SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Unpacking measurement challenges in Women’s Economic Empowerment Emilie Gettliffe, MSA Sonia Jordan, ASI Rebecca Furst-Nichols, UN Foundation Hazel Malapit, IFPRI

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Why are we here?

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Who is here?

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Let’s get to unpacking!

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Unpacking the challenges The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation Sonia Jordan, ASI

Impact Indicator: No of poor people within market systems who have experienced net positive income change as a result of the intervention Female counts as beneficiary No beneficiary SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge

Impact Indicator: No of poor people within market systems who have experienced net positive income change as a result of the intervention Female counts as beneficiary Male counts as beneficiary Both count as beneficiaries None of the above SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge

= Impact Indicator: No of poor people within market systems who have experienced net positive income change as a result of the intervention Female counts as beneficiary Male counts as beneficiary Both count as beneficiaries None of the above SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge

Impact Indicator: No of poor people within market systems who have experienced net positive income change as a result of the intervention = Female counts as beneficiary Male counts as beneficiary Both count as beneficiaries None of the above SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge

Who counts as benefitting in market systems programs? The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation Head of Family unit Head of Enterprise unit(s) M M F F F F M M Labour (internal or external to the FU) Potential for multiple productive units within or aligned to family units SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge M M Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 3Unit 2 M M F F M M F F F F F F M M M M

Who counts as benefitting in market systems programs? The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation Head of Family unit Head of Enterprise unit(s) M M F F F F M M Labour (internal or external to the FU) Potential for multiple measurement points SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge M M Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 3Unit 2 M M F F M M F F F F F F M M M M M M F F M M M M M M M M F F F F F F F F F F M M M M

Who counts as benefitting in market systems programs? The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation Head of Family unit Head of Enterprise unit(s) M M F F F F M M Labour (internal or external to the FU) Potential for differential impact SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge M M Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 3Unit 2 M M F F M M F F F F F F M M M M Revenue As Payment or alternative reward mechanism Through control of assets and income

Access to inputs / information Using gender-disaggregated log-frames as a sole means to understand gendered impact in market systems programs is always limiting, and can be distortive The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation The problem of gender-disaggregation in log-frames Gender norms Perceptions of empowerment Examples Decision-making over income Decision-making over inputs Division of labour and non- monetary inputs (time) Roles & responsibilities Mobility Access to income Access to production inputs Access to markets SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Do market system programs need to move beyond increased incomes as their key beneficiary focussed impact indicator? What can we learn from WEE-specific programming? Empowerment Agency Increased income Access

1.How can we better understand who within a mixed-sex household or enterprise actually benefits from our interventions? 2.And how exactly they benefit (or don’t benefit)? Through improved access? Increased income? Or empowerment? 3.Finally, how can an understanding of the first two questions improve how we design, implement and monitor interventions to catalyse WEE in market systems? The Challenge of Understanding Gendered Impact in Market Systems Facilitation Three Conundrums SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Unpacking the challenges Women are embedded in households, which makes it difficult to separate and measure the effects of programs in one domain when they ‘spill over’ into another domain, as happens often in households Rebecca Furst-Nichols, UN Foundation

Women are embedded in households, which makes it difficult to separate and measure the effects of programs in one domain when they ‘spill over’ into another domain, as happens often in households. Women’s family roles may influence business choices and returns to those businesses (strong interdependence between women's economic and social roles). Measuring the unobservable, subjective elements of economic empowerment is difficult but important, since it both impacts final outcomes and may itself be a valued outcome. SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Three Conundrums

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Examples of direct, intermediate and final outcomes

1.Given the interdependence of women’s economic and social roles, it is important to measure both economic and social outcomes to understand women’s economic empowerment. 2.It is also important to measure both individual and household effects, considering the broader context of women’s well-being in the household. 3.The “what” and the “how” of an evaluation matter equally: “what” refers to the outcomes measured, “how” to the evaluation design. 4.No evaluation is better than a poorly designed evaluation. 5.Not every program can be rigorously evaluated, but we can learn something of value from every program. 6.Complementary qualitative work is important to understand the “why” behind results, which can be quite useful for program staff. SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Six Principles from the Researchers’ Convening

OutcomeOutcome levelIndicator Business incomeFinal Number of employees in own business Business incomeFinal Business revenue in own business Business practicesIntermediate Adoption of recommended business practices in own business Gender roles/normsIntermediateDecision-making role in own business SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Urban Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders

OutcomeOutcome levelIndicator Household incomeFinal Household consumption per capita of selected items Agricultural practicesIntermediate Adoption of recommended agricultural practices in own or family farm Gender roles/normsIntermediateDecision-making role in own or family farm SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Rural Women Entrepreneurs and Farmers

OutcomeOutcome levelIndicator Individual assetsFinalValue of financial assets Individual assetsFinalValue of motor vehicles Individual assetsFinalValue of mobile phones Satisfaction with lifeFinal Overall satisfaction with life Satisfaction with lifeFinal Satisfaction with current work/job Self-confidenceFinal, intermediateOverall self-confidence Technology adoption and effective use IntermediateIntensity of mobile phone use for business purposes SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge All Women

SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Unpacking the challenges Measuring a moving target Hazel Malapit, IFPRI

How do you measure a process? – Direct vs proxy measures How quickly can change happen? – Measuring change over time – Shifting relevance of indicators over time Who should be the judge? – Inherent subjectivity; what do women value? – Validation using women’s own experience and interpretation of empowerment SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Empowerment = a process of increasing power!

1.The challenge of understanding gendered impact in market systems facilitation 2.The challenge of women’s embedded status within households, which makes it difficult to separate and measure the effects of programs in one domain when they ‘spill over’ into another domain, as happens often in households 3.The challenge of measuring empowerment recognising it as a changing process SEEP Annual Conference 2015 Inclusion and Resilience: The Next Challenge Unpacking Measurement Challenges in Women’s Economic Empowerment Session Challenges