Community typology framed by normative climate for agricultural innovation, empowerment, and poverty reduction

Abstract

This paper employs the concepts of gender norms and agency to advance understanding of
inclusive agricultural innovation processes and their contributions to empowerment and poverty
reduction at the village level. We present a community typology informed by normative
influences on how people assess conditions and trends for village women and men to make
important decisions (or to exercise agency) and for local households to escape poverty. The
typology is comprised of three village types—transforming, climbing and churning—with each
type depicting a different normative climate and trajectory of change in agency and poverty
levels. Across “transforming” villages with significant increases in people’s agency and poverty
reduction, we found a highly inclusive normative climate that is fueling gender equality and
agricultural innovation, as well as infrastructural improvements, expanded markets, and male
labor migration. The research, part of the GENNOVATE initiative, includes a qualitative
comparative methodology and dataset of 79 village cases from 17 countries