Women play critical roles in agriculture and food systems, yet their roles and power in decision-making — in all spheres — are often limited by structural, institutional and sociocultural barriers. Women’s agency, and specifically their degree of participation in household and institutional decision-making, is a critical component of achieving women’s economic empowerment.

As part of an effort to promote more equitable roles in agricultural decision-making, the Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment Program developed a series of resources on women’s decision-making power in USAID agriculture systems programming:

• Note 1, “Why Focus on Women’s Decision-Making Power in Agriculture Systems Programming?” explains what decision-making is, why it matters in Feed the Future programming and how USAID can address imbalances of power and agency for better food security outcomes.
• Note 2, “How to Integrate Women’s Decision-Making Considerations into Agricultural Programming” provides guidance on how to integrate women’s decision-making into the USAID Program Cycle.
• Note 3, “Measuring and Assessing Women’s Decision-Making Power in Agriculture Systems Programming” provides recommendations on monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches.

These resources build on an evidence scan report and summary deck published in 2021 that seek to support USAID Mission staff, implementing partners and other practitioners and stakeholders to design, implement and measure interventions that promote women’s decision-making power.