This overview paper assesses the quality and effectiveness of evaluation methods and approaches used to analyse the effects of programmes or projects on women and girls’ economic empowerment. It contains several projects from FCAS, and provides a comprehensive examination of the evidence base, to inform better design and evaluation in the future.
Key findings:
- Evaluations that explore how interventions (programmes or projects) lead to transformational change in women and girls’ lives, enhancing their power, including control of resources, decision-making and agency, and not simply increased income, provide a more meaningful understanding of women and girls’ economic empowerment.
- Mixed methods evaluations lead to more useful findings as they consider not only the effects of interventions but also the underlying reasons why they occur. This is especially important for Women and Girls’ Economic Empowerment (WGEE) projects as changes in norms, attitudes and behaviours are difficult to fully understand with quantitative data alone.
- This review makes practical recommendations for evaluators and researchers to more adequately capture the impacts of interventions on the multiple dimensions of women and girls’ economic empowerment.
- The review found a gap in knowledge around the economic empowerment of adolescent girls. Also, data and analysis in evaluations are not generally disaggregated by age or stages of the lifecycle.
- It is essential to undertake a robust context and gender analysis and to have a Theory of Change to guide the evaluation which builds on a holistic approach to Women and Girls’ Economic Empowerment.
