Evaluating the project level-Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) through Cognitive Testing Open Access

Abstract

Measures of women’s empowerment in agricultural programs have not specifically measured health and nutrition domains (Malapit et al., 2014). The inclusion of health and nutrition domains is important to evaluate nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs which target mothers of young children to improve child feeding and the child’s health outcomes (Malapit et al., 2014; Ruel et al., 2013). The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) developed the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) to address the need for an instrument that is sensitive to changes in empowerment over the common lifecycle of an intervention (Alkire et al., 2013). The instrument includes a module on health and nutrition decision-making. Prior to implementing the pro-WEAI instrument, cognitive testing is necessary to validate and improve the instrument to ensure that responses are comparable across groups. This study aims to identify problematic aspects of the pro-WEAI modules through cognitive interviewing. The study was conducted in two rural areas of Bangladesh in the Chittagong and Rangpur divisions. The results of the study revealed areas to revise the modules and strengthen the pro-WEAI instrument to improve data collection for women’s empowerment in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: agriculture; Bangladesh; cognitive interviewing; cognitive testing; survey methodology; women’s agency; women’s empowerment; gender

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1- Introduction........................................................................ 5

Chapter 2- Literature Review.............................................................. 8

Chapter 3- Student Contributions...................................................... 13

Chapter 4- Journal Article.................................................................. 15

Abstract................................................................................. 16

Introduction........................................................................... 17

Methods................................................................................ 21

Results................................................................................... 30

Discussion............................................................................. 38

References......................................................................................... 44

Appendices........................................................................................ 48

A1. Pro-WEAI Health and Nutrition Module.................................................................. 48

A2. Intrahousehold Relationships Module........................................................................ 57

A3. Cognitive Interview Guide......................................................................................... 58

A4: Data Tables............................................................................................................ 10

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Gender Studies Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
Keyword	survey methodology women's empowerment Bangladesh women's agency pro-WEAI cognitive interviewing agriculture gender cognitive testing
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Yount, Kathryn, Emory University
Committee Members	Heckert, Jessica, International Food Policy Research Institute James-Hawkins, Laurie, University of Essex
Partnering Agencies	International Non-governmental organization (e.g., CARE, Inc.)

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