This presentation was given by Hazel Malapit and Elena Martinez (IFPRI), as part of the Capacity Development Workshop hosted by the CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research. The event took place on 7-8 December 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where the Platform is hosted (by KIT Royal Tropical Institute).
Read more: http://gender.cgiar.org/gender_events/annual-scientific-conference-capacity-development-workshop-cgiar-collaborative-platform-gender-research/
Sungsang Mangrove Restoration and Ecotourism (SMART): A participatory action ...
Women's empowerment in agriculture index (WEAI): incorporating gender and mixed methods into nutrition research
1. Women’s Empowerment in
Agriculture Index (WEAI):
Incorporating gender and mixed methods into
nutrition research
Hazel Malapit and Elena Martinez
CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research
Annual Scientific Conference and Capacity Development Workshop
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
December 8, 2017 – 9:15 to 11:00 AM
2. Today’s Agenda
Agriculture-nutrition pathways and gendered
pathways
Introduction to the project-level WEAI
Integrating quantitative and qualitative
research
Pro-WEAI nutrition and health module
https://pixabay.com/en/leader-tomato-food-vegetable-green-
1969801/
4. Health environment
Natural resources
Food market environment
Nutrition and health knowledge
Food access
Food
expenditure
Non-food
expenditure
Diet Child
nutrition
outcomes
Householdassetsandlivelihoods
Health status
Mother’s
nutrition
outcomes
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
AgriculturalProduction
Source: Herforth and Harris 2013
Individual
nutrition
outcomes*
*individual nutrition outcomes refer to the general
population, including women, men, and adolescents (not
just mothers and children)
Conceptual
pathways
between
agriculture
and nutrition
6. 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)
7. All pathways are gendered, some focus on women
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)
Men and Women
Special focus on
Women
9. 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
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
http://www.ifpri.org/weai-training-
materials
10. WEAI is an aggregate index in two
parts:
Five Domains of
Empowerment (5DE)
Gender Parity Index (GPI)
Constructed using interviews of
the primary male and primary
female adults in the same
household
How is the Index constructed?
14. Cross-country baseline findings:
Credit, workload, and group membership are most
important constraints across countries
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
DisempowermentIndex(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)
16. What is GAAP2?
Learning what works
Learning what doesn’t work
Particular gender strategies
Gender-blind approaches?
“What’s measured, matters”
A learning and capacity-development initiative working with a
portfolio of 13 development projects in the Gender, Agriculture,
and Assets Project Phase 2 (GAAP2)
Why GAAP2?
Supported by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, USAID, and A4NH
17. Developing a “Project-level” WEAI
(pro-WEAI)
Core set of pro-WEAI
empowerment modules
Quantitative survey
Qualitative
protocols
Standardized add-ons
depending on project needs:
Nutrition and health
Livestock-enhanced
Comparable metrics for empowerment:
+
18. GAAP2 Project Portfolio by Cluster
Project Objective →
Intervention area ↓
Nutrition Income and Nutrition
Crops
ANGeL (Bangladesh)
WorldVeg (Mali)
AVC (Bangladesh)
TRAIN (Bangladesh) iDE (Ghana)
Livestock
Heifer (Nepal)
Trias (Tanzania)
MoreMilk (Kenya)
SE LEVER (Burkina Faso)
Crops and Livestock
FAARM (Bangladesh)
JP-RWEE (Ethiopia)
WINGS (India)
Grameen Foundation (Burkina
Faso)
19. All projects have experimental or quasi-experimental
designs
Project Objective →
Intervention area ↓
Nutrition Income and Nutrition
Crops
ANGeL (Bangladesh) WorldVeg (Mali)
AVC (Bangladesh)
TRAIN (Bangladesh) iDE (Ghana)
Livestock
Heifer (Nepal)
Trias (Tanzania)
MoreMilk (Kenya)
SE LEVER (Burkina Faso)
Crops and Livestock
FAARM (Bangladesh) JP-RWEE (Ethiopia)
WINGS (India)
Grameen Foundation (Burkina
Faso)
Panel, RCT Panel, PSM Panel, DID Random encouragement design
20. Choosing respondents
Original WEAI
1. Population-based
indicator
2. Self-identified primary
male and primary
female decision-
makers in the
household
Not necessarily
husband and wife
Project WEAI
1. Project-level indicator (not nationally
or regionally representative)
2. 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 or other
decision-maker 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
21. Production (1/5) Input in productive decisions (1/5)
Resources (1/5)
Ownership of assets (2/15)
Access to and decision making on credit (1/15)
Income (1/5) Control over use of income (1/5)
Leadership (1/5) Group membership (1/5)
Time (1/5) Workload (1/5)
A-WEAI
5 Domains
6 Indicators
22. Production (1/7)
Input in productive decisions (1/21)
Access to information (1/21)
Autonomy in production (1/21)
Resources (1/7)
Ownership of assets (1/28)
Decision making over land (1/28)
Access to and decision making on credit (1/28)
Access to a financial account (1/28)
Income (1/7)
Control over use of income (1/14)
Autonomy over income (1/14)
Leadership (1/7) Group membership (1/7)
Time (1/7) Workload (1/7)
Mobility (1/7) Ability to visit important locations (1/7)
Intrahousehold (1/7)
Respect among household members (1/14)
Attitudes about domestic violence (1/14)
Pro-WEAI
7 Domains
14 Indicators
2 Add-ons
Nutrition and health
Enhanced livestock
27. Why add qualitative to good quantitative?
Not just to illustrate quantitative findings, but
illuminates different aspects of topics and
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
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3554539705
28. Research questions related to dairy production
1. Increasing production among rural dairy-
producing households
2. Improving nutritional status and quality of life
Question 1?
Question 2?
Question 3?
Question 1?
Question 2?
Question 3?
Quantitative Qualitative
29. Linking quantitative and qualitative
Qualitative
Explore a phenomenon or context
Develop an instrument
Design an intervention
Cross-validate or corroborate
results
Account for the strengths and
weaknesses of each method
Explain quantitative results
Explore quantitative findings
Quantitative
Quantitative Qualitative
Qualitative
Quantitative
31. Draft pro-WEAI quantitative 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 optional*
32. Draft Qualitative Protocols for GAAP2
1. Review of project documents
2. Community profile
3. Seasonality patterns
4. Focus groups
5. Semi-structured interviews
6. Key informant interviews
Relevant materials and background on the
project area
Social, economic, and agricultural background
Production calendar with responsibilities by
gender
Local understandings of empowerment
Life histories of women of different
empowerment statuses
Market traders (gender barriers in the value
chain)
Project staff (factors affecting whether the
project influences empowerment)
34. Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health Module
Types of nutrition targeting in the
GAAP2 portfolio
Women’s 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)
https://pixabay.com/en/family-man-woman-boy-girl-312018/
35. Sub-indicators of empowerment
in nutrition and health
Participation and input in decisions about
women’s health
Participating and input in decisions about
child’s health
Some questions are only for women who
have been pregnant recently or have young
children
Participation in decisions about
purchasing food and medicine
Ability to acquire food and medicine
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicken_cartoon_04.svg
Respondents are women only
37. Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:
Preliminary Data
Project Abbreviation Country N
Food and Agricultural
Approaches to Reducing
Malnutrition
FAARM Bangladesh 287
Building resilience of vulnerable
communities
Grameen Burkina Faso 380
Targeting and Realigning
Agriculture to Improve Nutrition
TRAIN Bangladesh 5,040
Impact evaluation of an
integrated poultry value chain
and nutrition intervention
SE LEVER Burkina Faso 1,777
Deploying improved vegetable
technologies to overcome
malnutrition and poverty
WorldVeg Mali 714
TOTAL 8,198
38. Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:
Preliminary Data
Sub-indicator TOTAL TRAIN SE LEVER World Veg Grameen FAARM
Participates in decision about how
much to work during breastfeeding
0.85 0.93 0.67 0.78 0.73 0.98
Participates in decision about
whether to eat eggs during
breastfeeding
0.83 0.94 0.57 0.78 0.84 -
Sole decision-maker or medium/high
participating in decisions about how
much to work during breastfeeding
0.80 0.88 0.62 0.69 0.68 0.96
Sole decision-maker or medium/high
participation in decisions about
whether to eat eggs during
breastfeeding
0.77 0.89 0.51 0.69 0.80 -
39. Pro-WEAI Nutrition and Health:
Preliminary Data
Sub-indicator TOTAL TRAIN SE LEVER World Veg Grameen FAARM
Participates in decision to purchase
eggs
0.65 0.72 0.29 0.77 0.56 0.93
Participates in decision to purchase
milk/milk products
0.65 0.71 0.35 0.76 0.73 -
Participates in decision to purchase
meat/poultry/fish
0.61 0.69 0.27 0.73 0.59 0.84
Able to acquire eggs by some
means
0.88 0.90 0.82 0.88 0.85 0.95
Able to acquire milk/milk
products by some means
0.87 0.89 0.82 0.86 0.88 -
Able to acquire meat/poultry/fish
by some means
0.84 0.85 0.80 0.83 0.91 0.79
40. Keep in touch!
Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase II (GAAP2)
Website: gaap.ifpri.info
WEAI Resource Center: ifpri.org/topic/weai-resource-center
Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange (GNIE) Blog:
a4nh.cgiar.org/category/gender-2/gender-nutrition-idea-
exchange/
Pro-WEAI Resource Center: Stay tuned…!
For more information, contact Hazel Malapit:
h.malapit@cgiar.org
GAAP2 is supported by:
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
41. Pro-WEAI 1.0:
A Deeper Look at the Index
Hazel Malapit and Elena Martinez
CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research
Annual Scientific Conference and Capacity Development Workshop
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
December 8, 2017 – 2:30 to 3:30 PM
43. Production (1/5) Input in productive decisions (1/5)
Resources (1/5)
Ownership of assets (2/15)
Access to and decision making on credit (1/15)
Income (1/5) Control over use of income (1/5)
Leadership (1/5) Group membership (1/5)
Time (1/5) Workload (1/5)
A-WEAI
5 Domains
6 Indicators
44. Production (1/7)
Input in productive decisions (1/21)
Access to information (1/21)
Autonomy in production (1/21)
Resources (1/7)
Ownership of assets (1/28)
Decision making over land (1/28)
Access to and decision making on credit (1/28)
Access to a financial account (1/28)
Income (1/7)
Control over use of income (1/14)
Autonomy over income (1/14)
Leadership (1/7) Group membership (1/7)
Time (1/7) Workload (1/7)
Mobility (1/7) Ability to visit important locations (1/7)
Intrahousehold (1/7)
Respect among household members (1/14)
Attitudes about domestic violence (1/14)
Pro-WEAI
7 Domains
14 Indicators
2 Add-ons
Nutrition and health
Enhanced livestock
47. Production (1/7)
Input in productive decisions (1/21)
Access to information (1/21)
Autonomy in production (1/21)
Resources (1/7)
Ownership of assets (1/28)
Decision making over land (1/28)
Access to and decision making on credit (1/28)
Access to a financial account (1/28)
Income (1/7)
Control over use of income (1/14)
Autonomy over income (1/14)
Leadership (1/7) Group membership (1/7)
Time (1/7) Workload (1/7)
Mobility (1/7) Ability to visit important locations (1/7)
Intrahousehold (1/7)
Respect among household members (1/14)
Attitudes about domestic violence (1/14)
Pro-WEAI
7 Domains
14 Indicators
Equal weights
80% empowerment
cutoff
48. Contribution of each indicator to
disempowerment
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
Women Men Women Men Attitudes about domestic violence
Respect between household members
Ability to visit important locations
Workload
Group membership
Autonomy in income
Control over use of income
Access to a financial account
Access to and decisions on credit
Decision-making over land
Asset ownership
Autonomy in production
Access to information
Input in productive decisions
A-WEAI Pro-WEAI
49. A-WEAI: Contribution of each domain to
disempowermentSouth Asia: Women
Production
Resources
Income
Leadership
Time
South Asia: Men
Africa: Women Africa: Men
50. Pro-WEAI: Contribution of each domain to
disempowermentSouth Asia: Women
Production
Resources
Income
Leadership
South Asia: Men
Africa: Women Time
Mobility
Intrahousehold
relationships
Africa: Men
51. Collaboration with Emory University
Psychometric assessment of pro-WEAI
Focus on measurement invariance across
geographic setting, program type, and time
Led by Dr. Kathryn Yount and team
52. Validation of the health and nutrition modules
Sub-indicators
Participation and input in
decisions about women’s and
child’s health
Participation in decisions about
purchasing health products
Ability to acquire health products
Cognitive testing
GOAL: Health and nutrition add-on
54. How many assets are needed to be “empowered”?
Ownership of assets: Owns at least 2 small assets or 1 large asset
93.3% of women, 99.6% of men
Quantitative approach
Use baseline data to test different thresholds for the indicator.
Qualitative approach
Investigate the context and local definitions of empowerment.
Is owning a chicken and a radio empowering?
Should a cell phone be considered a large asset?
55. Are sensitive modules administered effectively?
Some questions are hard to ask: credit, respect/trust of partner, domestic violence
Quantitative approach
Were participants willing to answer? Are there any unexpected trends in the baseline data?
Qualitative approach
Do the qualitative findings reflect the quantitative results?
Enumerator training
Train enumerators carefully, pilot test, and request feedback.
Cognitive testing
What are the local connotations of the terms “trust” and “respect”?
Did the translations capture the intended meaning?
“A prepared and empathetic
field team would take note
and ‘soften’ the situation if
participants feel
uncomfortable answering
questions.”
“It is a wife’s ‘duty’ to respect her husband,
so it would be surprising for a person to say
they do not respect their spouse.”
56. How should we define “overworked”?
Workload: Worked < 10.5 hours in the last day
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 +
1
2
(𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦)
Quantitative approach
Use baseline data to test different thresholds and ways to incorporate childcare in
the indicator.
Qualitative approach
Investigate local perceptions of work and leisure.
When do respondents feel overworked?
Are certain work or childcare activities more taxing?
“In our qualitative data,
women with too much work
could not be empowered no
matter what else happened in
their lives. The empowered
women were all older because
younger women all had
excessive workloads.”
57. How many assets are needed to be “empowered”?
Are sensitive modules administered effectively?
How should we define “overworked”?
58. Keep in touch!
Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase II (GAAP2)
Website: gaap.ifpri.info
WEAI Resource Center: ifpri.org/topic/weai-resource-center
Gender-Nutrition Idea Exchange (GNIE) Blog:
a4nh.cgiar.org/category/gender-2/gender-nutrition-idea-
exchange/
Pro-WEAI Resource Center: Stay tuned…!
For more information, contact Hazel Malapit:
h.malapit@cgiar.org
GAAP2 is supported by:
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
Editor's Notes
So, if not primarily through general economic growth, how does agriculture affect nutrition? Lets look at the household level…
Child nutrition is the outcome we are interested in affecting
Here is agricultural production, all the way upstream- so how are they linked?
There are three important levels at which processes occur- at the individual level, the household level, and in the environment within which these exist
At the individual level, the direct determinants of nutritional status are a child’s diet and health status
Underlying these at household level are the food, health and care determinants of nutritional status
Food may be produced directly by the household, which along with post-harvest handling will be a determinant of food access
Or agricultural income may allow for the purchase of foods for the household
And that same agricultural income may also be spent on non-food items- most importantly for nutrition, on health care
For nutrition, the empowerment of women to make decisions about household expenditures on food and health, caring and feeding practices, and time and energy use is paramount- this directly affects many of the previous pathways, and in addition a woman’s health and nutritional status directly affects the health and nutrition of her child
Affecting each of these major pathways between agriculture and nutrition are several broader environmental factors. Nutrition knowledge mediates many of the decisions made within the household and for individuals within the household
Knowledge of nutrition and health may affect the choice of crops planted or foods purchased for family consumption; the way animals are kept in relation to household space; the treatment of water through agricultural practices; and what goods and services are prioritized for purchase with income from agricultural production, to name but a few.
The food market environment shapes what food is produced, as well as the prices it may be bought and sold at, and what is available to buy
The food environment in the market affects the kinds of foods that are possible and likely to be purchased for a household. Purchase decisions are further affected by the relative prices and convenience of various foods, available information about them, and how they are marketed to different groups. All market-oriented production affects the food market environment in some way, and all food purchase decisions are influenced by it.
The natural resources available within the environment affect many aspects of agricultural production, as well as being affected by agriculture
Including water, soil, climate, biodiversity, and air quality, natural resources can be managed in ways that affect both productivity and health- think of water for instance, and the impact on health if it is contaminated by agricultural runoff.
And the health environment, including safe water and agricultural contaminants, directly affects the immediate determinants of nutritional status
Examples of the effect of agricultural practices on health risks include exposure to zoonotic disease or agrochemicals, which can be particularly risky during pregnancy. Infants and young children also may be at risk of illness if livestock or other production reduces sanitary conditions in homes.
Finally, the links between agriculture and nutrition are bi-directional: the nutritional status of children shapes the future nutrition profile of the household and of the nation, with demonstrated impacts on future productivity of individuals and economic growth of countries- and so the cycle continues
The WEAI was developed by IFPRI, USAID, and OPHI in 2012 to measure the greater inclusion of women in the agricultural sector as a result of US Government’s Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative
It is a survey-based index constructed using interviews of the primary male and primary female adults in the same household
Key aspect of index construction: similar to family of 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
Emphasizing why it’s important to include such metrics for tracking whether women/men are being empowered or disempowered by agricultural interventions
Nutrition and health data from TRAIN, FAARM, WorldVeg, and Grameen. WINGS is planning to collect that module in their midline; iDE may include it in their endline in November 2017; and MoreMilk may also include it in their baseline.
Livestock-enhanced data is available for Trias and SE LEVER, and MoreMilk is planning to in their baseline in early 2018. Still waiting to hear back from WINGS.
Sampling design and respondent choice are related, but separate issues
Pro-WEAI results shouldn't be interpreted as being representative nationally or regionally--which is often why it gets misinterpreted
Testing and validation using qualitative and quantitative data, incorporating implementation lessons from the field
Participants will have a corresponding worksheet to complete for this slide.
Light purple is completely *optional*
Dark purple has some questions/elements that are *optional*
Example: MoreMilk
Qualitative as formative research to inform how to adapt the pro-WEAI survey for peri-urban milk traders
Qualitative between the baseline and endline to understand local definitions of empowerment, explain quantitative indicators of empowerment, verify or challenge quantitative results
All women, women who have been pregnant in the last two years, women who have a child under age 2
Could time frame restrictions based on the project’s objectives
Change time frame restrictions for follow-up to ensure the same sampling frame
Measurement invariance – how similar items function across settings, program types, and time
Image source: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=168718&picture=measuring-tape
Example: MoreMilk
Qualitative as formative research to inform how to adapt the pro-WEAI survey for peri-urban milk traders
Qualitative between the baseline and endline to understand local definitions of empowerment, explain quantitative indicators of empowerment, verify or challenge quantitative results
Small: poultry, non-mechanized farm equipment, small consumer durables
10.5 hours is based on the median workload from the WEAI pilots
Want to incorporate childcare to help the indicator assess quality of work/time
Currently have pro-WEAI baseline data from 9 projects
More than half of the data is from South Asia (TRAIN is large); will account for this unevenness in validation
Remaining four projects (ANGeL, iDE, WINGS, and MoreMilk) will collect pro-WEAI in late 2017 or 2018
Most projects will collect two rounds of pro-WEAI data by 2020
Pro-WEAI harsher on women than A-WEAI
Fewer women identified as empowered (leads to lower 5DE)
Fewer households identified as achieving gender parity (leads to lower GPI)
Pro-WEAI harsher on women than A-WEAI
Fewer women identified as empowered (leads to lower 5DE)
Fewer households identified as achieving gender parity (leads to lower GPI)
Pro-WEAI harsher on women than A-WEAI
Fewer women identified as empowered (leads to lower 5DE)
Fewer households identified as achieving gender parity (leads to lower GPI)