Women’s Empowerment as Pathway to Food Security and Productivity

Dr. Pranati Mohanraj

MEL Advisor, CARE USA

GENDER - JUST FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY IN INDIA

AUGUST 29, 2016

Pathways Objectives and Program Countries

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Objective 1: To increase the productive engagement of 50,000 poor women in sustainable agriculture, and contribute to their empowerment

Objective 2: To enhance the scale of high-quality, women-responsive agriculture programming

Objective 3: To contribute to the global discourse that surrounds women and agriculture

70%20%

10%

Program Objectives and Theory of Change

Nurturing collectives for livelihoods capacities and social change

Group Maturity

Categories:

•Category A - Prepared to graduate. Adopted 80 % of the practices.

•Category B – Performing well. Adopted 50-80 % of the practices. •Category C – Lagging behind . Adopted 25 – 50 % of the practices. •Category D – Failing to adopt key (0 – 25%) or very newly recruited.

Impact and target groups, members and outreach, 2015

India

Number of groups by type:Self Help Groups 591

Farmers Club 22

Co-operatives 3

Forests Right Committee 71

Forest Protection Committee 22

Water Users Association 18

Watershed Committee 25

Total number of groups 752

Total number of women farmers and other target group reached by type:Women smallholder farmers 13,006

Men and Boys (e.g. spouses) 40,000

Elites including traditional leaders 150

Pathways interventions

The Farmer Field and Business School

Sustainable agriculture

Market engagement

Nutrition

Gender & empowerment

Group Strengthening

P-MLE

Seasonal Planning

Toolkit

Community Based Trainers

Agency & Skills

Changing the behaviors, practices and beliefs of:

Men, boys and power holders Input suppliers, traders, financiers Government officials, policy makers

Women as viable farmers, market actors, leaders Challenging underlying social norms & practicesAccess to productive resources

Structures & Relations

Measuring change

Impact Measures - Baseline and endline:

Coping Strategies Index

Household Dietary Diversity Score

Intra-household food access (women’s access)

HH asset index (and intra-household control)

Monthly per capita hh income (disaggregated by earner)

Household expenditures

Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI)

Annual Review Studies:•Productivity•Market access•Income and expenditures•Decision-making•Gender attitudes

Mid-term evaluation:•Men’s engagement•Intra-household change•Social norm change

Participatory Performance Tracker (PPT):•Adoption of practices•Group maturity

Results: Food and nutrition security & coping strategies

Significant improvements in food and nutrition security:

- Mean HH dietary diversity score improved from 4.1 to 5.4

- Women's intra-hh food access increased to 5.3 from 3.9

Coping strategies -HHs adapting at least one strategy to reduce impact of future shocks increased to 94.8% from 56.5%

Adaptation strategies % of householdsBL EL

Accessed additional land 2.3 28.8Changed crops 22.1 57.6Invested in irrigation infrastructure 5.8 41.5Diversified income generating activities 18.2 38.3Purchased additional livestock 8.3 22.6Invested in savings 44 72.7Invested in animal health care* - 29.5Improved drainage or constructed dams or dykes*

- 26.2

Stored food for future use* - 30.1Reinforced housing* - 3.7

• % of HHs with women earning income from agricultural production tripled to 84.8% from 31.8%

Results: Increased Productivity

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Results: Access to Productive Resources

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Extension services Increased more than three times - 89% at

endline compared to 23.8% at BL

Inputs- Quality seed, and equipment Rose to 89% at endline from 37% at BL

Improved technology - Improved varieties, post-harvest mgt

Market info & business support services

MRCs & women membership

Results: Women’s Empowerment

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Women's empowerment index (WEI)

% of women achieving empowerment (.80 or greater)  BL ELAll households 4.7 10.7Female HHHs 16.2 42.9Male HHHs 1.2 3.7

Women’s empowerment score (mean)All households 0.47 0.53Female HHHs 0.61 0.75

Male HHHs 0.16 0.16

Women in focus groups nearly universally describe themselves as more empowered economically and socially within their households and community

Results: Women’s Empowerment

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Domain Indicator % of women achieving

BL ELProduction Decision-making input for hh productive decision  78.4 89.9

Autonomy in one or more hh production domains 14.6 26.7

Resources Sole or joint ownership of at least 50% of hh assets 45.1 67.5

Sole/joint control over purchase/sale of hh assets 29.3 54.3

Access to and decisions on credit 44.7 49.7Income  Control over hh income & expenditures   56.2 48.8Leadership Participating in formal and informal groups 90.5 99.1

Confident speaking about gender & com. issues  60.8 74.9

Demonstrating political participation 50.1 68.0Express self-confidence 41.4 48.7

Autonomy Satisfied with time available for leisure activities 89.2 85.8Achieving a mobility score of 16 or greater 20.0 33.3Expressing attitudes supporting gender equitable roles 

45.9 48.7

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“Earlier we used to think women are just for

cooking and taking care of children; now their

roles and responsibilities have changed.”

- Men FG, Taldanaju

“These days, because of the SHG, women know rates of our produce and we always seek

their suggestion before selling so that we get the best price.”

- Men FG, Taldanaju

“Previously women didn’t have courage to speak to their husbands about household work. We were not supported in any way even when we were having babies. Recently husbands are supporting wives like cooking and taking care of children.”

- SHG members, Dokedi

“Earlier women were afraid of men. They

weren’t allowing women to attend meetings. Now we

are taking decisions together about cultivation,

income generation, household purchases and

children’s education.”

- SHG Women, Dedar

Reflections: Role of SHG

• Vehicle for empowerment and being more productive

• Participation in SHG brought notable changes in women’s lives:

- increased skills, confidence, and solidarity

- more confident speaking to husbands and voicing opinions• Forms a network of support for women in the community

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“My husband was not allowing me to join the group, SHG members

talked to him and made him understand the benefits of group

membership. Now he is supportive of me attending

SHG meetings.”

Reflections

Group participation and income generation is key to enable positive changes

SHG participation enables women to gain self-confidence and take collective action on

social issues

Sequencing & interconnectedness of interventions

Participatory Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches

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“Because we formed a group, we feel confident and

courageous to face and overcome the

challenges .”

Research implications

• HH income appeared to be notoriously unreliable indicator for measuring income

• Coping Strategy Index needs to be augmented to incorporate recent improvements in resilience measurement

• Difficult to attribute empowerment impacts to the program directly in the absence of counterfactuals

• Concept of ‘jointness’ in decision making could be misleading (discrepancy between quantitative and qualitative findings)

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Thank you!

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“I am producing more now and got more income this year because we sold our produce as a group through collective marketing. There is more harmony in my home these days, thanks to the increased income. It makes me happy when my husband appreciates my contribution to the family.”…

“I am producing more now and got more income this year because we sold our produce as a group through collective marketing. There is more harmony in my home these days, thanks to the increased income. It makes me happy when my husband appreciates my contribution to the family.”…