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Measuring women’s empowerment in Kenya and Zambia: A comparison of two studies using the pro-WEAI index

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Social Science and Impact Assessment Unit, Kenya

Abstract

Women empowerment is considered a critical pathway of increasing women’s ability to make strategic decisions regarding agriculture and their access to the physical and social capital required to implement these decisions. The poster is based on two studies implementing an adapted versions of the Project-level Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). The Pro-WEAI instrument was used to collect household-level data from smallholder farmers in Zambia and Central Kenya. The work was undertaken in the context of two projects implemented by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). The Insect for Feed II project, implemented in Kiambu County in Central Kenya was promoting the use of Black Soldier Flies as alternative components in livestock feed. The Invasive Fruit Flies in Southern Africa project is addressing integrated pest management options to fight fruit flies in mango production. Both projects have a strong focus on integrating and benefitting women with their interventions. The Pro-WEAI instruments were used in both studies to assess women’s empowerment, to calculate the Pro-WEAI index and to identify context specific domains of dis-empowerment along the 12 Pro-WEAI indicators. Domains with high levels of dis-empowerment were identified to inform gender training and implementation activities of the projects. Although, dis-empowerment levels and the importance of specific indicators for dis-empowerment show some similarities in in the two project implementation areas, differences were identified and addressed in designing gender sensitive training and implementation activities. The poster presents differences and similarities in indicators and proposes intervention areas to be addressed by project implementers.

Keywords: Insect for feed, IPM, pro-WEAI index, women's empowerment

Contact Address: Holger Kirscht, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Social Science and Impact Assessment Unit, P.o. Box 30772, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya, e-mail: hkirschticipe.org