A qualitative assessment of a gender-sensitive agricultural training program in Benin: Findings on program experience and women’s empowerment across key agricultural value chains

Abstract

in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

2023 Annual Trends & Outlook Report (ATOR)

“…This aligns with the emic notion of women's empowerment as being able to do things for others (Meinzen-Dick et al 2019). Similarly, in the ATVET4W Benin study, participants explained that the training increased women's financial independence, which led to increased intrinsic agency and self-confidence (Eissler et al 2021).…”

“…This is especially the case for married women, as unmarried women do not need to consult with their husbands (Ragasa et al 2021). Meanwhile, in the Benin study, the findings highlight the interlinkage of time use and women's ability to participate in income-generating activities, as well as training to strengthen their contributions to income-generating activities (Eissler et al 2021).…”

“…Impact evaluations of projects with explicit women's empowerment objectives provide evidence on what works to empower women and close the empowerment gap. We draw on a synthesis of impact evaluations conducted across the GAAP2 (Quisumbing et al 2022) and JP RWEE (Quisumbing et al 2023) portfolios, focusing on the African projects in these portfolios, and the ATVET4W program in Benin and Malawi (Eissler et al 2021;Ragasa et al 2021). The GAAP2 portfolio comprises 13 agricultural development projects that co-developed the project-level WEAI (pro-WEAI) (Malapit et al 2019) and used it to evaluate their projects' impacts on women's empowerment and gender equality.…”

Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of Women: A Blueprint from Vulnerability to Empowerment

“…This implies that; resource ownership may have the tendency to bring other resources like power to bargain effectively and access other valued resources. Several studies have linked women's empowerment with social gender norms in the context of culture as such the understanding of its nuances and expectation of roles and responsibilities of women vary from men (Bryan & Garner, 2020;Eissler et al, 2021;Njuki et al, 2021). With this understanding, the empowerment of women cannot be the same as men in a society where the roles and responsibilities are defined based on social gender norms.…”