Measuring women's empowerment in agriculture, food production, and child and maternal dietary diversity in Timor-Leste

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the relationship between women’s empowerment and WHO recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in sub-Saharan Africa.DesignAnalysis was conducted using data from ten Demographic and Health Surveys between 2010 and 2013. Women’s empowerment was assessed by nine standard items covering three dimensions: economic, socio-familial and legal empowerment. Three core IYCF practices examined were minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were applied for the IYCF practices on dimensional and overall empowerment in each country.SettingBenin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe.SubjectsYoungest singleton children aged 6–23 months and their mothers (n 15 153).ResultsLess than 35 %, 60 % and 18 % of children 6–23 months of age met the criterion of minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet, respectively. In general, likelihood of meeting the recommended IYCF criteria was positively associated with the economic dimension of women’s empowerment. Socio-familial empowerment was negatively associated with the three feeding criteria, except in Zimbabwe. The legal dimension of empowerment did not show any clear pattern in the associations. Greater overall empowerment of women was consistently and positively associated with multiple IYCF practices in Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. However, consistent negative relationships were found in Benin and Niger. Null or mixed results were observed in the remaining countries.ConclusionsThe importance of women’s empowerment for IYCF practices needs to be discussed by context and by dimension of empowerment.

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Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: A Systematic Review of Impact Pathways to Nutrition Outcomes

Advances in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/advances/nmaa103 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Indu K Sharma ◽

Sabina Di Prima ◽

Dirk Essink ◽

Jacqueline E W Broerse

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Food Production ◽

Women's Empowerment ◽

Food Prices ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Local Institutions ◽

Impact Pathways ◽

Study Results ◽

Nutrition Sensitive ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACT The role of agriculture in reducing undernutrition is widely recognized, yet there is also consensus on the need to make the sector nutrition-sensitive. Evidence on the impact pathways from nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions, agricultural interventions with specific nutrition objectives, and actions detailing each temporal stage to reach nutrition outcomes is limited, however. We thus synthesized study results regarding impact of NSA interventions on nutrition outcomes relating to undernutrition, and constructed an impact pathway by mapping the evidence on each temporal stage from interventions to nutrition outcomes. We used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to conduct and report our systematic review of studies on NSA interventions implemented in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Forty-three studies that met the inclusion criteria were extracted and synthesized across impact and pathways analyses. We carried out a thematic analysis of the effect of NSA interventions using evidence-based indicators and constructed the pathways by adopting a published framework on agriculture to nutrition pathways. Our findings reveal that NSA interventions can significantly improve dietary practices, and have the potential to enhance care practices and reduce occurrence of diseases, indicating their effectiveness in simultaneously addressing multiple determinants of undernutrition. However, NSA interventions have a lesser impact on nutritional status. NSA interventions lead to nutrition outcomes through 5 key pathways: food production, nutrition-related knowledge, agricultural income, women's empowerment, and strengthening of local institutions. We emphasize the need to carefully design, implement, and evaluate interventions with consideration for factors affecting impact pathways. Future research should focus on the effect of interventions combining multisector components, and pathways through non-food-production-related income, women's empowerment, strengthening of local institutions, food prices at intervention level, and expenditure on health care.

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Combined interventions Targeting Agriculture, Gender and Nutrition Improve Agriculture Production and Diet Diversity More Than Individual interventions in Bangladesh

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzaa053_003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. 798-798

Author(s):

Akhter Ahmed ◽

John Hoddinott ◽

Agnes Quisumbing ◽

Purnima Menon ◽

Julie Ghostlaw ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Production ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Women's Empowerment ◽

Analysis Of Covariance ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Diet Diversity ◽

Training Models ◽

Nutrition Training ◽

And Gender

Abstract Objectives Secondary data analysis in Bangladesh has found associations across agricultural production, women's empowerment, and nutrition outcomes. Less is known, though, about whether combining interventions across these areas is more effective than isolated interventions to improve agricultural diversity, diet diversity, and women's empowerment in Bangladesh. Methods The Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages study used a cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate impacts of agriculture, nutrition, and/or gender interventions on food production, diets, and empowerment. 160 blocks were randomized to control and 5 training models: (T1) nutrition by government agriculture extension agents (AEAs); (T2) nutrition by community nutrition workers; (T3) agriculture on production of nutrient-rich foods by AEAs; (T4) agriculture and nutrition by AEAs; and (T5) agriculture and nutrition by AEAs, and gender sensitization. Trainings targeted men and women together. 4000 farm households with a child under age 2 at baseline were surveyed 2 years apart. Impact estimates used endline data, adjusting for baseline characteristics using analysis of covariance. Results All treatments significantly improved agriculture production knowledge and adoption of improved production practices, more so in arms with agriculture training (T3, T4, T5), and for women than men. All treatments significantly improved nutrition knowledge, more so in arms with nutrition training, and for women than men. Household diet quality and child diet diversity significantly improved only in T2 and T4. Women's empowerment significantly improved in all treatments, and men's gender attitudes improved in T1, T4, T5, more so in the gender arm (T5). No impacts were expected or found on child anthropometry. Conclusions Joint interventions had larger impacts than isolated ones, suggesting synergies across agriculture, nutrition, and gender. Impact on food and nutrition outcomes (food production or nutrition practices) required agriculture and/or nutrition training. Funding Sources USAID; the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the CGIAR Research Programs on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health and Policies, Institutions, and Markets.

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Does the matrilineality make a difference? Land, kinship and women's empowerment in Bobonaro district, Timor-Leste

Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy ◽

10.1080/13547860.2019.1665295 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 348-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vanda Jesus Santos Narciso ◽

Pedro Damião Sousa Henriques

Keyword(s):

Women's Empowerment ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Timor Leste

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Production Diversity, Men's Help with Household Tasks, & Lower Women's Depression Mediate Impact of an Agriculture Intervention on Child's Dietary Diversity in Tanzania (FS01-06-19)

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzz034.fs01-06-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Marianne Santoso ◽

Rachel Bezner Kerr ◽

Neema Kassim ◽

Haikael Martin ◽

Elias Mtinda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Dietary Diversity ◽

Women's Empowerment ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Household Tasks ◽

Household Chores ◽

Women's Mental Health ◽

Nutrition Sensitive ◽

Production Diversity ◽

The Impact

Abstract Objectives Production diversity and women's empowerment are two ways by which nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions are thought to improve children's diet, but, few empirical studies have tested these pathways. We therefore investigated the impact of the Singida Nutrition and Agroecology Project (SNAP-Tz; NCT02761876) on child's dietary diversity, as well as the mediating role of production diversity and women's empowerment on that relationship. Methods SNAP-Tz is a randomized trial of a participatory agroecology and nutrition intervention on which mentor farmers lead their fellow farmers with children < 1 y.o. at baseline (n = 587) in learning and experimentation on agroecology, nutrition, and gender equity. We estimated the intention-to-treat impact of SNAP-Tz on Child's Dietary Diversity Score (CDDS) [0–7] using difference-in-difference analysis between 2016 and 2018. Average Causal Mediation Effect (ACME5) were estimated for production diversity (Crop Nutritional Functional Richness; 0–7) and 4 measures of women's empowerment: Abbreviated Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (AWEAI, 0–1), women's ability to allocate income (WEAI questions; 0–1), men's help with household chores (with 7 activities; 0–7), and women's depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; 0–60). All analyses were done on Stata14 and controlled for geographic clustering and social desirability bias. Results SNAP-Tz significantly improved child's dietary diversity (β = 0.53, P < 0.01). Increased production diversity, greater male involvement in household chores, and lower women's depression mediated 11% (ACME: .06; 95%CI: .01-.11), 6% (ACME: .04; 95CI: .00-.08), and 7% (ACME: .03; 95%CI: .00-.07) of SNAP-Tz's impact on child's dietary diversity, respectively. Mediation of AWEAI and income allocation decision making, on the other hand, were not significant. Conclusions SNAP-Tz improved child's dietary diversity through increasing agricultural production diversity, men's involvement in household chores, and women's mental health. By engaging men in household tasks and prioritizing women's mental health, we can optimize the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture projects. Funding Sources SNAP-Tz is funded by the McKnight Foundation. SLY was supported by the NIH (K01MH098902).

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Nutritional outcomes of empowerment and market integration for women in rural India

Food Security ◽

10.1007/s12571-019-00978-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1243-1256 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Soumya Gupta ◽

Vidya Vemireddy ◽

Prabhu L. Pingali

Keyword(s):

Market Integration ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Dietary Diversity ◽

Women's Empowerment ◽

Reproductive Age ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Primary Data ◽

Food Groups ◽

Explanatory Factors ◽

Per Capita

Abstract Over half of all women of reproductive age are affected by anaemia in India. In this paper we study the role that both household market integration and women’s empowerment in agriculture can play in determining women’s dietary diversity. Our analysis is based on primary data from 3600 households across India on agriculture, nutrition and anthropometric outcomes. We account for market integration by way of per capita household purchases (quantity) of cereals and non- cereal food groups, such as pulses, meat/ fish/ poultry, fruits and vegetables, eggs and dairy. We construct an adapted version of the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) that is context- specific and agriculture- oriented. After controlling for individual, household and village- level explanatory factors, we find that – for a given level of per capita market purchases – women who are empowered in their agricultural decisions have significantly higher dietary diversity scores relative to women who are disempowered of such decisions. More specifically it is women’s empowerment in two areas: input in production decisions and membership in self- help groups that supports this result. Women’s empowerment also enhances dietary diversity in the presence of disaggregated per capita purchases of non-cereals such as pulses, meat, dairy and eggs. This highlights the importance of reorienting India’s agricultural price and procurement policies beyond staple grains to ensure better dietary diversity.

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Women's empowerment and fertility preferences of married women: analysis of demographic and health survey’2016 in Timor-Leste

AIMS Public Health ◽

10.3934/publichealth.2022017 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 237-261

Author(s):

Nandeeta Samad ◽

◽

Pranta Das ◽

Segufta Dilshad ◽

Hasan Al Banna ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Health Survey ◽

Women's Empowerment ◽

Married Women ◽

Fertility Rate ◽

Demographic And Health Survey ◽

Women’S Empowerment ◽

Women Empowerment ◽

Fertility Preferences ◽

Timor Leste

<abstract> <p>A recently independent state, Timor-Leste, is progressing towards socioeconomic development, prioritizing women empowerment while its increased fertility rate (4.1) could hinder the growth due to an uncontrolled population. Currently, limited evidence shows that indicators of women's empowerment are associated with fertility preferences and rates. The objective of this study was to assess the association between women empowerment and fertility preferences of married women aged 15 to 49 years in Timor-Leste using nationally representative survey data. The study was conducted using the data of the latest Timor-Leste Demographic and Health Survey 2016. The study included 4040 rural residents and 1810 urban residents of Timor-Leste. Multinomial logistic regression has been performed to assess the strength of association between the exposures indicating women's empowerment and outcome (fertility preference). After adjusting the selected covariates, the findings showed that exposures that indicate women empowerment in DHS, namely, the employment status of women, house and land ownership, ownership of the mobile phone, and independent bank account status, contraceptive use, and the attitude of women towards negotiating sexual relations are significantly associated with fertility preferences. The study shows higher the level of education, the less likely were the women to want more children, and unemployed women were with a higher number of children. Our study also found that the attitude of violence of spouses significantly influenced women's reproductive choice. However, employment had no significant correlation with decision-making opportunities and contraceptive selection due to a lack of substantial data. Also, no meaningful data was available regarding decision-making and fertility preferences. Our findings suggest that women's empowerment governs decision-making in fertility preferences, causing a decline in the fertility rate.</p> </abstract>

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