Women's empowerment is essential for achieving agricultural development goals like increasing productivity among smallholders, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2.3 and 5. Agricultural collectives, including producer groups and farmer producer organizations (FPOs), offer promising avenues for empowering women and improving smallholder incomes. Research on this approach is growing, highlighting the benefits of aggregation, economies of scale, and sustainability. The Applying New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment (ANEW) project, supported by a Walmart Foundation grant, involved organizations like IFPRI, Grameen Foundation, PRADAN, TechnoServe, and Root Capital, developing indicators for the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) focused on market inclusion. Despite the enthusiasm, challenges persist, including the complexity of implementing multiple interventions and cultural barriers. Effective FPO-based interventions require gender-transformative approaches embedded from the project design phase, addressing both economic performance and social inclusion to ensure sustainability and widespread support. Continued research and flexible funding are crucial to establish effective strategies and build a stronger evidence base for gender-transformative approaches in FPOs.