A new tool based on IFPRI’s Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)—developed by IFPRI and the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA)—provides a streamlined way to track and evaluate impacts on women’s empowerment in development projects. The tool was applied in an impact evaluation of IFAD projects across six African countries.

The iWEAI (the Integrated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index) integrates 10 pro-WEAI indicators into RIA’s existing survey modules. It provides a streamlined approach to collect data on how IFAD’s projects are impacting rural farmers, especially regarding rural women’s control over income, decision-making in their households, and other key empowerment metrics. Developed by experts in gender, agriculture, and project monitoring, it reports on impacts such as women’s input into productive decisions within and outside the household and women’s work balance (i.e. time spent on paid and unpaid work). These data provide project managers information about what’s working—or not—to adapt their activities in order to deliver equitable outcomes for women.