Empowerment in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Index – EWI
The Empowerment in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Index (EWI) is a novel survey-based index designed to measure agency, participation and empowerment in the water and sanitation sector. Drawing on a multi-level conceptualization of empowerment, the EWI is comprised of a suite of indicators at individual, household, and societal levels.
Use of the EWI tool involves data collection from pairs of male and female respondents who are principal decision-makers about water and other social and economic issues at the household level, although other constellations of respondents can be targeted depending on research objectives (e.g. female-only decision-makers in multi-generational households). Achievement of each of the 12 indicators is assessed based on pre-determined thresholds, to generate an adequacy score. This score is evaluated against an overall threshold to identify empowered respondents. A gender parity index is also calculated to compare empowerment within the household between the two respondents.
The EWI score can be used to monitor changes in empowerment from an initial baseline. The score can be disaggregated to track progress on particular indicators, which helps to communicate complex information about women’s empowerment and gender equality outcomes in a way that is easier for decision-makers to understand and apply.
The tool can also be used for diagnostic assessments to understand existing areas of disempowerment, which can inform the design of gender-integrated WASH interventions that target these areas, which may be context specific.
We created several tools to aide your own application of the EWI. You can find these in the EWI Resource Centre, by clicking the button below.
The survey includes all modules needed to construct the EWI, and should be administered to both a woman and man in the household. In addition, household modules on dwelling and sanitation, as well as the household’s water portfolio are included to gain background information on the household’s WASH situation. This part of the survey is best administered to women, as they are expected to be more informed regarding WASH.
The implementation guide provides comprehensive guidance on the steps needed to implement a survey using the EWI, including ethical considerations, sampling approaches, field implementation tips, data management, and follow-up with participants. This implementation guide complements other EWI training resources that include an EWI enumerator training guide and EWI technical guide.
The enumerator training manual will outline important information related to the research and respondents, as well as delve into the various modules that the survey consists of. The manual is complemented by the enumerator training PowerPoint that can be used to facilitate the training session. Various parts (both in the manual and Powerpoint) have been highlighted in yellow; these should be adjusted by yourself for you local context and specific study before the manual and training are given to the enumerators.
The technical guide will outline important information related to the cleaning, analysis, and reporting of EWI data, as well as the indicators’ thresholds. The manual is complemented by the EWI indicators and EWI calculation Stata Do-Files, as well as the EWI results Excel template, that can be used to generate and report EWI results.