In many parts of the world, there is a clear need for investment in agriculture to counteract low yields and food insecurity.
Focusing only on short-term production gains, however, through technologies such as improved seeds, irrigation,
fertilizers and pesticides, increases risks to the environment and human health.
Assessing the sustainability of agricultural intensification must go beyond simply finding economical ways to preserve
agriculture’s natural resource base and reduce environmental harm from agriculture. The process of sustainable agricultural
intensification (SAI) has to also be inclusive and move towards social equity if it is to be truly sustainable. There are many
tools for assessing agriculture through an environmental or economic lens, but relatively few that use social criteria. This
leaves a gap as more SAI projects and investments aim to achieve equitable benefits across gender and age lines.
This guide provides decision-makers with data collection tools to assess gender and youth inequities associated with
changes during SAI. These tools were developed and refined following workshops, field work and interviews with decisionmakers
in Ghana and Malawi.
In agricultural research, important social data often comes from large-scale household surveys that need significant
investment of time and money. This guide focused on non-survey data collection tools, many of which originate from
participatory learning and action, for two reasons: participatory tools encourage reflection by participants to increase
stakeholder equity, and they are often better matched to the resource requirements and time constraints of those involved.
Tools are presented based on their ability to provide information about three identified risks to equity from the SAI process:
(i) unequal increases in workload, (ii) unequal access to and use of agricultural resources and (iii) inequitable impacts from
changes in technologies and markets. For each tool, an overview explains how the tool relates to SAI. Then, the steps
needed to facilitate use are presented, followed by special considerations for effective implementation.
The guide supports decision-makers in choosing appropriate data collection tools and in effectively using the information.
To make the choice of tool easier, information is provided on affordability, timeliness and human resource requirements
for each. Also considered is each tool’s ability to assess potential technologies ex ante, so decision-makers can adapt them
before implementation to better foster gender and youth equity. Finally, a number of examples of decision-making tools
are presented with how to use the data collected to inform more inclusive SAI.
The goal is to enhance the capacity of decision-makers to make a robust analysis of the distribution of benefits and burdens
resulting from SAI investments. Decision-makers are encouraged to apply the tools within a community-driven gendertransformative
process that aims to change the norms that perpetuate social inequities, by simultaneously influencing
household, community, market and political domains
