PROTOCOL: Gender transformative approaches in agriculture for women's empowerment: A systematic review.
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SUBMITTER: Singh S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9270661 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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PROTOCOL: Gender transformative approaches in agriculture for women's empowerment: A systematic review.
Singh Sabina S Mohan Ashima A Saran Ashrita A Puskur Ranjitha R Mishra Avni A Etale Linda L Cole Steven Michael SM Masset Edoardo E Waddington Hugh Sharma HS MacDonald Heather H White Howard H
Campbell systematic reviews 20220709 3
This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objective of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of interventions with gender transformative approach (GTA) components in improving women's empowerment in low- and middle-income countries, and to curate evidence on the mechanisms through which GTA works to improve women's empowerment in agriculture. ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundThis review focuses on studies about digital health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly adopting gender-transformative approaches to address factors that derail women's access to maternal healthcare services. However, there remains a paucity of synthesized evidence on gender-transformative digital health programs for maternal healthcare and the corresponding research, program and policy implications. Therefore, this systematic review aims to synthesize evidence of approaches to transformative gender integration in digital health programs (specifically mHealth) for maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodThe following key terms "mobile health", "gender", "maternal health", "sub-Saharan Africa" were used to conduct electronic searches in the following databases: PsycInfo, EMBASE, Medline (OVID), CINAHL, and Global Health databases. The method and results are reported as consistent with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Data synthesis followed a convergent approach for mixed-method systematic review recommended by the JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute).ResultsOf the 394 studies retrieved from the databases, 11 were included in the review. Out of these, six studies were qualitative in nature, three were randomized control trials, and two were mixed-method studies. Findings show that gender transformative programs addressed one or more of the following categories: (1) gender norms/roles/relations, (2) women's specific needs, (3) causes of gender-based health inequities, (4) ways to transform harmful gender norms, (5) promoting gender equality, (6) progressive changes in power relationships between women and men. The most common mHealth delivery system was text messages via short message service on mobile phones. The majority of mHealth programs for maternal healthcare were focused on reducing unintended pregnancies through the promotion of contraceptive use. The most employed gender transformative approach was a focus on women's specific needs.ConclusionFindings from gender transformative mHealth programs indicate positive results overall. Those reporting negative results indicated the need for a more explicit focus on gender in mHealth programs. Highlighting gender transformative approaches adds to discussions on how best to promote mHealth for maternal health through a gender transformative lens and provides evidence relevant to policy and research.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42023346631.
| S-EPMC10662097 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Abstract This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows: The primary objective of this review is to understand as well as evaluate what approaches, strategies or interventions focused on women's engagement in agricultural value chains and markets that have led to women's economic empowerment in low‐and‐middle‐income countries. The secondary objective of this review is to examine in which contexts are these approaches effective (or ineffective)? What are the contextual barriers and facilitators, determining the participation of women in, and benefits from, engagement in the value chain in low‐and middle‐income countries programme effectiveness. Finally, this review aims to refine the theory of change that describes how value chain interventions lead to women's economic empowerment using evidence drawn from both rigorous quantitative impact evaluation studies and qualitative studies.
| S-EPMC10286722 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Abstract This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The main objective of the review is to answer the following questions: What is the impact of mechanisation on agriculture? What is the impact of mechanisation on women's economic empowerment? The study will review the impact of mechanisation on labour demand and supply, land and labour productivity, farmers' incomes, health and women's empowerment. All literature will be considered, including nonintervention studies and studies not reporting gender‐disaggregated results.
| S-EPMC10288359 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo examine the association between women's empowerment in agriculture and nutritional status among children under 2 years of age in rural Nepal.DesignCross-sectional survey of 4080 households conducted in 2012. Data collected included: child and maternal anthropometric measurements; child age and sex; maternal age, education, occupation and empowerment in agriculture; and household size, number of children, religion, caste and agro-ecological zone. Associations between the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)'s Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE) sub-index and its ten component indicators and child length-for-age Z-scores (LAZ) and weight-for-length Z-scores (WLZ) were estimated, using ordinary least-squares regression models, with and without adjustments for key child, maternal and household level covariates.SettingTwo hundred and forty rural communities across sixteen districts of Nepal.SubjectsChildren under 24 months of age and their mothers (n 1787).ResultsThe overall WEAI 5DE was positively associated with LAZ (β=0·20, P=0·04). Three component indicators were also positively associated with LAZ: satisfaction with leisure time (β=0·27, P<0·01), access to and decisions regarding credit (β=0·20, P=0·02) and autonomy in production (β=0·10, P=0·04). No indicator of women's empowerment in agriculture was associated with WLZ.ConclusionsWomen's empowerment in agriculture, as measured by the WEAI 5DE and three of its ten component indicators, was significantly associated with LAZ, highlighting the potential role of women's empowerment in improving child nutrition in Nepal. Additional studies are needed to determine whether interventions to improve women's empowerment will improve child nutrition.
| S-EPMC10271315 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Women's empowerment is a process that includes increases in intrinsic agency (power within); instrumental agency (power to); and collective agency (power with). We used baseline data from two studies-Targeting and Realigning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition (TRAIN) in Bangladesh and Building Resilience in Burkina Faso (BRB)-to assess the measurement properties of survey questions operationalizing selected dimensions of intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency in the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI). We applied unidimensional item-response models to question (item) sets to assess their measurement properties, and when possible, their cross-context measurement equivalence-a requirement of measures designed for cross-group comparisons. For intrinsic agency in the right to bodily integrity, measured with five attitudinal questions about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women, model assumptions of unidimensionality and local independence were met. Four items showed good model fit and measurement equivalence across TRAIN and BRB. For item sets designed to capture autonomy in income, intrinsic agency in livelihoods activities, and instrumental agency in: livelihoods activities, the sale or use of outputs, the use of income, and borrowing from financial services, model assumptions were not met, model fit was poor, and items generally were weakly related to the latent (unobserved) agency construct. For intrinsic and instrumental agency in livelihoods activities and for instrumental agency in the sale or use of outputs and in the use of income, items sets had similar precision along the latent-agency continuum, suggesting that similar item sets could be dropped without a loss of precision. IRT models for collective agency were not estimable because of low reported presence and membership in community groups. This analysis demonstrates the use of IRT methods to assess the measurement properties of item sets in pro-WEAI, and empowerment scales generally. Findings suggest that a shorter version of pro-WEAI can be developed that will improve its measurement properties. We recommend revisions to the pro-WEAI questionnaire and call for new measures of women's collective agency.
| S-EPMC6876673 | biostudies-literature
Project description:With growing commitment to women's empowerment by agricultural development agencies, sound methods and indicators to measure women's empowerment are needed to learn which types of projects or project-implementation strategies do and do not work to empower women. The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which has been widely used, requires adaptation to meet the need for monitoring projects and assessing their impacts. In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women's (and men's) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women's empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI's distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment/disempowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women's empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.
| S-EPMC6694750 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAcross the globe, gender disparities still exist with regard to equitable access to resources, participation in decision-making processes, and gender and sexual-based violence. This is particularly true in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where women and girls are affected by both fragility and conflict in unique ways. While women have been acknowledged as key actors in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction (e.g., through the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda) evidence on the effectiveness of gender-specific and gender-transformative interventions to improve women's empowerment in fragile and conflict-affected states and situations (FCAS) remains understudied.ObjectivesThe purpose of this review was to synthesize the body of evidence around gender-specific and gender-transformative interventions aimed at improving women's empowerment in fragile and conflict-affected settings with high levels of gender inequality. We also aimed to identify barriers and facilitators that could affect the effectiveness of these interventions and to provide implications for policy, practice and research designs within the field of transitional aid.MethodsWe searched for and screened over 100,000 experimental and quasi-experimental studies focused on FCAS at the individual and community levels. We used standard methodological procedures outlined by the Campbell Collaboration for the data collection and analysis, including quantitative and qualitative analyses, and completed the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) methodology to assess the certainty around each body of evidence.ResultsWe identified 104 impact evaluations (75% randomised controlled trials) assessing the effects of 14 different types of interventions in FCAS. About 28% of included studies were assessed as having a high risk of bias (45% among quasi-experimental designs). Interventions supporting women's empowerment and gender equality in FCAS produced positive effects on the outcomes related to the primary focus of the intervention. There are no significant negative effects of any included interventions. However, we observe smaller effects on behavioural outcomes further along the causal chain of empowerment. Qualitative syntheses indicated that gender norms and practices are potential barriers to intervention effectiveness, while working with local powers and institutions can facilitate the uptake and legitimacy of interventions.ConclusionsWe observe gaps of rigorous evidence in certain regions (notably MENA and Latin America) and in interventions specifically targeting women as actors of peacebuilding. Gender norms and practices are important elements to consider in programme design and implementation to maximise potential benefits: focusing on empowerment only might not be enough in the absence of targeting the restrictive gender norms and practices that may undermine intervention effectiveness. Lastly, programme designers and implementation should consider explicitly targeting specific empowerment outcomes, promoting social capital and exchange, and tailoring the intervention components to the desired empowerment-related outcomes.
| S-EPMC8904729 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Women's empowerment has gained attention as critical for child nutrition during the first 1000 days of life. However, the ways in which various women's empowerment measures are applied and the evidence for how they are differentially related to child nutrition is unclear. In this systematic review, therefore, we 1) systematically parse the many ways in which women's empowerment has been quantitatively measured in the context of child nutrition through the use of a theoretically driven application of dimensions and domains of empowerment; 2) summarize evidence for each of the various pathways between women's empowerment and child nutrition, based on dimensions and domains of empowerment; and 3) offer suggestions for future research to better articulate the relationship between women's empowerment and child nutrition. A search of evidence yielded 62 quantitative studies that used 200 unique indicators of women's empowerment, tested in 1316 associations with various child nutrition outcomes. Despite the large number of unique indicators, indicators for time resource allocation and reproductive decisions and indicators for men's engagement in child care and nutrition, all pertinent to child nutrition, were missing. Overall, the findings indicated an inconclusive relationship between women's empowerment and child nutrition: 379 out of 461 (82% weighted) and 217 out of 258 (84% weighted) associations found with stunting and wasting outcomes, respectively, were not significant. The current lack of evidence is likely not due to the absence of an underlying relationship between women's empowerment and child nutrition, but rather limitations in study design. Future research should carefully select women's empowerment indicators in context-specific ways, aggregate them meaningfully, and use a longitudinal study design to conduct pathway and lifecycle analysis in appropriate populations to clarify the relationship between women's empowerment and child nutrition.
| S-EPMC6855975 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ContextOwning livestock can support women's empowerment and progress toward gender-equitable agri-food systems. Gender inequality, however, can reduce women's ownership of livestock and access to animal vaccines. Gender accommodative approaches (GAAs), and more recently gender transformative approaches (GTAs), are increasingly implemented in development interventions. However, their impact on women's empowerment has not been systematically tested. Here, we describe the 'Women Rear Project', implemented in northern Ghana between 2019 and 2023, and assess the impact of GTAs and GAAs on women's empowerment, ownership of livestock, and access to animal vaccines.ObjectiveWe sought to systematically assess changes conferred by GAAs and GTAs on gender norms and women's empowerment and access to animal vaccines.MethodsUsing a mixed-methods approach, in 2021 and 2023 we collected quantitative and qualitative data regarding women's empowerment, gender norms, and access to animal vaccines. Qualitative data regarding women's and men's conceptualizations of gender norms and women's empowerment were obtained via focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Quantitative survey data were obtained from 500 households, using the Women's Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI). Quantitative data on livelihood indicators were also collected, using the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) tool. We systematically assessed changes between baseline (2021) and endline (2023) in local conceptualizations of empowerment in the livestock sector, the effects of GTAs and GAAs on such conceptualizations, and how empowerment was experienced by women and men and the implications for women's access to animal vaccines.Results and conclusionLocal conceptualizations of empowerment in 2021, among both women and men, emphasized financial independence, decision-making autonomy, self-reliance, and problem-solving skills. In 2023, this conceptualization of empowerment had expanded to include the ability to act without external restrictions; women were empowered by managing resources, running successful businesses, and making decisions in consultation with their husbands. Furthermore, women in communities where GTAs had been enacted scored significantly higher in empowerment compared with women in communities where only GAAs had been introduced. Gender norms impacted empowerment indicators, with respect among household members and autonomy in income both contributing to disempowerment. Gender norms also affected respondents' reporting. Women's access to livestock vaccines was more positive in GTA/GAA communities. We recommend efforts are made to reduce restrictive gender norms and enhance women's empowerment and access to resources such as animal vaccines.SignificanceWe offer recommendations for pathways toward women's empowerment and healthy livestock via inclusive innovations in agri-food systems.
| S-EPMC11304341 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gender inequality and women's empowerment are two closely related issues. While the gender inequality index has been assessed by different studies, that of women's empowerment remained limited. In the present work, we attempted to evaluate the women's empowerment index by comparing it with the male partner's empowerment index in the same household. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) as a framework for reference. A questionnaire was designed to interview 300 people including both men and women in the same ethnic minority household in central Vietnam. The difference in the empowerment level between men and women was assessed through five-component empowerment indicators: agricultural participation, resource ownership, financial control, social organizations participation, and time usage. The results showed that up to 70% of women were disempowered compared to only 15% of men. The binary logistic model revealed the age at first marriage, the level of children's education, education level, distance to the nearest urban area, and the number of children were associated with women's empowerment; whereas age, income, and the level of gender awareness did not show any correlation.
| S-EPMC10406194 | biostudies-literature