Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP)

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Gender, assets, and agricultural development: Lessons from eight projects
(Journal Article, 2016-07) Johnson, Nancy L.; Kovarik, C.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.; Njuki, Jemimah; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Ownership of assets is important for poverty reduction, and women’s control of assets is associated with positive development outcomes at the household and individual levels. This research was undertaken to provide guidance for agricultural development programs on how to incorporate gender and assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of eight mixed-method evaluations of the impacts of agricultural development projects on individual and household assets in seven countries in Africa and South Asia. The results show that assets both affect and are affected by projects, indicating that it is both feasible and important to consider assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects. All projects were associated with increases in asset levels and other benefits at the household level; however, only four projects documented significant, positive impacts on women’s ownership or control of some types of assets relative to a control group, and of those only one project provided evidence of a reduction in the gender asset gap. The quantitative and qualitative findings suggest ways that greater attention to gender and assets by researchers and development implementers could improve outcomes for women in future projects.
Can government-allocated land contribute to food security? Intrahousehold analysis of West Bengal’s microplot allocation program
(Journal Article, 2014-12) Santos, F.; Fletschner, D.; Savath, V.; Peterman, A.
This study evaluates the impact of India’s land-allocation and registration program in West Bengal, a program that targets poor populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. Although we are unable to detect statistically significant program effects on current household food security, we find that the program has positive impacts on a range of outcomes that are expected to lay the foundation for future food security including improved security of tenure, agricultural investments, and women’s involvement in food and agricultural decisions. Findings provide lessons in designing and implementing innovative and integrated approaches to reduce hunger and undernutrition.
“Flypaper effects” in transfers targeted to women: Evidence from BRAC's “Targeting the Ultra Poor” program in Bangladesh
(Journal Article, 2015-11) Roy, S.; Ara, J.; Das, N.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Many development interventions target transfers to women. However, little evidence directly explores the “flypaper effects” of whether women retain control over these transfers once within the household and how reallocation of the transfers affects women's empowerment. We study these dynamics in the context of BRAC's randomized CFPR-TUP program in Bangladesh, which provides livestock and training to rural women in “ultra poor” households. Our analysis confirms previous findings that CFPR-TUP increased household asset ownership, but shows complex effects on targeted women. Women appear to retain ownership over transferred livestock, but new investments from mobilized resources are largely owned by men. CFPR-TUP also reduces women's movement outside the home and control over income, consistent with transferred livestock requiring maintenance at home. However, beneficiary women also report “intangible” benefits such as increased social capital and, even with limited mobility, a preference for work inside the home given a hostile environment outside the home.
The gendered impacts of agricultural asset transfer projects: Lessons from the Manica smallholder dairy development program
(Journal Article, 2015-01) Johnson, Nancy L.; Njuki, Jemimah; Waithanji, Elizabeth M.; Nhambeto, M.; Rogers, M.; Kruger, E.H.
This article explores the gendered impacts of a development project that provided dairy training and a superior breed of cattle to households as part of a broader effort to develop a smallholder-friendly, market-oriented dairy value chain in the Manica province of Mozambique. The project first targeted households, registered cows in the names of the household heads, and, initially, trained these cow owners in various aspects of dairy production and marketing. Subsequently, the training was expanded to two members per household to increase the capacity within households to care for cows, a change that resulted in the training of a significant number of women. Using qualitative and quantitative data on dairy production and consumption, and on gendered control over income and assets, the article explores how men and women participated in and benefited from the Manica Smallholder Dairy Development Program (MSDDP). We found that despite being registered in the name of men, in practice, dairy cattle are in some cases viewed as jointly owned by both men and women. Beneficiary households dramatically increased dairy production and income, with men, women, and children all contributing labor to this endeavor. Women’s incentives for participation in dairy were less clear. Despite their recognized rights and responsibilities related to dairy cow management, women exercised relatively little control over milk and milk income as compared to men. This article explores the various monetary and nonmonetary benefits of MSDDP and dairying for women along with their implications for the level of effort put in by women, and the overall project outcomes.
Gender, caste, and asset control: Implications for agricultural projects in rice - wheat systems of Eastern India
(Case Study, 2014-09-15) Paris, Thelma
The CSISA project was launched in 2009 with the goal of reducing food and income insecurity in South Asia through accelerated development and deployment of new cereal varieties, sustainable crop and resource systems management practices, and better access to information. The project includes widespread delivery and adaptation of production and postharvest technologies to increase cereal production and raise income; and promotion of (i) crop and resource management practices, and (ii) high-yielding, stress tolerant and disease-and insect resistant rice, wheat and maize varieties and hybrids. GAAP looked at two different CSISA projects. This project focused on men’s and women’s different degrees of ownership, access, and decisionmaking in connection with key livelihood-sustaining assets and whether the introduction of new technologies influences these differences.
Can market-based approaches to technology development and dissemination benefit women smallholder farmers? A qualitative assessment of gender dynamics in the ownership, purchase, and use of irrigation pumps in Kenya and Tanzania
(Working Paper, 2014-07-15) Njuki, Jemimah; Waithanji, Elizabeth M.; Sakwa, Beatrice; Kariuki, Juliet B.; Mukewa, Elizabeth; Ngige, John
This paper reports findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Tanzania and Kenya to examine women’s access to and ownership of KickStart pumps and the implications for their ability to make major decisions on crop choices and use of income from irrigated crops. Results from sales-monitoring data show that women purchase less than 10 percent of the pumps and men continue to make most of the major decisions on crop choices and income use. These findings vary by type of crop, with men making major decisions on high-income crops such as tomatoes and women having relatively more autonomy on crops such as leafy vegetables.
Gender dimensions of social networks and technology adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in Uttar Pradesh
(Case Study, 2014-09-15) Spielman, David J.; Magnan, Nicholas
The CSISA project was launched in 2009 with the goal of reducing food andincome insecurity in South Asia through accelerated development and deployment of new cereal varieties, sustainable crop and resource systems management practices, and better access to information. The project includes widespread delivery and adaptation of production and postharvest technologies to increase cereal production and raise income; and promotion of (i) crop and resource manag-ement practices, and (ii) high-¬yielding, stress tolerant and disease-and insect resistant rice, wheat and maize varieties and hybrids. GAAP looked at two different CSISA projects. This project focused on how gendered social networks affect how men and women within the same household acquire information about agricutural technologies, using the technology of laser land leveling (LLL) as an example.
Bargaining power and biofortification: The role of gender in adoption of orange sweet potato in Uganda
(Working Paper, 2014-06-15) Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kumar, N.; McNiven, S.; Meenakshi, J.V.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
We examine the role of gender in adoption and diffusion of orange sweet potato, a biofortified staple food crop being promoted as a strategy to increase dietary intakes of vitamin A among young children and adult women in Uganda. As an agricultural intervention with nutrition objectives, intrahousehold gender dynamics regarding decisions about crop choice and child feeding practices may play a role in adoption decisions. Also, most households access sweet potato vines through informal exchange, suggesting again that gender dimensions of networks may be important to diffusion of the crop. We use data from an experimental impact evaluation of the introduction of OSP in Uganda to study how female bargaining power, measured by share of land and nonland assets controlled by women, affect adoption and diffusion decisions. We find that the share of assets controlled by women does not affect the probability of adopting OSP at the household level. In examining adoption decisions within households, plots of land exclusively controlled by women are not more likely to contain OSP, but plots under joint control of men and women, in which a woman has primary control over decisionmaking are significantly more likely to contain OSP. Plots exclusively controlled by men are the least likely to contain OSP. Also, we find that the share of nonland assets controlled by women increases dietary intakes of vitamin A, but this measure of female bargaining power does not increase the impact of the OSP project on vitamin A, suggesting that the project had similar impacts across households with different levels of female bargaining power.
Who decides to grow orange sweet potatoes? Bargaining power and adoption of biofortified crops in Uganda.
(Case Study, 2014-07-15) Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kumar, N.; McNiven, S.; Meenakshi, J.V.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
The goal of the HarvestPlus reaching end users (REU) orange sweet potato (OSP) project is to increase vitamin A intake and improve vitamin status among Vulnerable populations (women and children) in rural Uganda by introducing beta-carotene-rich OSP, as well as related messages concerning agronomy, nutrition, and marketing. Most households obtain planting material for these crops through interaction with other households. This raises a number of important questions about the roles of social interaction, intrahousehold division of labor, and gender in determining the rates at which these biofortified crops are adopted and spread. As part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP), this study examines the effect of women’s bargaining power, as revealed in gender¬‐based patterns of ownership and control of land and assets, on adoption ofOSP and vitamin A intake among children.
How do intrahousehold dynamics change when assets are transferred to women? Evidence from BRAC’s challenging the frontiers of poverty reduction—targeting the ultra poor program in Bangladesh
(Working Paper, 2013-12-15) Das, N.C.; Yasmin, R.; Ara, J.; Kamruzzaman, M.; Davis, P.; Behrman, J.; Roy, S.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Growing evidence shows that the distribution of individuals' ownership and control of assets within a household can have important implications for women’s empowerment and children’s well-being. Interventions that target assets to specific individuals can shift these intrahousehold dynamics, yet little evidence exists from rigorous evaluations. We study BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR-TUP) program in Bangladesh, which targets asset transfer (primarily livestock) and training to rural women in poor households. Previous research has shown large, significant positive program impacts at the household level. In this paper, we examine intrahousehold impacts using mixed methods. We focus on the Specially Targeted Ultra-Poor(STUP) component of the program, which targets households selected following a randomized controlled trial design. Adding a new round of data collection with quantitative sex-disaggregated information and qualitative exploration, we exploit the randomized design to assess intrahousehold impacts of STUP. Our analysis confirms that the program significantly increases household ownership of various assets but has complex effects on the targeted women. Quantitative estimates show increases in women’s sole and joint ownership of or control over transferred assets such as livestock, but a much greater increase in men’s sole ownership over nearly all other assets (including agricultural and nonagricultural productive assets, land, and consumer durables). These findings suggest that while the transferred assets tend to remain with women, new investments from mobilized resources are controlled by men. Moreover, the program reduces women’s mobility outside the home and their control over income, consistent with the transferred asset’s requiring maintenance at home. Qualitative findings are consistent with these quantitative results , but women’s contribution to their households is perceived as increasing their confidence and social capital, which they themselves value. Therefore, while provision of assets and training to women has ambiguous effects on women’s empowerment in terms of tangible assets and decisionmaking, women take intangibles into account and largely perceive positive (though still mixed) effects. The analysis shows that asset transfer targeted to women can increase women’s ownership of and control over the transferred asset itself but may not necessarily increase women’s intrahousehold bargaining position. Moreover, it reveals that outcomes valued by individuals may not always be tangible, highlighting the complexity of assessing whether interventions improve women’s empowerment.
Reducing the gender asset gap through agricultural development: A technical resource guide
(Manual, 2013) International Food Policy Research Institute
Can government-allocated land contribute to food security? Intrahousehold analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot allocation program
(Working Paper, 2013-12-15) Santos, F.; Fletschner, D.; Savath, V.; Peterman, A.
Secure land rights are a critical, but often overlooked, factor in achieving household food security and improved nutritional status in rural areas of developing countries. This study evaluates the impact of India’s land-allocation and registration program in West Bengal, a program that targets poor populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. We use mixed methods data collected between 2010 and 2012 to examine the program’s selection of beneficiaries and a set of outcomes that are expected to lay the foundation for future food security, as well as short-term food security indicators. Our results indicate that the program’s implementation at the block level allowed for considerable variation in the processes used to select beneficiaries, to demarcate plots, to distribute titles and to provide infrastructure support. Although we were unable to detect statistically significant program effects on current house hold food security, we find that the land-allocation and registration program has had an impact on a range of outcomes that are expected to lead to future food security: beneficiary households report stronger security, and they are more likely to take loans for agricultural purposes, to invest in agricultural improvements, and to involve women when making decisions related to food and agriculture. These effects vary with plot size—larger plots lead to larger benefits —and depend on whose names are included on the land documents; the effects are larger if women’s names are recorded on the land titles.
Can microplots contribute to rural households’ food security? Evaluation of a gender sensitive land allocation program in West Bengal, India.
(Case Study, 2014-07-15) Santos, F.
Landesa, a nongovernmental organization focused on land legislation and programming among poor populations, supports government land allocation and regularization programs in India. This study is based on Nijo Griha, Nijo Bhumi (“My Home, My Land” or NGNB), a program by the government of West Bengal, India that aims to reduce poverty by allocating microplots to landless agricultural laborers and assist with homestead development. NGNB works with local communities to purchase and allocate small plots of land, with titles issued jointly under the names of the husband and the wife. In addition, NGNB helps beneficiaries connect with other government agencies responsible for the provision of assistance with housing and basic inputs, capacity building in homestead food production, and investments in infrastructure. This study evaluated the NGNB program and is result of collaboration between Landesa and the Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project (GAAP). The project examined how land ownership and joint titling affect households’ tenure security and agricultural investments, as well aswomen’s involvement in food and agricultural decision-making—outcomes that when enhanced are expected to lead to increased household food production and long-¬term food security.
Can dairy value chain projects change gender norms in rural Bangladesh? Impacts on assets, gender norms, and time use.
(Case Study, 2014-08-15) Siddiquee, N.A.; Tanvin, K.
The goal of CARE - Bangladesh’s Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain Project (SDVCP) is to improve the dairy-related incomes of 35,000 households in Northwest Bangladesh. To achieve its goal, SDVCP addresses the major challenges to improving smallholder participation in the value chain, namely farmer mobilization and education, access to markets for their milk, and access to productivity - enhancing inputs. The project assists in the formation of dairy farmer groups as well as increasing women’s participation in the dairy value chain, particularly in such nontraditional occupations as milk collectors and livestock health workers. The SDVCP evaluation looks at how both tangible and intangible assets may have changed, particularly for women, as an outcome of the intervention.
Can integrated agriculture-nutrition programs change gender norms on land and asset ownership? Evidence from Burkina Faso
(Working Paper, 2013-12-15) van den Bold, Mara; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Ouédraogo, Marcellin; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Olney, Deanna K.
There is a high degree of interest in the potential for agricultural programs to be designed and implemented to achieve health and nutrition objectives. Policymakers have often looked to the experience of civil society organizations in designing and implementing such programs, particularly in different social and cultural contexts. For the past 20 years, Helen Keller International (HKI) has implemented homestead food production programs in Asia and recently has started to adapt and implement these programs in Africa south of the Sahara. The goal of these programs is to improve the nutritional status of and young children through a number of production and nutrition interventions. These interventions are targeted to mothers under the presumption that increasing women’s access to and control over productive assets and enhancing women’s human capital to improve production and health and nutrition care practices will translate into improved nutritional status for their children. However, there is very little evidence documenting the ways in which HKI’s homestead food production programs influence women’s access to and control over productive assets and enhance women’s human capital in ways that may improve nutritional outcomes. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach to analyze the impact of HKI’s Enhanced-Homestead Food Production pilot program in Burkina Faso on women’s and men’s assets and on norms regarding ownership, use, and control of those assets. Even though men continue to own and control most land and specific assets in the study area, women’s control over and ownership of assets has started to change, both in terms of quantifiable changes as well as changes in people’s perceptions and opinions about who can own and control certain assets. The paper also discusses the implications of such changes for program sustainability.
An integrated agriculture - nutrition program in Burkina Faso can change gender norms on land and asset ownership.
(Case Study, 2014-07-15) Bold, M. van den; Pedehombga, A.; Ouédraogo, M.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Olney, D.
Helen Keller International (HKI) carried out a two-year Enhanced-Homestead Food Production (E-HFP) pilot program (2010–2012) in Gourma Province in eastern Burkina Faso. The program’s goal was to improve women’s and children’s nutrition and health outcomes through production and nutrition interventions. One way in which the program sought to improve its production and nutrition out-comes was by directly increasing women’s access to and control over productive assets. To accomplish this objective, HKI trained women and gave them inputs for raising small animals and growing nutrient-rich foods, as well as health-and nutrition -related education delivered through a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy (Dillon et al. 2012). HKI partnered with the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP) to measure the impact of the program’s interventions on men’s and women’s accumulation, ownership, and control over productive assets, and to assess changes in norms and perceptions regarding the ownership, use, and control over these assets.
How do intrahousehold dynamics change when assets are transferred to women? Evidence from BRAC’s “Targeting the Ultra Poor” program in Bangladesh
(Case Study, 2014-07-15) Das, N.; Yasmi, R.; Ara, J.; Kamruzzaman, M.; Davis, P.; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Q.
BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR ¬‐ TUP) program aims to assist the ultra poor in rural Bangladesh to rise out of extreme poverty and access mainstream development programming. CFPR—TUP Phase 2 —the focus of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project’s study — operated from 2007 to 2011 in the poorest regions of Bangladesh. The program provided female members of ultra poor households with assets that could be maintained at home (primarily livestock such as cattle, goats, and poultry birds), as well as intensive training on how to use the assets for income -generating activities. Training subject matter included management practices and how to use improved technology. The GAAP study’s aim was to explore how CFPR¬‐TUP affected intrahousehold dynamics in beneficiary households, including men’s and women’s ownership of and control over various assets (the transferred asset, as well as other assets) and roles in intrahousehold decision making. It also aimed to understand men’s and women’s perceptions of these changes.
A toolkit on collecting gender and assets data in qualitative and quantitative program evaluations
(Manual, 2014) Behrman, Julia; Karelina, Zhenya; Peterman, Amber; Roy, Shalini; Goh, Amelia
Gender, assets, and market-oriented agriculture: learning from high-value crop and livestock projects in Africa and Asia
(Journal Article, 2015-12) Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Rubin, Deborah; Manfre, C.; Waithanji, Elizabeth M.; Bold, M. van den; Olney, D.; Johnson, Nancy L.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.
Strengthening the abilities of smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly women farmers, to produce for both home and the market is currently a development priority. In many contexts, ownership of assets is strongly gendered, reflecting existing gender norms and limiting women’s ability to invest in more profitable livelihood strategies such as market-oriented agriculture. Yet the intersection between women’s asset endowments and their ability to participate in and benefit from agricultural interventions receives minimal attention. This paper explores changes in gender relations and women’s assets in four agricultural interventions that promoted high value agriculture with different degrees of market-orientation. Findings suggest that these dairy and horticulture projects can successfully involve women and increase production, income and the stock of household assets. In some cases, women were able to increase their control over production, income and assets; however in most cases men’s incomes increased more than women’s and the gender-asset gap did not decrease. Gender- and asset-based barriers to participation in projects as well as gender norms that limit women’s ability to accumulate and retain control over assets both contributed to the results. Comparing experiences across the four projects, especially where projects implemented adaptive measures to encourage gender-equitable outcomes, provides lessons for gender-responsive projects targeting existing and emerging value chains for high value products. Other targeted support to women farmers may also be needed to promote their acquisition of the physical assets required to expand production or enter other nodes of the value chain.
Do women control what they grow? The gendered use of KickStart’s pumps for irrigation in Kenya and Tanzania
(Brief, 2013) Njuki, Jemimah; Waithanji, Elizabeth M.; Sakwa, B.; Kariuki, Juliet B.; Mukewa, E.; Ngige, J.

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