Womens Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI): Foundations and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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

• f 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

Health environment Natural resources Food market environment Nutrition and health knowledge

Food access Food expenditure Non-food expenditure Diet Child nutrition

• utcomes

Household assets and livelihoods Health status Mother’s nutrition

• utcomes

Health care Women’s empowerment National nutrition profile Agricultural income Caring capacity & practices Female energy expenditure Food production & gathering National economic growth

Individual Household Enabling environment

Processing & storage Agricultural Production Source: Herforth and Harris 2013

Individual nutrition

• utcomes*

*individual nutrition outcomes refer to the general population, including women, men, and adolescents (not just mothers and children)

Conceptual pathways between agriculture and nutritio ion

Gender along ag-nutrition pathways

IFPRI Images

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)

Photo credit: Flickr / Finn Thilsted, WorldFish

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

 Survey-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

14

Five domains of empowerment

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 2/15 1/5 1/5

Cross-country baseline findings: credit, workload, and group membership are most important constraints across countries

19

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 Disempowerment Index (1 - 5DE) Leisure Workload Speaking in public Group member Control over use of income Access to and decisions on credit Purchase, sale, or transfer of assets Ownership of assets Autonomy in production Input in productive decisions

Source: Malapit et al. (2014)

Photo credit: Flickr/Neil Palmer, CIAT

WEAI for projects…Making the perfect omelet

Photo source: omletteshoppe.com

What do projects want?

Photo source: omletteshoppe.com

Streamlined, easy to collect Adaptable to project context Understand QUALITATIVE aspects (hows & whys) Autonomy beyond agriculture Empowerment relating to health & nutrition

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 decisions Autonomy in production Production Input in productive decisions Production Input in productive decisions Autonomy in production Access to information

2

Resources Ownership of assets Purchase, sale, or transfer of assets Access to and decisions

• n credit

Resources Ownership of assets Access to and decisions on credit Resources Use rights over land Ownership of assets Access to and decisions on credit Access to a financial account

3

Income Control over use of income Income Control over use of income Income Control over use of income Autonomy in use of income

4

Leadership Group membership Speaking in public Leadership Group membership Leadership Group membership

5

Time Workload Leisure Time Workload Time Workload (+childcare) Physical mobility Frequency and decisions on physical mobility Intrahousehold relationships Mutual respect Individual empowerment Self-efficacy Life satisfaction Domestic violence Attitudes about domestic 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  Module G7: Intrahousehold relationships  Module G8(a): Autonomy in decision-making  Module G8(b): New general self-efficacy scale  Module G8(c): Life satisfaction  MODULE G9: Attitudes about domestic violence

*optional* *some elements are

• ptional*

Photo credit: IFPRI Images / Milo Mitchell, IFPRI

Implementing pro-WEAI in the field

PROBLEMS

 Enumeration – translation,

interviewer bias, long interview duration, interviewing men and women separately, NGO speak

 Logistics – travel to remote areas,

internet connectivity, seasonality

 Money - budget constraints  Polygamous households – defining a

household, deciding which wife to interview

 Data collection instruments -

• verload of instruments, qualitative

tools are not project-specific

SOLUTIONS

 Experienced enumerators – strong

language skills, anticipate difficult questions, both male and female

 Attention to translation –

connotation, word choice

 Quick data review for quality

control and re-training

 Communication between

researchers and implementers – involve PIs and in-country research staff in training and piloting

 Use qualitative research to

understand local context

 Flexible funding

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?

Question 1? Question 2? Question 3? Question 1? Question 2? Question 3?

Quantitative Qualitative

Research questions related to dairy production

Does a nutrition-sensitive program that distributes dairy animals improve nutritional status? Does an intervention reduce the spread of zoonotic disease (and improve nutritional outcomes)? Does the rise of supermarkets affect milk production and consumption among rural dairy farmers? How do households allocate care for and output from dairy animals? What are the roles of different household members in dairy production? How and why do male and female farmers link with markets?

Quantitative Qualitative How to increase production among rural dairy-producing households and improve their nutritional status and quality of life?

Potential methods for addressing the qualitative questions

How do households allocate care for and

• utput from dairy

animals? What are the roles of various household members in dairy production? How and why do rural farmers link with markets?

• Focus group discussions around workload and

household food allocation

• Participant observation and semi-structured

interviews with men, women, hired workers (following the milk)

• Semi-structured interviews and participant
• bservation with men, women, hired workers

(following the milk)

• Identify participant households according to

whether they have a few cows or many cows

• Participant observation in markets (attention to

activities that occur alongside financial transactions)

• Semi-structured interviews with buyers and

sellers

Qualitative

Potential methods for addressing the quantitative questions

Does a nutrition-sensitive program that distributes dairy animals improve nutritional status? Does an intervention reduce the spread of zoonotic disease (and improve nutrition)? Does the rise of supermarkets affect production and consumption among dairy farmers?

• Household surveys with modules on
• Gender disaggregated ownership of

livestock

• Consumption by household member
• Anthropometry and other biomarkers
• Household surveys with modules on related

hygiene practices and anthropometry.

• High frequency data collection of milk quality,

human morbidity, and presence of pathogens.

• Multiple waves of a household surveys that

covers period of interest, including detail on dairy production, sales, and consumption.

• Complimentary data on supermarkets, including

location and tenure.

Quantitative

Linking quantitative and qualitative

Does a nutrition- sensitive program that distributes dairy animals improve nutritional status? Does an intervention reduce the spread of zoonotic disease (and improve nutritional

• utcomes)?

Does the rise of supermarkets affect production and consumption among dairy farmers? How do households allocate care for and

• utput from dairy

animals? What are the roles of various household members in dairy production? How and why do rural farmers link with markets?

Quantitative Qualitative

Qualitative as formative research to shape and target the intervention:

• Young women with limited power in

household may do milking (direct contact).

• Men may store and sell milk (maintain cold

chain). Qualitative to explain quantitative results:

• As milk becomes more valuable, it shifts

from female- to male-dominated production

• Preference for known agents may persist to

fulfill social reciprocity (e.g., extended kin) Qualitative integrated in sequential design:

• Women may manage livestock that

households receive but not control milk (sold rather than consumed).

• Or, the increased workload decreases time

spent on child care related activities.

Photo credit: Nesbitt/UNICEF Ethiopia

Nutrition and health module

 Types of nutrition targeting in the GAAP2 portfolio

 Women’s own health and nutrition (e.g., dietary diversity or quality)  Children aged 2 years and younger, including intervention during pregnancy  General household nutrition and expected spillover to children (broad age range)

 Timeframe of program impact: questions GX.04 & GX.08

 Some questions that refer to “now” are relevant regardless of implementation

timing (e.g., what a woman eats, whether her child eats nutritious foods).

 Some questions refer to a specific experience in the past (e.g., pregnancy,

lactation).

 Change timeframe in GX.04 & GX.08 to reflect length of implementation you will

want to cover at follow-up interview (e.g., only want pregnancy information for women who became pregnant since the start of program implementation).

Draft pro-WEAI nutrition module

NOTE: Respondent is the mother or primary caregiver of index child

 Decisions on healthcare, reproductive health, and types of food children can

eat

“Now I’d like to ask you some questions on making decisions about the health of you and your child and about the types of food that your child can eat.”

 For respondents who have been pregnant or given birth in last 3 years:

Decisions on healthcare, types of foods that can be eaten while pregnant/breastfeeding, breastfeeding and complimentary feeding

“The next set of questions asks only about decisions that were made while you were pregnant or breastfeeding your youngest child.”

 Purchasing and acquiring certain types of food and medicine

“The next set of questions asks about your ability to obtain the types of food and medicine that you want for you and your child.”

Photo credit: Cassie Chandler/Freedom from Hunger

Case studies

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)

Bangladesh Hellen Keller International and University of Heidelberg

Building resilience of vulnerable communities

Burkina Faso Grameen Foundation

Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN)

Bangladesh IFPRI and BRAC

Empowerment, Resilience, and Livestock Transfers

Nepal Heifer International

Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition

and poverty

Mali World Vegetable Center

Case studies

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)

Bangladesh Hellen Keller International and University of Heidelberg

Building resilience of vulnerable communities

Burkina Faso Grameen Foundation

Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN)

Bangladesh IFPRI and BRAC

Empowerment, Resilience, and Livestock Transfers

Nepal Heifer International

Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition

and poverty

Mali World Vegetable Center

Case studies

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)

Bangladesh Hellen Keller International and University of Heidelberg

Building resilience of vulnerable communities

Burkina Faso Grameen Foundation

Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN)

Bangladesh IFPRI and BRAC

Empowerment, Resilience, and Livestock Transfers

Nepal Heifer International

Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition

and poverty

Mali World Vegetable Center

Case studies

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)

Bangladesh Hellen Keller International and University of Heidelberg

Building resilience of vulnerable communities

Burkina Faso Grameen Foundation

Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN)

Bangladesh IFPRI and BRAC

Empowerment, Resilience, and Livestock Transfers

Nepal Heifer International

Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition

and poverty

Mali World Vegetable Center

Case studies

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)

Bangladesh Hellen Keller International and University of Heidelberg

Building resilience of vulnerable communities

Burkina Faso Grameen Foundation

Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN)

Bangladesh IFPRI and BRAC

Empowerment, Resilience, and Livestock Transfers

Nepal Heifer International

Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition

and poverty

Mali World Vegetable Center

Putting it into practice

• 1. What do you think would be the potential impact of this

project, specifically on women’s empowerment? Use the impact pathways.

• 2. How would you use the quantitative and qualitative tools

to examine the program impact and associated pathways you identified in #1?

Putting it into practice

• 1. What do you think would be the potential impact of this

project, specifically on women’s empowerment? Use the impact pathways.

• 2. How would you use the quantitative and qualitative tools

to examine the program impact and associated pathways you identified in #1? Last 10 minutes:

 Pair up and select a module from the quantitative survey  Practice the module with your partner

Lunch Break!

Putting it into practice

• 1. What is the project’s impact, focusing specifically on

women’s empowerment? Use the impact pathways.

• 2. How would you use the quantitative and qualitative tools

to examine the program impact and associated pathways you identified in #1?

• 3. What potential challenges do you foresee in the field?
• 4. What tools would you like to add to this toolbox to

address these challenges?

Discussion

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health: Preliminary Results

Project Abbreviation N Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition FAARM 287 Building resilience of vulnerable communities Grameen 380 Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition TRAIN 5,040 Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition and poverty

WorldVeg 714 TOTAL 6,421

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health: Preliminary Results

Project Abbreviation N Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition FAARM 287 Building resilience of vulnerable communities Grameen 380 Targeting and Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition TRAIN 5,040 Deploying improved vegetable technologies to

• vercome malnutrition and poverty

WorldVeg 714 TOTAL 6,421

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health: Has input into decisions about…

GX.01=self or GX.02>=3 FAARM

(Bangladesh)

Grameen

(Burkina Faso)

TRAIN

(Bangladesh)

WorldVeg

(Mali)

Total Healthcare decisions (A-B) 97.9 77.9 95.9 94.4 94.8 Contraception (D) 97.7 72.5 97.4 96.0 95.9 Food consumption (E-F) 99.7 85.3 98.5 95.4 97.4 Healthcare during pregnancy (G) 94.0 73.5 92.1 93.1 91.8 Egg consumption during pregnancy (J) 99.2 85.9 96.4 92.8 95.8 Working while lactating (M) 100.0 82.9 97.1 93.3 96.3 Respondent makes the decision solely or jointly or can participate to at least a medium extent in the decision

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health: Has input into decisions about…

GX.01=self or GX.02>=3 FAARM

(Bangladesh)

Grameen

(Burkina Faso)

TRAIN

(Bangladesh)

WorldVeg

(Mali)

Total Healthcare decisions (A-B) 97.9 77.9 95.9 94.4 94.8 Contraception (D) 97.7 72.5 97.4 96.0 95.9 Food consumption (E-F) 99.7 85.3 98.5 95.4 97.4 Healthcare during pregnancy (G) 94.0 73.5 92.1 93.1 91.8 Egg consumption during pregnancy (J) 99.2 85.9 96.4 92.8 95.8 Working while lactating (M) 100.0 82.9 97.1 93.3 96.3 Respondent makes the decision solely or jointly or can participate to at least a medium extent in the decision

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:

Has input into decisions about whether to purchase…

GX.09=self or GX.10=1 FAARM

(Bangladesh)

Grameen

(Burkina Faso)

TRAIN

(Bangladesh)

WorldVeg

(Mali)

Total Food (A-C, E) 94.8 75.3 78.1 80.1 78.9 Medications and supplements (H-I) 96.5 67.9 88.3 76.4 86.2 Care and hygiene related products (J-L) 100.0 96.6 90.3 79.9 90.0 Respondent makes the decision solely or jointly or can acquire the item(s) if needed

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:

Has input into decisions about whether to purchase…

GX.09=self or GX.10=1 FAARM

(Bangladesh)

Grameen

(Burkina Faso)

TRAIN

(Bangladesh)

WorldVeg

(Mali)

Total Food (A-C, E) 94.8 75.3 78.1 80.1 78.9 Medications and supplements (H-I) 96.5 67.9 88.3 76.4 86.2 Care and hygiene related products (J-L) 100.0 96.6 90.3 79.9 90.0 Respondent makes the decision solely or jointly or can acquire the item(s) if needed

Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:

Has input into decisions about eggs, meat, or milk

GX.01=self or GX.02>=3 GX.05=self or GX.06>=3 GX.09=self or GX.10=1 FAARM

(Bangladesh)

Grameen

(Burkina Faso)

TRAIN

(Bangladesh)

WorldVeg

(Mali)

Total Whether you can eat any of them during pregnancy 100.0 89.0 97.7 92.8 96.9 Whether you can eat any of them during lactation

• 94.0

98.9 93.8 98.0 Whether your child is

• ffered any of them to eat

100.0 90.2 99.3 97.6 98.4 Purchasing any of them 100.0 82.0 81.9 79.0 82.2 Respondent makes the decision solely or jointly, can participate to at least a medium extent in the decision, or can acquire them item(s) if needed

Connecting to the WEAI community

 GAAP2 Website: gaap.ifpri.info  WEAI Resource Center: ifpri.org/topic/weai-resource-center  Pro-WEAI Resource Center: Stay tuned…!

Thanks for joining us!

For more information, contact Hazel Malapit: h.malapit@cgiar.org