MAGNET tools presented at REACH Conference

Maria Hernandez de Benito andMarya Hillesland presented four of MAGNET’s new decision-making survey tools at the REACH Water Security & Poverty Conference at the University of Oxford on September 22, 2023.  The seminar was convened by Professor Cheryl R. Doss and focused on tools for measuring women’s empowerment and agency in the water sector.  To understand water security, it is important to go beyond simply analyzing who has access to water, but to understand the interactions between water security and women’s empowerment. While women who are more empowered may be able to negotiate better access to water; the infrastructure and social norms around water may also influence women’s empowerment.  The seminar discussed the new survey tools from MAGNET and the Empowerment in Wash Index (EWI) tool, presented by Elijah Bishung, Queen’s University, and Sarah Dickin, Uppsala University, designed to provide insights into these relationships.