Approach & Methodology

The research approach involves a dialogue between knowledge gained through lived experience, philosophical reflection, statistical analysis, and the insights of gender and development scholars and practitioners.  Importantly, it will enable poor women and men who experience poverty to help define and measure it.

The research will build on the critique of existing measures of poverty and gender equality and take account of current work to develop alternatives, such the new Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, which is to replace the Human Poverty Index. 

Field work in six countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, coordinated by local research teams, will ensure that the measure is fully informed by the factors that matter most to poor women and men, and that it is useable and relevant in developing contexts.  In Fiji, the local research partner is IWDA program partner ‘femLINKPACIFIC.  

Ongoing theoretical work will ensure the proposed measure is grounded in the best work on social justice, satisfies the requirements of statistical reliability, and avoids the shortfalls of existing measures.

The proposed measure will be field-tested to ensure that it is usable in poor settings and meets the needs and capacities of relevant governments and development organisations.

Research findings and developments will be communicated through publications of partner organisations and through academic and semi-academic publications.  A stakeholder workshop at the end of the project will discuss the proposed measure and its practical implications.

Better ways of measuring poverty and gender equality will enable better assessment of impact, more informed choices about where to focus scarce development resources, and a sounder basis for poverty and gender-related policy development and service delivery.

Watch this page for further information about the field work.

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