Assessing the impact of development projects on women

In order to develop a new evaluative framwork which addresses these inadequacies, this study reviews evaluations of 32 A.I.D. and private voluntary organization women-specific projects. The evaluations only indirectly assess women's concerns but provide sufficient information to analyze the success of projects in meeting three basic goals for women-in-development projects: (1) participation in project decisionmaking; (2) access to immediate project benefits; and (3) improvement in socioeconomic status. Specific factors which contribute to the achievement of these three goals are identified. For example, women's participation in the decisionmaking process is higher when projects are administered by women's associations. Women's access to benefits will be greater when project activities build on the prevailing sexual divison of labor and increase women's control over their own earnings. Social impact of projects tends to be greatest when women are organized for group action and are directed in activities carrying clear economic benefits. Indicators of physical, economic, and social well-being are presented for determining a project's direct and distributional social impact. It is noted that this evaluative framework is useful to assess not only the impact on women of any project (whether women-specific or not), but, more generally, the differing impact of any project on various social groups. The author stresses that factors which increase women's participation in development should be an integral part of project design and that women's economic and social roles in household and community should be taken into account. The paper's final section suggests methods of data collection to improve determination of a project's impact on women; interviews and group discussions with beneficiaries and the evaluator's perceptions are stressed over an objective or documents-only approach. A 50-item reference list (1971-79) is appended.