An inception workshop for the Gender, Agriculture & Assets Project Phase 2 (GAAP2): Developing Project-Level Indicators to Measure Women’s Empowerment was held in January 2016. In this presentation Hazel Malapit of IFPRI introduces the Abbreviated WEAI (A-WEAI).

1. The Abbreviated WEAI
(A-WEAI)
Hazel Malapit, h.malapit@cgiar.org
Research Coordinator, International Food Policy Research Institute
GAAP2 Inception Workshop, ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya
January 27, 2016

2. Creating the A-WEAI
 USAID Goals
 Streamline survey
 Reduce time to administer by ~30%
 Improve problematic modules (time use, autonomy in production, credit, and speaking
in public)
 Process
 Developed pilot questionnaire (2013-early 2014)
 Conducted cognitive testing (summer 2014)
 Pilot fieldwork in Bangladesh and Uganda (summer-fall 2014)
 Analyzed data from pilots (early 2015)
 Outcomes
 Version of WEAI with 6 indicators and streamlined questions
 Intended for use by USAID, other donors, and potentially by national statistical systems
for household surveys

3. Original WEAI vs A-WEAI
DOMAIN INDICATORS WEIGHT
1 Production Input in productive
decisions
Autonomy in
production
1/10
1/10
2 Resources Ownership of assets
Purchase, sale, or
transfer of assets
Access to and
decisions on credit
1/15
1/15
1/15
3 Income Control over use of
income
1/5
4 Leadership Group membership
Speaking in public
1/10
1/10
5 Time Workload
Leisure
1/10
1/10
TOTAL 100%
DOMAIN INDICATORS WEIGHT
1 Production Input in productive
decisions
1/5
2 Resources Ownership of assets
Access to and
decisions on credit
2/15
1/15
3 Income Control over use of
income
1/5
4 Leadership Group membership 1/5
5 Time Workload 1/5
TOTAL 100%
Original: 5 domains, 10 indicators A-WEAI: 5 domains, 6 indicators

4. A-WEAI
 Pros:
 Shorter administration time compared with the original WEAI (reduced by 30%)
 Does not include some of the more problematic modules from original baselines
 When compared to the original WEAI using the second pilot data, the top two
constraints contributing to women’s and men’s disempowerment remained the
same
 Cons:
 Measures fewer indicators of empowerment; dropping four indicators
 Only comparable to original baselines if analysis is restricted to 6 indicators
 When compared to the original WEAI using the second pilot data, one of the top
three indicators contributing to women’s and men’s disempowerment changed
 CAVEAT: Pilots are based on small samples in 2 countries, so results are only
indicative

5. Production: Input in productive decisions

6. Production: Input in productive decisions
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if (1) individual participates BUT does not have at least some
input in decisions or (2) does not make the decisions nor feels s/he could to
at least a medium extent
Aggregation method
 Respondent must have achievement in two (must be above the threshold
for two activities)

7. Resources: Ownership of assets

8. Resources: Ownership of assets
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if household owns the type of asset BUT s/he does not own it
solely or jointly
Aggregation method
 Achievement if at least one asset except if only one small asset (D - Poultry,
F - non-mechanized equipment, K -small consumer durable)

9. Resources: Access to and decisions on credit

10. Resources: Access to and decisions on credit
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if household (1) has no credit OR (2) used a source of credit BUT
s/he did not participate in ANY decisions about it
Aggregation method
 Achievement in any

11. Income: Control over use of income

12. Income: Control over use of income
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if (1)individual participates BUT does not have at least some
input in decisions or (2) does not make the decisions nor feels s/he could to
at least a medium extent
Aggregation method
 Achievement if individual has some input in at least one activity as long as
not only (G) minor household expenditures

13. Leadership: Group membership

14. Leadership: Group membership
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if not part of any group
Aggregation method
 Achievement in at least one

15. Time: Workload

16. Time: Workload (FTF Haiti midterm survey)
 CAPI example
A A A A A A A A J J B B C C G G GG G G G G G G GG G G G G G G B B G GG G G G G G G G G G G G

17. Time: Workload
Inadequacy cutoff
 Inadequate if worked more than 10.5 hours in the previous day
Aggregation method
 N/A

18. Question: We are not sure we have the time to collect the entire A-WEAI module.
Is it possible to only measure particular domains of the A-WEAI and not administer
the Index in its entirety without threats to validity and reliability?
Answer: You can certainly measure particular domains (or even indicators) by
themselves, but please note that doing so does not result in the A-WEAI. The A-
WEAI is obtained by taking a weighted average of two subindexes, the 5DE and
GPI, and both of them are obtained by taking the weighted average of the 6
indicators representing the 5 domains. These 6 indicators can each be interpreted
on their own, so if you do not have time to administer the entire module but wish
to collect some gender-relevant indicators, you can try to see which
domains/indicators are most relevant to you. There is a discussion paper available
that describes some of the validity testing that was done for the original
indicators; please see: http://www.ifpri.org/publication/women-s-empowerment-
agriculture-index. In addition, we recommend referring to the versions table to
determine which version of the index is best for you.
Frequently asked questions (1)

19. Question: How much does it cost to collect the A-WEAI module?
Answer: The second pilot cost $44-$83k but that included a longer module that
included all the questions we were testing but didn’t use, as well as 2 rounds of
cognitive testing. The original WEAI pilots cost between $36-$56k across the three
countries. The Feed the Future baselines (which collected many more modules)
were much more expensive. The Rwanda survey (2000 households) cost $160,000
but included two dietary diversity modules and the Household Hunger Scale. The
Tajikistan survey (2000 households) cost $425,000 and collected many more
modules on consumption, expenditure, dietary diversity, anthropometric
measurement, etc.
Question: How long does it take to administer the A-WEAI?
Answer: Based on IFPRI’s experience implementing the A-WEAI pilots, the final A-
WEAI questionnaire is estimated to take 25-30 minutes per person. If the surveys
are done concurrently with men and women, then the additional time per dual-
adult household is also 25-30 minutes.
Frequently asked questions (2)

20. Thank you!
Any questions?
Contact Hazel Malapit at h.malapit@cgiar.org
Visit the WEAI Resource Center:
https://www.ifpri.org/topic/weai-resource-center