Project-Level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (Pro-WEAI) Online Course: Measuring Women's Empowerment in Agriculture
Photo: Tadesse Desalegne/IWMI
This self-paced online course provides participants with a comprehensive understanding of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). The course consists of five modules, structured around different stages of implementing the tool and tailored to various users, including quantitative and qualitative analysts, field supervisors, monitoring & evaluation specialists, donors and development partners.
This course is in English. Module 1: Pro-WEAI Foundations is also available in French and Arabic, with a Spanish version forthcoming.
Module 1 must be completed before progressing to the other modules.
What will you learn?
Each module covers key aspects of implementing a pro-WEAI survey or qualitative protocol and/or interpreting pro-WEAI findings:
- Module 1: Pro-WEAI Foundations – Understand the conceptual underpinnings of pro-WEAI and learn key elements of the tool, including domains and indicators, and how pro-WEAI is structured. This module focuses on fundamentals and does not cover details on survey implementation, qualitative protocols, or index calculation, which are addressed in later modules.
- Module 2: Survey Fieldwork – Learn how to administer pro-WEAI surveys, from planning enumerator training to pilot testing and data collection. This module covers survey questions, response options, and fieldwork strategies.
- Module 3: Qualitative Analysis – Explore the qualitative methods used in pro-WEAI, including the rationale for incorporating qualitative methods, detailed protocols for different types of respondents, best practices for planning qualitative studies, and guidance on analyzing and disseminating results from qualitative pro-WEAI protocols.
- Module 4: Calculating the Index – Learn how to calculate pro-WEAI indicators and the pro-WEAI score. This module covers how to use the Stata do- and ado-files, read output tables and figures, and apply the results to your projects.
- Module 5: Interpreting and Presenting Pro-WEAI Results – Learn how to interpret both the qualitative and quantitative findings from pro-WEAI surveys. This module focuses on deriving insights for future programming and project management, building on the previous modules.
What resources do you need to do it?
You will need an internet connection capable of running interactive lectures and downloading course materials. The course is entirely web-based with all components available online. To access the course, learners must create a free account on the E-learning Platform of the Food Security Portal.
More about this training
The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), launched in 2012, is the first comprehensive and standardized instrument to directly measure women’s empowerment and inclusion in the agricultural sector. Responding to the demand for an instrument to measure women’s empowerment within project-specific contexts, the project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) was developed. Pro-WEAI offers optional modules focused on nutrition and health, as well as market inclusion programs. It also includes qualitative protocols to complement quantitative findings.
This online course is designed to train researchers and practitioners on all aspects of pro-WEAI, from its background to practical application within a project context. The primary audience includes: NGO and consulting firm staff; researchers in universities, national agricultural research systems (NARS), CGIAR institutions, and other international organizations; donors and development partners; government and UN agency staff; and development practitioners.
The full course consists of five modules, with Module 1 as a prerequisite for enrolling in subsequent modules. Module 1 must be completed before progressing to the other modules.
A certificate of completion is available at the end of each module for eligible learners. To be eligible, learners must successfully complete all lectures, the final exam, and the course evaluation survey within the module.
Who can I contact for more information?
For module syllabi, visit: https://weai.ifpri.info/distance-learning/.
For course-related inquiries, contact: IFPRI-WEAI@cgiar.org.