The EWI team held a global consultation of WASH practitioners and researchers to: This consultation workshop has several objectives:
- Learn about measures of women’s empowerment in WASH, particularly the Empowerment in WASH Index and its potential applications use
- Collect input on suggestions for modifications or addition to the EWI indicators
- Collect input on additional ‘modules’ that could be added
- Collect expert input to validate the content of the tool seek input and feedback on
The consultation attracted about 30 participants from over ten different countries across the world, including leading experts on women’s empowerment research. Participants in the consultation provided a number of valuable suggestions for improving the EWI. A common theme was to make the questions more specific, such as differentiating between small and large expenditures, or between water and sanitation. Examining who is doing WASH-related labour was viewed as important (e.g., a principal decision-maker may be an older woman, while girls in the household are the ones doing water collection), as well as other types of stratification to allow intersectional analysis. Possible suggestions for other modules include MHM and gender-based violence.