Inclusion of gender equality in monitoring and evaluation of climate services

Abstract

The working paper aims to identify recommendations for gender-aware monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of rural climate services, highlighting system design and indicator development. Drawing from the literature from rural development sectors, the paper first identifies key lessons learned on gender-aware M&E. For example, to measure changes related to gender equality, it can be key to incorporate frameworks for measuring empowerment, use mixed methods and participatory tools, and follow gender-aware interview practices. Clearly incorporating gender equality objectives in the theory of change, facilitating gender support for M&E project teams, and carrying out a robust social assessment that includes gender analysis can be important practices to ensure that gender considerations are taken into account from the onset of M&E design. It is also critical to meet the minimum standards for sex-disaggregated data collection and analysis to ensure that gender trends can be accurately assessed.
The paper then focuses on considerations specific to rural climate services. The paper highlights that gender-aware M&E for climate services must collect datasets that represent key factors underlying gender inequalities in access and use of weather and climate information, particularly: i) access to group processes, ii) access to sources and formats, iii) relevance of weather and climate information, and iv) capacities to act on information. It can also be necessary to collect datasets that allow for assessment of how climate services contributes to women’s participation in agricultural decision-making. The appendices present sample quantitative and qualitative questions for collection of the datasets.
The paper also presents three case studies of M&E used in climate services projects and programs supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and its partners. The case studies help to analyse the differing M&E practices used to take into account gender equality, according to the scope and expected outcomes of an intervention.
The working paper concludes with recommendations for gender-aware climate services M&E. These emphasize that baseline assessments must collect information on key gender differences and trends that influence inequalities in access and use of climate services in order to ensure that gender-based challenges to benefit from climate services are assessed from the onset. Furthermore, it is important that mixed methods are used to monitor and evaluate changes in the factors influencing gender inequalities in access and use over the course of the project. Assessment of the impacts of climate services on women’s participation in agricultural decision-making is also critical; it can be important to assess additional indicators of women’s empowerment, as well, depending on the project’s expected outcomes. In response to methodological challenges, it is paramount that data detailing individual experiences concerning access and use of climate information is collected from both women and men in order to ensure accurate and complete gender analysis.