A Win-Win for Gender and Nutrition: Testing A Gender-Transformative Approach From Asia In Africa

Since 2016, CARE Burundi has partnered with Great Lakes Inkingi Development (GLID), RBU2000, and the University of Burundi/Agronomy department and the Africa Center for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment to implement and test the EKATA approach – Empowerment through Knowledge And Transformative Action – integrated into an agriculture program to test its effectiveness against a typical gender mainstreaming approach (Gender Light) and a Control (with agriculture interventions only) in a modified randomized control trial, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Win-Win project randomly assigned collines to EKATA, Gender Light and Control groups. Baseline data was collected in 2016 – Midterm was conducted in 2018, and end-line data was collected in 2020 from a random sample of 1,315 households and 1,849 individuals (1,059 female heads of household, and 790 male heads of household). Additionally, the project conducted 36 individual in-depth interviews, disaggregated by sex and age – and male- or female-headed households – at baseline, midline and end-line. This data was complimented with focus group discussions (FGDs). The evaluation looked at the impact of EKATA compared with Gender
Light and Control on several areas, including rice production (which was the main focus crop), income and wealth, gender equality and women’s empowerment. The cost-effectiveness of these approaches also was analyzed. The evaluation used the project level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (Pro-WEAI) to measure changes in gender equality and women’s empowerment.