After more than 30 years of on-the-ground experience implementing our program, Women for Women International is investing in rigorous research and evaluation to learn about our impact, improve programming based on results, guide key programmatic and organizational decisions, advocate for evidence-based policy and practice, and influence decision-makers.
We take an evidence-based approach that uses continuous data collection and analysis to understand our work and its effect on women and their communities. Everywhere we work, we engage our staff in cultivating a learning environment built on monitoring, evaluation, and research to maximize our program’s impact and support women’s empowerment.
We administer survey questionnaires electronically, to measure changes in women’s knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes, as it aligns with the information women gain through our program. These surveys are administered at the following milestones:
Part of our program teaches women to form collective savings groups to build their financial power. We track the performance of these groups, along with women’s knowledge and attitudes following advanced economic and advocacy trainings.
Our monitoring and evaluation also closely monitors the men we serve; we measure changes in the men’s attitudes, knowledge and behaviors with respect to women’s rights and gender equity. Examining changes over time, this information complements data from the women’s signature program, and strengthens our ability to contextualize analysis and understand progress towards improving women’s empowerment.
Our teams around the world collaborate to contribute to our body of data, helping each other learn through a real-time digital dashboard. The user-friendly platform provides our global staff access to a range of critical data used to continuously improve the program and reinforce our accountability to the women we serve.
With more than 25 years of on-the-ground experience implementing our program, we invest in rigorous research and evaluation to learn about our impact, improve programming based on results, guide key programmatic and organizational decisions, advocate for evidence-based policy and practice, and influence decision-makers.
We use a mix of research methods and evaluation types to investigate specific programmatic questions. Our methods range from innovative qualitative research techniques, such as life history interviews, to large-sample surveys to examine quantifiable trends in women’s well-being in conflict-affected settings.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard to measure the causal impact of an intervention in question. We have completed one RCT examining program impact on intimate partner violence in Afghanistan, and have two ongoing RCTs to measure social and economic empowerment impacts across our programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nigeria.
