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How do agricultural development projects empower women? Linking strategies with expected outcomes

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  • Johnson, Nancy
  • Balagamwala, Mysbah
  • Pinkstaff, Crossley
  • Theis, Sophie
  • Meinsen-Dick, Ruth
  • Agnes, Quisumbing

Abstract

Increasing numbers of development agencies and individual projects espouse objectives of women’s empowerment, and there is a growing body of conceptual and empirical work on how to define and measure empowerment. What is missing is an evidence base on how and how much agricultural development projects can contribute to empowerment. What activities or combinations of activities contribute to empowerment, through what mechanisms, and in what contexts? While it will take time to fill that gap, this paper makes two contributions in that direction. First, it develops a framework for clarifying the objectives of development projects that differentiates between projects that seek to reach, benefit or empower women. Next, the paper identifies and analyzes the strategies of 13 agricultural development projects that were designed to empower women. Strategies are analyzed in terms of activities undertaken and domains of empowerment targeted. While strategies vary across projects, they have several characteristics in common that would be expected to contribute to empowerment.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnson, Nancy & Balagamwala, Mysbah & Pinkstaff, Crossley & Theis, Sophie & Meinsen-Dick, Ruth & Agnes, Quisumbing, 2018. "How do agricultural development projects empower women? Linking strategies with expected outcomes," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 3(2), December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:afgend:293596
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.293596
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Malapit, Hazel & Quisumbing, Agnes & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Seymour, Greg & Martinez, Elena M. & Heckert, Jessica & Rubin, Deborah & Vaz, Ana & Yount, Kathryn M., 2019. "Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 675-692.
    2. Balasubramanian, Pooja & Ibanez, Marcela & Khan, Sarah & Sahoo, Soham, 2024. "Does women's economic empowerment promote human development in low- and middle-income countries? A meta-analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. McCarthy, Aine Seitz & Krause, Brooke, 2024. "Age and Agency: Evidence from a Women’s Empowerment Program in Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    4. Stella Nordhagen & Abdoulaye Traoré, 2022. "Group-based approaches to nutrition-sensitive agriculture: insights from a post-project sustainability study in Côte d’Ivoire," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(2), pages 337-353, April.
    5. Katie Tavenner & Todd A. Crane, 2022. "Hitting the target and missing the point? On the risks of measuring women’s empowerment in agricultural development," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 849-857, September.
    6. Constanza Gonzalez Parrao & Shannon Shisler & Marta Moratti & Cem Yavuz & Arnab Acharya & John Eyers & Birte Snilstveit, 2021. "Aquaculture for improving productivity, income, nutrition and women's empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    7. Waid, Jillian L. & Wendt, Amanda S. & Sinharoy, Sheela S. & Kader, Abdul & Gabrysch, Sabine, 2022. "Impact of a homestead food production program on women's empowerment: Pro-WEAI results from the FAARM trial in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Alessandra Galiè & Dina Najjar & Patti Petesch & Lone Badstue & Cathy Rozel Farnworth, 2022. "Livestock Innovations, Social Norms, and Women’s Empowerment in the Global South," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Constanza Gonzalez Parrao & Marta Moratti & Shannon Shisler & Birte Snilstveit & John Eyers, 2021. "PROTOCOL: Aquaculture for improving productivity, income, nutrition and women's empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    10. Mangubhai, Sangeeta & Lawless, Sarah & Cowley, Anna & Mangubhai, Jayshree P. & Williams, Meryl J., 2022. "Progressing gender equality in fisheries by building strategic partnerships with development organisations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Agnes Quisumbing & Jessica Heckert & Simone Faas & Gayathri Ramani & Kalyani Raghunathan & Hazel Malapit, 2021. "Women’s empowerment and gender equality in agricultural value chains: evidence from four countries in Asia and Africa," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1101-1124, October.

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