Resilience strategies in African pastoral systems face increasing scrutiny, particularly in the context of climate shocks. This article explores gender dynamics in the generation of resilience in a dryland socio-ecological system and amongst pastoralist communities in Moyale, Northern Kenya. The findings challenge existing assumptions of women's adaptive capacity and traditional gender roles, highlighting women's nuanced understanding of household needs and their ability to innovate during crises through strategies such as community savings groups, fodder production, and diversification. Men's resilience, traditionally linked to livestock mobility and herd management, is undermined by recurring droughts, with psychological stress emerging as a key concern. Youth face barriers in translating educational aspirations into sustainable livelihoods, emphasizing the need for inclusive resilience-building interventions. Together, these results demonstrate the need for a gender-sensitive approach to resilience that emphasizes local constructs of adaptive capacity and the need to support relational forms of resilience in ways that bridge social, ecological, and cultural systems.
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