How does the measurement of youth empowerment differ from women’s empowerment?

Esther Njuguna-Mungai
ILRI

It is increasingly clear that as programs design interventions that involve youth in agriculture and food systems with the intention of empowering them, sooner or later, those programs need to show that they are making progress in ‘youth empowerment’. But what tool or index can be used for monitoring and showing progress on youth empowerment across programs? Would the tools/indices used for women’s empowerment be usable in measuring youth empowerment? Would the domains of empowerment for youth be similar to those of women’s empowerment? What would be the alternative? We grapple with these questions as we design activities on the best entry points for youth engagement in livestock feeds and forage value chains under SAPLING. We want to propose a 1.5hr workshop with CGIAR gender scientists working on youth studies as part of their social inclusion research to:
1. Build consensus on what a youth empowerment tool/index would ideally look like
2. Learn from programs on how they are measuring/monitoring youth empowerment
3. Propose a methodology of evidence building around youth empowerment.
The workshop session intends to bring together like-minded CGIAR Gender and Social Inclusion researchers working on youth interventions in their agriculture and food system.