Women and men, even within the same household, have distinct responses to improvements in land tenure security. In order to capture these distinct effects, land evaluation data collection modules should include spousal modules and parcel manager surveys. There are important within household differences in how women and men respond differentially. In Ghana, while there appears to be a general shift to non-farm economic activities, women’s business profits, in particular, increase considerably. In Benin, following improvements in tenure security, women were more likely to leave land fallow, a key soil fertility investment. Evaluations using household surveys usually only obtain responses from household heads and fail to get the responses from women in the household. Similarly sampling often does not have sufficient women headed households to be able to look at effects on women. Many MCC land evaluations have included modules for parcel managers or spouses. It is important to try and acknowledge these beneficiary differences in the logic models which form the base for the evaluation. Having data on women and not just women headed households will not only add to the ability to detail effects on women and improve future economic modeling and logic frameworks but also provide information on which we can improve future land designs.
Lesson Learned