Guidelines for Measuring Gender Transformative Change in the Context of Food Security, Nutrition, and Sustainable Agriculture

"At the core of measuring gender transformative change is the understanding that discriminatory social institutions and unequal power relations need to change, and that there is value in assessing how deep and enduring any changes have been to date."



These guidelines include step-by-step guidance to formulate qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender-transformative change to help gender experts and food security, agriculture, and nutrition programme specialists in their efforts to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate gender-transformative interventions. The guidelines also present an overarching framework for measuring gender-transformative change in the context of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture and also bring attention to other issues to consider when developing gender- transformative change indicators.



The guidelines are published as part of the Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security, Improved Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture (JP GTA), a programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP). The document builds on and complements previous JP GTA knowledge products such as the "Guide to Formulating Gendered Social Norms Indicators in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition" (see Related Summaries, below).



A gender-transformative approach is defined in the guidelines as a process that seeks "to actively examine, challenge and transform the underlying causes of gender inequalities rooted in discriminatory social institutions. As such, this approach aims to address the unequal and gendered power relations and discriminatory gender norms, attitudes, behaviours and practices, as well as discriminatory or gender-blind policies and laws, that create and perpetuate gender inequalities. By doing so, it seeks to eradicate the systemic forms of gender-based discrimination by creating or strengthening equitable gender relations and social institutions that support gender equality."



As explained in the guide, "Gender transformative approaches have been increasingly recognized as central to achieving sustained progress towards gender equality. However, important knowledge gaps remain in how to appropriately measure gender transformative change within food security and nutrition programmatic interventions. These are partly due to the complex nature of the changes that are sought through gender transformative approaches, which may require the measurement of changes in deep-seated power relations, gender norms, and individual and collective agency."



The guidance document has three main sections:



Section 1: A framework for measuring gender transformative change - This section presents an overarching framework comprising the key dimensions of gender transformative change and a socioecological model for identifying spheres of influence within which gender-transformative change can be measured. Gender-transformative change is conceptualised here as a process involving three key dimensions: agency, power relations, and social institutions.



Section 2: Points to consider when developing gender transformative change indicators - This section presents some important methodological points to consider when attempting to measure gender-transformative change. It brings attention to issues that include when to implement the framework and when to develop context-specific indicators of gender-transformative change. The specific points to consider are:

• Identify the core area(s) of gender equality to be measured.
• Consider intersectionality in the indicator design process.
• Recognise insider perspectives when measuring gender-transformative change.
• Develop outcome indicators and identify incremental changes to measure.
• Strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative indicators.
• Match research design to overall objectives and available resources.
• Distinguish between reach, benefit, empower, and gender-transformative change indicators.

Section 3: A step-by-step process to develop gender transformative change indicators - This section provides a five-step process to formulate qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender-transformative change within different spheres of influence (sample outcome indicators are provided). This process is intended to help the user of these guidelines apply the framework and concepts presented in this document, tease out elements of gender-transformative change, and then develop indicators to measure such change. It presents an example to demonstrate how the information from each step can be included in a matrix to develop indicators in the final step. The steps are as follows:

• Step 1: Create an impact statement.
• Step 2: Identify key challenges.
• Step 3: Identify who needs to change and the sphere(s) of influence.
• Step 4: Develop outcome statements.
• Step 5: Develop the context-specific gender-transformative change indicator.

An abbreviated "At a glance" version has been developed as a reference tool to introduce experts and practitioners to key concepts and messages from the guidelines in a condensed format.