Telling the story of rural women and their empowerment through SDGs and WEAI Clare Bishop-Sambrook, Lead Technical Specialist (Gender and Social Inclusion) International Fund for Agricultural Development

‘Globally and with only a few exceptions, rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women and men for every MDG indicator for which data are available.’ Rural women: from MDGs to SDGs Rural women’s lives and livelihoods Economic empowerment Resources, profitable economic activities, benefits Decision-making and voice Membership and leadership - producer organizations, civic and political bodies, household Workloads Water, sanitation, energy sources Quality of life Nutrition, health, gender-based violence, harmful traditional practices SDGs 2: Hunger, food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture 5: Gender equality and women’s empowerment

IFAD and project logic Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index IFPRI USAID OPHI Enhanced sustainable and equitable development impacts Gender mainstreaming/ transformative approaches in project implementation Gender mainstreaming/ transformative approaches in project design Activities Outputs Outcomes Impacts Gender equality and women’s empowerment

WEAI and two sub-indices Five domains of empowerment (90% of index) Women’s empowerment in five dimensions Gender parity index (10%) Women’s achievement’s relative to the primary male in hh Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) Index range from zero to one: higher values = greater empowerment Identifies HOW women are/ aren't empowered -can support project design Identifies WHO is empowered: relative/relational empowerment of women within HH Measures absolute and relative levels of women empowerment

Domains of empowerment and indicators Five dimensions of empowerment IndicatorsWeight Production1. Input in productive decisions1/10 2. Autonomy in production *1/10 Resources3. Ownership of assets1/15 4. Purchase, sale, or transfer of assets *1/15 5. Access to and decisions on credit1/15 Income6. Control over use of income1/5 Leadership7. Group member1/10 8. Speaking in public *1/10 Time9. Workload1/ Leisure *1/10 * New WEAI (2015): Proposed indicators to drop; weighting adjusted

A woman who achieved the standard of "adequate" with 80% or more of weighted indicators – Lilian is empowered Example 1 – Lilian in Uganda

A woman who achieved the standard of "adequate" with 80% or more of weighted indicators - Seema is not empowered Example 2 – Seema in Bangladesh

Example 3 – Gender parity index Source Contribution of each indicator to disempowerment, Bangladesh Overall (13 countries) Credit Workloads Group membership

IFAD and use of WEAI Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index Enhanced sustainable and equitable development impacts Gender mainstreaming/ transformative approaches in project implementation Gender mainstreaming/ transformative approaches in project design Activities Outputs Outcomes Impacts Gender equality and women’s empowerment

Issues Length, individual rather than household, polygamous households, seasonality Statistical analysis on existing and additional data sets Fewer indicators (one per domain): underestimates disempowerment Fewer questions per indicator: overestimates disempowerment Better fit when choosing indicators and questions through multiple component analysis, country-specific Reduced questionnaire Pilot in ongoing impact studies Additional questions to capture empowerment dimensions relevant to IFAD’s work (eg credit, groups, time use) IFAD adaptations

Evidence-based investments and policy dialogue on links between women’s empowerment and improved project performance outcomes and impacts