Women’s empowerment and Savings Groups: Monitoring and results measurement toolkit

The toolkit argues that while Savings Groups consistently improve women's economic independence, achieving broader social empowerment requires integrated gender programming and more holistic measurement systems. It proposes a framework covering seven domains: economic independence, decision-making, confidence and self-worth, voice and leadership, time use, mobility, and health. The document provides guidance on developing Theories of Change for different intervention types, selecting standardized and customized indicators, and using data segmentation to understand how empowerment varies across different groups of women.

• Savings Groups are most effective at improving economic independence and confidence, but show limited impact on decision-making, voice, health, time use, and mobility when implemented in isolation.
• Integrating gender programming—such as gender dialogues and capacity building—is more likely to produce transformative changes, including shifts in gender norms, reduced intimate partner violence, and more equitable allocation of unpaid household labor.
• The toolkit identifies seven critical domains for measuring women's empowerment: economic independence, decision-making, confidence and self-worth, voice and leadership, time use, mobility, and health.
• Effective measurement requires a combination of standardized indicators for sector-wide comparability and customized indicators to capture local nuances, utilizing both quantitative surveys and qualitative tools like social vignettes and focus group discussions.
• Data segmentation is essential because women are not a homogeneous group; their pathways to empowerment differ based on demographics and lifecycle stages.

APA

Rickard, K., Anderson, C. L., Chidiac, S., de Hoop, T., Gammage, S., Howlett, M., Majara, G., Massu, M., Meyers, L., Zahid, I., Meysonnat, A., Panetta, D., Peterman, A., Sidhu, A., Tungaraza, S., Walcott, R., & Wheaton, A. (2019). Women’s empowerment and Savings Groups: Monitoring and results measurement toolkit. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SEEP_SG-Womens-Empowerment_MRM-Toolkit.pdf

Chicago

Rickard, Katherine, C. Leigh Anderson, Sybil Chidiac, Thomas de Hoop, Sarah Gammage, Melissa Howlett, Grace Majara, et al. Women’s empowerment and Savings Groups: Monitoring and results measurement toolkit. FSD Africa, 2019. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SEEP_SG-Womens-Empowerment_MRM-Toolkit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rickard |first1=Katherine |last2=Anderson |first2=C. Leigh |last3=Chidiac |first3=Sybil |last4=de Hoop |first4=Thomas |last5=Gammage |first5=Sarah |last6=Howlett |first6=Melissa |last7=Majara |first7=Grace |last8=Massu |first8=Maude |last9=Meyers |first9=Lis |display-authors=etal |title=Women’s empowerment and Savings Groups: Monitoring and results measurement toolkit |publisher=FSD Africa |date=2019 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SEEP_SG-Womens-Empowerment_MRM-Toolkit.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rickard2019womens, author = {Rickard, Katherine and Anderson, C. Leigh and Chidiac, Sybil and de Hoop, Thomas and Gammage, Sarah and Howlett, Melissa and Majara, Grace and Massu, Maude and Meyers, Lis and Zahid, Iram and Meysonnat, Aline and Panetta, David and Peterman, Amber and Sidhu, Anu and Tungaraza, Stella and Walcott, Rebecca and Wheaton, Ashley}, title = {{Women’s empowerment and Savings Groups: Monitoring and results measurement toolkit}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2019}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SEEP_SG-Womens-Empowerment_MRM-Toolkit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }