Co-hosted by the Makerere University and the Evidence Consortium on Women's Groups, the purpose of this symposium is to increase awareness on the need to build evidence and a community of practice on women economic empowerment and women groups in Uganda.  The symposium is intended to popularize evidence-based research approaches that support knowledge translation for relevant policy making and best practices in the field of women’s economic empowerment.

The objectives of this symposium are to: 

1. Enhance the awareness of the importance of fostering WEE and using innovative solutions to improve the evidence base and increase information storage and uptake

2. Raise awareness on building a community of practice of evidence based research on WEE and SGs

3. Facilitate opportunities for networking, collaboration and exchange of ideas with government and NGO leaders and experts in evidence-based practice and education on women empowerment

4. Reinforce the focus on the implementation of information exchange with policy makers to increase the efficiency of evidence-based decision making.

Find the programme here. (all times in EAT)

The Campbell Collaboration and Campbell UK & Ireland co-hosted the 2022 What Works Global Summit (WWGS) on 18-20 October. The theme of WWGS 2022 was “Recovery and resilience in crisis”. 

ECWG members spoke as part of a panel on "Savings group member resilience over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence From Nigeria and Uganda", presenting ECWG research in partnership with CARE.

View the recording here.

ECWG co-PI, Dr. Thomas de Hoop, presented our work on "Convergence of Social Protection Programs in India" as part of a panel on "International development and social welfare".

View the recording here.

Women’s groups include self-help groups (SHGs), livelihoods groups, producer collectives, and other groups formed with social action, health, and empowerment objectives. Women’s groups are widespread in South Asia where they are instrumental in generating economic opportunities and enhancing women’s well-being. The existing literature highlights promising evidence of positive impacts of some women’s group types on women’s economic, political, reproductive, and social empowerment. However, the women’s groups’ objectives differ as do their results. 
 
Co-organized by the South Asia Gender Innovation Lab (SAR GIL) and the Evidence Consortium on Women's Groups (ECWG), speakers in the webinar presented findings from three streams of work supported by the South Asia Gender Innovation Lab.

• A typology of women’s groups in South Asia with a particular focus on the design frameworks, implementation modalities, and composition of groups.
• Findings from a recent systematic review that assesses the impacts of SHG interventions on women’s economic participation and empowerment outcomes in South Asia.
• Implementation and design experiences from the Strengthening Afghan Women’s Economic Empowerment Project (SWEEP) in Afghanistan

View the recording here.

The development community is increasingly recognizing the need to integrate robust implementation research with impact evaluations to apply their lessons to decisions about scaling up pilot interventions. Research also has demonstrated the implications of program scale-up for implementation quality and program impacts. For example, studies have shown that many successful pilot interventions fail to produce similar impacts when scaled up, owing to multiple reasons. The decision to invest in a program, however, is guided by both program effectiveness as well as the cost of producing those effects, making it imperative to understand the implications of program scale for costs. This webinar will include two studies that demonstrate costs of scaled-up livelihoods and health interventions, delivered through women’s group programming. The session will specifically explore economies of scale and cost-effectiveness of a Self-Help Group program in India, and the scale-up costs and outcomes of a participatory learning and action cycle with women's groups across multiple countries.

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In a policy brief released in the early stages of the COVID pandemic in June 2020, the Evidence Consortium on Women’s Groups (ECWG) examined the implications of the pandemic and the lockdown for women’s groups.

What have we learned since then? How has the COVID pandemic affected women’s groups, and how have these groups helped mitigate the negative consequences of the health crisis?

Join the ECWG on April 13 for a discussion on women’s groups and COVID, with the Africa Centre for Systematic Reviews, the American Institutes for Research, the Population Council, and the World Bank.

The ECWG will present the findings of two new reports on the impacts of COVID on women’s groups in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, followed by a panel discussion on the implications and policy recommendations for development organizations and governments.

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This webinar will focus on mechanisms in interventions with women’s groups in low and middle-income country settings.  The speakers will present findings from two recent evidence reviews: a synthesis of experimental and quasi-experimental evidence on livelihoods, health and adolescent groups and a mixed-methods systematic review of interventions with community groups to improve women’s and children’s health. The panelists, who bring wide experience implementing and researching women’s groups interventions, will discuss implications of these reviews on programs and the evidence base on women’s groups.

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Community groups (SHGs, farmer groups, saving groups, etc.) are one of the important platforms for local economic development (LED). Most of the community group members are women. Focusing on LED strategies is key to ensuring longer-term local economic recovery and resilience. Such approaches entail investing in entrepreneurship of community/women groups, linking community institutions to value chains, investing in productive infrastructure, supporting financial institutions, and developing public-private partnerships. This session will explore how community/women groups are coping up with COVID and discuss strategies to support women groups and collectives for the transition to economic institutions and longer-term local economic recovery.

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The webinar discussed findings of mixed-methods systematic review on community interventions with women’s groups to improve health outcomes in India. Authors presented a summary from a review of 99 studies, followed by a discussion of how the findings can inform large-scale programs with women’s groups implemented by the National Health Mission and National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

The webinar was hosted by the Evidence Consortium on Women's Groups (ECWG) and University College London (UCL) Centre for the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents.

View the recording