Resilience Through Inclusion: Women and Data-Driven Climate Policies in Rwanda

Climate shocks represent a recurrent macroeconomic risk for Rwanda, affecting growth, fiscal stability, and household welfare. Gender inclusion is macro-critical to Rwanda’s growth and resilience strategy, shaping the effectiveness of adaptation and fiscal policy responses. Women are highly exposed to these shocks due to their concentration in agriculture and informal employment, as well as more limited access to finance, assets, and coping mechanisms. Using both micro- and macro-level analysis, this paper finds that climate shocks widen gender income disparities and that closing gender gaps enhances the effectiveness of adaptation policies and accelerates post-shock recovery. Rwanda’s data-driven policy tools—climate budget tagging, gender budget tagging, and the dynamic social registry—offer a strong foundation for linking climate and gender objectives within fiscal policy. Strengthening these instruments and promoting women’s participation in the green transition would help sustain resilience, inclusion, and long-term growth.