Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Political Participation through Advocacy Training

• In Event: Gender, Advocacy, and Policy

Abstract

This study (part of the Metaketa V initiative) tests whether training interventions in Nigeria designed to strengthen women’s sense of collective efficacy improved their voice and agency in local political engagement, and whether trainings of their husbands to be champions of women’s voice and agency in public spaces augmented their effects via a randomized control trial. The RCT was conducted with over 5,800 women in 450 communities in three southwestern states of Nigeria (Ogun, Osun, and Oyo) during 2023. In both treatment and control communities (i.e., wards), we recruited previously unaffiliated women to join women’s action committees (WACs): 1/3 of WACs (control group) received basic training in civic education; 1/3 (treatment group 1) received civic education training in addition to intensive training in leadership, organizing, and advocacy, intended to build women's collective agency and improve their articulation of demands to policymakers and policymakers' responsiveness to them; and 1/3 (treatment group 2) received the same training as treatment group 1 and their husbands were invited to participate in a parallel men's training focused on men's allyship in women's empowerment and gender equality. Drawing on a baseline survey from May – June 2023 and an endline survey from January – February 2024, we examine the effects of the treatments on pre-specified attitudinal and behavioral outcomes focused on the level and quality of women's political participation and on policy responsiveness, including whether women apply for a small grant opportunity offered by local leaders in their community and the quality of their application. We also examine potential mechanisms for these effects, which include levels of perceived injustice, group identity, group efficacy, and informedness, as well as the size of political networks and the closeness of policy priorities and preferences among participating women. Results will be finalized before April 2024 by agreement with the Metaketa steering committee.

Authors

• Claire Leslie Adida, UCSD

• Leonardo R. Arriola, University of California, Berkeley

• Rachel Fisher, UC Berkeley

• Katrina Kosec, IFPRI

• Jordan Kyle, International Food Policy Research Institute

• Aila M. Matanock, University of California-Berkeley

• Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, University of California, Berkeley