The SWPER index for women’s empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data

Background The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment. Methods We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women. We identified items related to women's empowerment present in most surveys, and used principal component analysis to extract the components. We carried out a convergent validation process using coverage of three health interventions as outcomes; and an external validation process by analysing correlations with the Gender Development Index. Findings 15 items related to women's empowerment were selected. We retained three components (50% of total variation) which, after rotation, were identified as three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making. All dimensions had moderate to high correlation with the Gender Development Index. Social independence was associated with higher coverage of maternal and child interventions; attitude to violence and decision making were more consistently associated with the use of modern contraception. Interpretation The index, named Survey-based Women's emPowERment index (SWPER), has potential to widen the research on women's empowerment and to give a better estimate of its effect on health interventions and outcomes. It allows within-country and between-country comparison, as well as time trend analysis, which no other survey-based index provides

Can call detail records provide insights into women’s empowerment? A case study from Uganda

We use CDRs of mobile phone users in Uganda combined with data from a phone survey to train machine-learning models to predict the sex of the mobile phone user and several indicators of economic empowerment such as ownership of a house and land, occupation, and decision-making over household income. The most accurate of the models predicts the sex of the mobile phone user with 78% accuracy. The different indicators of economic empowerment are predicted with accuracies ranging from 57% to 61%. We also predict users’ sex and economic empowerment jointly. However, when we predict economic empowerment and then the sex of the user, we achieve high accuracy rates ranging from 81% to 87%. Mobile phone usage data hold potential for gender research although they are not without limitations

Mudança social: uma arte? Empreendimentos sociais que utilizam a arte como forma de mudança

Este artigo se propõe a conhecer, analisar e sistematizar, crítica e estrategicamente, o que diferencia os empreendimentos sociais que atuam por meio da arte para obter mudança social, a partir de um estudo qualitativo. A parte inicial aborda a fundamentação teórica, enfocando prioritariamente o conceito de empreendedorismo social. Em seguida, o artigo apresenta o segmento a ser estudado, trazendo as principais sistematizações e constatações feitas a partir do estudo do material inicialmente apresentado, em conjunto com uma série de entrevistas realizadas com gestores desses empreendimentos e agentes de instituições de apoio. As principais características desses empreendimentos são: apelo diferenciado, audiência ampliada, concretização, crença e formação dos gestores, preservação/identidade cultural. Por outro lado, os principais desafios são: consolidação da arte como forma de mudança social, mensuração de resultados e atuação em rede

CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research - Gender meets big data

Presented by Marcelo Tyszler (CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research / KIT Royal Tropical Institute), as part of the Annual Scientific Conference hosted by the University of Canberra and co-sponsored by the University of Canberra, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research, Canberra, Australia, April 2-4, 2019

Preference for Efficiency or Confusion? A Note on a Boundedly Rational Equilibrium Approach to Individual Contributions in a Public Good Game

By using data from a voluntary contribution mechanism experiment with heterogeneous endowments and asymmetric information, we estimate a quantal response equilibrium (QRE) model to assess the relative importance of efficiency concerns versus noise in accounting for subjects overcontribution in public good games. In the benchmark specification, homogeneous agents, overcontribution is mainly explained by error and noise in behavior. Results change when we consider a more general QRE specification with cross-subject heterogeneity in concerns for (group) efficiency. In this case, we find that the majority of the subjects make contributions that are compatible with the hypothesis of preference for (group) efficiency. A likelihood-ratio test confirms the superiority of the more general specification of the QRE model over alternative specifications

Love for Efficiency or Confusion? A QRE Analysis of Individual Contributions in a Public Good Game

Does the hypothesis of 'love for (group) efficiency' account for subjects' over-contribution in public good games? By using data from a VCM experiment with heterogeneous endowments and asymmetric information, we estimate a quantal response equilibrium (QRE) extension of a model in which subjects have preferences for group efficiency. Under the hypothesis of homogeneous population, the estimated parameter of subjects' concerns for efficiency vanishes and most of the variability of contributions seems to be explained by noisy behaviors. A different picture emerges when we introduce cross-subject heterogeneity in concerns for group efficiency. In this case, the majority of the subjects makes contributions that are compatible with the hypothesis of 'love for (group) efficiency'. A formal likelihood-ratio test strongly rejects the models not allowing for noise in contributions and homogeneous subjects for the more general QRE extension with heterogeneous preferences for (group) efficiency coupled with noise in subjects' behavior.Love for (Group) Efficiency; Voluntary Contribution Mechanism; Quantal Response Equilibrium; Laboratory Experiment.