Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI): Foundations and adaptations for project use ANH Academy Week 2017 Kathmandu, Nepal Hazel Malapit, Jessica Heckert, and Elena Martinez
Objectives Participants should be able to: Understand how and why gender considerations and women’s empowerment matter for nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs Understand how the WEAI can be used to diagnose areas of disempowerment, and monitor intended and unintended impacts of agricultural development programs on women’s empowerment Understand how the WEAI is being adapted for use in a project context Understand how the WEAI data is collected, and be familiar with best practices on survey implementation
Agenda Introduction to WEAI and pro-WEAI Agriculture-nutrition pathways and gendered pathways Introduction to the project-level WEAI Integrating quantitative and qualitative research Pro-WEAI nutrition and health module Interactive case studies: using pro-WEAI for nutrition-sensitive projects LUNCH BREAK Interactive case studies (continued) Report back and discussion Baseline results from pro-WEAI nutrition
Photo credit: Flickr/Farha Khan, IFPRI
Photo credit: Flickr/ Ollivier Girard, CIFOR
Conceptual pathways between agriculture and nutritio ion National National economic nutrition growth profile Enabling environment Food market environment Health environment Natural resources Food Individual Processing Household assets and livelihoods production & nutrition & storage Agricultural Production gathering outcomes* Food Diet Food access Child expenditure nutrition Agricultural outcomes income Health care Health status Non-food expenditure Mother’s nutrition Caring capacity outcomes & practices Women’s Female energy empowerment expenditure Nutrition and health knowledge Individual Household *individual nutrition outcomes refer to the general population, Source: Herforth and Harris 2013 including women, men, and adolescents (not just mothers and children)
Gender along ag-nutrition pathways 1. Agriculture as a source of food for own consumption 2. Agriculture as a source of income 3. Agricultural policies affect prices of food and non-food crops 4. Women’s participation in agriculture and the effect on her social status and empowerment & in particular her access to and control over resources 5. The impact of women’s participation in agriculture on their time allocation 6. The impact of women’s participation in agriculture on their own health and nutritional status (and also child nutrition) (Ruel and Alderman 2013) IFPRI Images
Photo credit: Flickr / Finn Thilsted, WorldFish
14 What is the WEAI? Developed by IFPRI, USAID, and OPHI Designed to measure inclusion of women in the agricultural sector for Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative S urvey-based index - interviews men and women in the same household Similar to multi-dimensional poverty indices (Alkire and Foster 2011, J of Public Econ ) and the Foster-Greere- Thorbeck (FGT) indices Details on index construction in Alkire et al. (2013), World Development
Five domains of empowerment
Five domains of empowerment
A woman’s empowerment score shows her own achievements Five domains of empowerment
Abbreviated WEAI (A-WEAI) 1/5 Five domains of empowerment 2/15 1/5 1/5
Cross-country baseline findings: credit, workload, and group membership are most important constraints across countries Leisure 0.00 Workload 0.05 Disempowerment Index (1 - 5DE) Speaking in public Group member 0.10 Control over use of income 0.15 Access to and decisions on credit 0.20 Purchase, sale, or transfer of assets Ownership of assets 0.25 Autonomy in production 0.30 Input in productive decisions 0.35 0.40 Source: Malapit et al. (2014) 19
Photo credit: Flickr/Neil Palmer, CIAT
WEAI for projects…Making the perfect omelet Photo source: omletteshoppe.com
What do projects want? Adaptable to project context Streamlined, easy to Autonomy beyond collect agriculture Understand Empowerment QUALITATIVE aspects relating to health & (hows & whys) nutrition Photo source: omletteshoppe.com
Developing a “Project - level” WEAI (pro-WEAI) Comparable metrics for empowerment Core set of WEAI empowerment modules + Standardized add-on survey modules and qualitative protocols
Choosing respondents Original WEAI Population-based indicator Self-identified primary male and primary female decisionmakers in the household Not necessarily husband and wife Project WEAI Project-level indicator (not nationally or regionally representative) Who is your project trying to empower? (e.g., farmers growing/raising specific crops/animals; mothers with young children; members of specific types of groups, etc.) Pro-WEAI respondent can be target beneficiary and spouse / other decisionmaker in household Sampling design and respondent choice are key differences between original WEAI and project WEAI Does this compromise comparability across different projects? Maybe, but not as problematic within clusters BUT: projects have to be able to define their respondents based on project objectives
Comparison of original WEAI, A-WEAI and pro-WEAI Original: 5 domains, 10 indicators A-WEAI: 5 domains, 6 indicators pro-WEAI: proposed domains, indicators DOMAIN INDICATORS DOMAIN INDICATORS DOMAIN INDICATORS 1 Production Input in productive Production Input in productive Production Input in productive decisions decisions decisions Autonomy in production Autonomy in production Access to information 2 Resources Ownership of assets Resources Ownership of assets Resources Use rights over land Purchase, sale, or Access to and Ownership of assets transfer of assets decisions on credit Access to and decisions on credit Access to and decisions Access to a financial account on credit 3 Income Control over use of Income Control over use of Income Control over use of income income income Autonomy in use of income 4 Leadership Group membership Leadership Group membership Leadership Group membership Speaking in public 5 Time Workload Time Workload Time Workload (+childcare) Leisure Physical Frequency and decisions on physical mobility mobility Intrahousehold Mutual respect relationships Individual Self-efficacy empowerment Life satisfaction Domestic Attitudes about domestic violence violence Nutrition Input in healthcare decisions Input in reproductive health decisions Input in IYCF decisions Input in food consumption decisions Input in food consumption decisions while pregnant/breastfeeding Input in purchasing decisions for food and medicine
Draft pro-WEAI main modules Module G1: Individual identification Module G2: Role in household decision-making around production and income Module G3(a): Access to productive capital Module G3(b): Access to financial services Module G4: Time allocation Module G5: Group membership Module G6: Physical mobility *some Module G7: Intrahousehold relationships elements are optional* Module G8(a): Autonomy in decision-making Module G8(b): New general self-efficacy scale Module G8(c): Life satisfaction *optional* MODULE G9: Attitudes about domestic violence
Photo credit: IFPRI Images / Milo Mitchell, IFPRI
Implementing pro-WEAI in the field SOLUTIONS PROBLEMS Experienced enumerators – strong Enumeration – translation, language skills, anticipate difficult interviewer bias, long interview questions, both male and female duration, interviewing men and Attention to translation – women separately, NGO speak connotation, word choice Logistics – travel to remote areas, Quick data review for quality internet connectivity, seasonality control and re-training Money - budget constraints Communication between researchers and implementers – Polygamous households – defining a involve PIs and in-country research household, deciding which wife to staff in training and piloting interview Use qualitative research to Data collection instruments - understand local context overload of instruments, qualitative Flexible funding tools are not project-specific
Why add qualitative to good quantitative? Not just to illustrate quantitative findings, but illuminates different aspects of topics/themes Research questions framed differently Identify how and why a behavior occurs (mechanisms) Differences rooted in different philosophies of how knowledge is produced Useful for reframing existing research questions May help better identify target populations For intervention and research questions
Research questions related to dairy production How to increase production among rural dairy-producing households and improve their nutritional status and quality of life? Quantitative Qualitative Question 1? Question 1? Question 2? Question 2? Question 3? Question 3?
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