trade, and short-term entrepreneurial activities allowed participants to respond flexibly to disruptions caused by drought and the pandemic. However, these strategies largely functioned as short-term buffering mechanisms that reduced vulnerability without fundamentally altering the structural conditions that reproduce poverty. At the adaptive level, vocational skills enabled participants to diversify livelihoods, engage in value addition, and explore new economic opportunities through both local enterprises and digital platforms. These adjustments reduced dependence on rainfall-based agriculture and improved households’ ability to manage future shocks. Yet the findings also demonstrate that diversification often functioned as a strategy of risk-spreading rather than a guaranteed pathway to sustained economic mobility.
At the absorptive level, vocational skills supported coping strategies that enabled households to withstand immediate shocks and stabilise consumption. Migration, informal trade, and short-term entrepreneurial activities allowed participants to respond flexibly to disruptions caused by drought and the pandemic. However, these strategies largely functioned as short-term buffering mechanisms that reduced vulnerability without fundamentally altering the structural conditions that reproduce poverty. At the adaptive level, vocational skills enabled participants to diversify livelihoods, engage in value addition, and explore new economic opportunities through both local enterprises and digital platforms. These adjustments reduced dependence on rainfall-based agriculture and improved households’ ability to manage future shocks. Yet the findings also demonstrate that diversification often functioned as a strategy of risk-spreading rather than a guaranteed pathway to sustained economic mobility.
Instead, transformative capacities were most evident where skills enabled participants to access new labour markets, develop entrepreneurial initiatives, and strengthen agency and decision-making power. For youth, vocational training improved employability and expanded opportunities in sectors with higher labour demand. For women, training strengthened confidence, collective organisation, and participation in economic decision‑making. At the same time, the study shows that transformative outcomes were uneven and contingent on broader enabling conditions, including access to capital, functioning markets, digital connectivity, and the relaxation of restrictive gender norms.
Taken together, the findings highlight that resilience-building processes are socially differentiated and shaped by structural inequalities. Gender, poverty status, and access to resources strongly influence whether individuals remain confined to coping and adjustment strategies or are able to translate skills into more durable livelihood transformation. Participants with stronger asset bases and market connections were generally better positioned to leverage vocational skills for longer-term mobility, while poorer participants often remained constrained within cycles of survival and precarious employment.
From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that vocational skills training can play a critical role in strengthening resilience in climate-vulnerable regions, particularly by enabling diversification and expanding livelihood flexibility. However, skills-based interventions alone are unlikely to generate widespread poverty reduction unless they are supported by broader enabling environments, including improved market access, financial services, infrastructure, and gender-responsive policies. Without these conditions, skills development may strengthen adaptive resilience while leaving deeper structural inequalities largely unchanged. This highlights that skills-based resilience strategies are most effective when embedded within wider economic and institutional environments that enable individuals to convert capabilities into stable and productive livelihoods.
In terms of climate resilience, vocational skills offer an important pathway for reducing dependence on rainfall-sensitive livelihoods and expanding engagement with non-farm economic activities. Yet durable and inclusive resilience requires moving beyond coping and adaptation towards interventions that address structural barriers to economic opportunity. Future resilience programmes should therefore combine skills development with investments in market systems, access to finance, and institutional support in order to enable more inclusive and transformative livelihood pathways.
1 This issue of the IDS Bulletin was supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The opinions expressed are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the funder.
2 Nixon Nembaware, independent consultant, Zimbabwe.
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© 2026 The Authors. IDS Bulletin © Institute of Development Studies | DOI: 10.19088/1968-2026.172
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited and any modifications or adaptations are indicated.
The IDS Bulletin is published by Institute of Development Studies, Library Road, Brighton, BN1 9RE, UK. This article is part of IDS Bulletin Vol. 57 No. 2 July 2026 ‘Climate Resilience and Poverty Reduction’.