The Gender and Agricultural Assets Project (GAAP) aims to reduce the gap between men's and women's control of assets through evaluating how agricultural development programs build women's assets. The 3-year project is led by IFPRI and ILRI and includes evaluations of projects in Africa and South Asia that transfer individual assets, provide infrastructure, or develop new crop varieties. The project uses a conceptual framework that views gender as central to assets, livelihoods, income, consumption, savings, and well-being in order to identify how building assets differs for men and women.

1. How project
interventions can reduce
the gender-asset gap
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

2. The Gender and
Agricultural Assets Project (GAAP)
 Objective: To reduce the gap between men’s and women’s
control and ownership of assets, broadly defined, by
evaluating how and how well agricultural development
programs build women’s assets;
 Three-year project, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation (mid 2010-2012);
 Jointly lead by IFPRI and ILRI , including 8 core project
collaborators working in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia;
 Mix of qualitative and quantitative (Q2) expertise and
evaluation methodologies;
 Dreaming big and thinking ahead: Might be the start of a
new paradigm in agricultural development programming!

3. Project Team
Agnes Quisumbing(IFPRI)
Jemimah Njuki (ILRI)
Nancy Johnson(ILRI)
Ruth Meinzen-Dick (IFPRI)
Dee Rubin (Cultural Practice LLP)
Amber Peterman (IFPRI)
Elizabeth Waithanji (ILRI)
Julia Behrman (IFPRI)
Shalini Roy (IFPRI)
Ginette Minot (IFPRI)
More information at: http://genderassets.wordpress.com
3

4. 3 types of projects included in the portfolio
1. Projects that transfer (or facilitate acquisition of) individual assets:
• Landesa (India—Land);
• BRAC-Targeting the Ultra Poor (Bangladesh—Livestock);
• Land O’ Lakes (Mozambique—Dairy cows);
• KickStart (Tanzania and Kenya—micro-irrigation pumps).
2. Projects that build infrastructure and provide equipment to
increase agricultural productivity and income:
• CARE-Bangladesh (and its twin, EADD—training, group formation);
3. Projects that develop improved crop varieties and agricultural
practices:
• Cereal Systems in South Asia (India—rice);
• Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato (Uganda—new variety);
• Helen Keller International (Burkina Faso—vegetables).

5. Asset Transfer Projects: Common Themes
 Understanding cultural concepts of
ownership (what does it mean to own or
control an asset?);
 Identifying and understanding gender-
specific barriers to asset acquisition and
control;
 Measuring impact of asset transfers on
men’s and women’s assets and the gender
asset gap;
 Methods of increasing women’s ownership
of /control over key assets over time (even
if asset transferred to her, no guarantee she MoneyMaker! Treadle
has control; if asset transfer is not targeted, pump in Kenya
examining if there are gender biases in
asset acquisition and how to overcome
these).

6. Unpacking the “Gender Box”
Photo credit: Agnes Quisumbing
6

7. Why have a conceptual framework?
 Helps identify HOW:
• Gendered asset distribution affects outcomes
• Outcome of agricultural programs differs by
gender
• Building assets takes place in a way that is
gendered
 Guides attention to key processes for evaluation
 Provides basis for comparison and learning
across different case studies

8. Each component is gendered
Women’s JOINT Men’s
 Women and men have separate assets,
activities, consumption, etc.
 Households also have some joint assets,
activities, consumption, etc.
 Shading of each component as a reminder
that we need to consider gender—separation
and jointness in each

9. Context: Ecological, Social, Economic, Political factors, etc.
Shocks
Consumption
Livelihood
Assets Strategies Full Incomes Well-being
Savings/
Investment
Legend: Women Joint Men

10. ♀ Context ♂
 Agroecology
 Location
 Institutions
 Markets
 Gender relations
 etc.

11. ♀ Assets ♂
•Natural
•Physical
•Financial
•Human
•Social
•Political
•Enable livelihoods
•Resist shocks
•Direct effect on well-being

12. ♀ Livelihood Strategies ♂
•What are the livelihood options available to
women and men?
•What assets do those livelihoods require?
•Are women (or men) precluded from good
livelihoods by lack of assets?

13. ♀ Shocks ♂
•What are the major shocks that affect
women, men, and households?
•How do women, men respond to shocks?
•What role do assets play in responding to
shocks?

14. ♀ Full Income♂
• Includes cash and direct consumption
• What affects the income women and men
earn?
• What affects the control of income within
the household?

15. ♀ Consumption ♂
• Includes food and nonfood
• How are women’s, men’s, and joint
income used for different types of
consumption by different family members?
• What affects decisions on consumption?
(Does control of assets play a role?)

16. ♀ Savings/Investment ♂
• This feeds back to + or – asset
accumulation
•How are women’s, men’s, and joint
income used for different types of
investment by different family members?
• What affects decisions on investment?
• Are there enough mechanisms for women
to build assets?

17. ♀ Well-Being ♂
•Health
•Nutritional status
•Time use
•Stress
•Empowerment
•etc.

18. Context: Ecological, Social, Economic, Political factors, etc.
Shocks
Consumption
Livelihood
Assets Strategies Full Incomes Well-being
Savings/
Investment
Legend: Women Joint Men