Collective Agency

Collective agency, or “power with”, is a critical component of women’s empowerment beyond the household. At the individual level, women often rely on groups to identify and achieve goals that advance them professionally, socially, economically, and politically. Within their homes, participation in groups can empower women by improving self-efficacy and self-esteem. Groups—whether entirely comprised of women, or mixed gender—can provide the skills and experience necessary for women, individually and collectively, to build agency, increase productivity and incomes, reduce workloads, and improve resilience. We recommend the use of this tool in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of group-based development programs aimed at improving women’s empowerment.

Link to: tool content and guidelines, CTO file, and statistical annex

Duration: This tool takes on average 7.37 minutes to be implemented

Permitted use of the tool: all users are free to use the tool with citation: “MAGNET (2023). Collective Agency. http://magnet.ifpri.info/collective-agency/”

Tool sample

For this section, I am going to read you several statements about [name of group] and ask you to indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement.

1. The group has clear goals for the future.
2. Members are aware of and agree with the group's goals.
3. Members agree with the actions taken by the group in pursuit of the group's goals.

Response Options:

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? agree/disagree.

• If agree -> Do you completely agree or partly agree?
• If disagree-> Do you completely disagree or partly disagree?

Measurement properties

• Geographies Tested: Nepal, Uganda
• Populations included: Female
• Age range: Adults

For details on these testing metrics, visit our scoring methodology page.