Subsequent to GREAT 1, MDRI continues to perform baseline assessment for the phase 2 of the Australia-Vietnam Program for Gender Equality in Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT 2). GREAT 2 focuses on agriculture and tourism to promote women’s economic empowerment, particularly for ethnic minority women (EMWs) in Son La and Lao Cai. Using a Market System Development (MSD) approach, the program enhances market functions by encouraging stakeholders to adopt and scale innovations through the Adopt-Adapt-Expand-Respond (AAER) Framework. Key initiatives include training in production and processing techniques, digital transformation support, financial literacy programs, and access to business loans. The program aims to benefit 16,700 households, including 23,380 women, leading to higher incomes, improved skills, and increased decision-making power for women. GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion) principles are integrated to ensure an inclusive and gender-responsive market system transformation.
Within the program, MDRI will conduct a baseline survey of 750 households in Son La and Lao Cai province in three batches to provide a picture of ‘what the situation is for EMW’ i.e. the original income or skills or decision-making roles; and status of sharing workloads at the households of samples of EMW engaged in each project.
Main tasks
- Develop an approach, methodological framework, and assessment questionnaires for each project to be agreed upon with GREAT’s Senior Management Team.
- Conduct three rounds of pilot testing for questionnaires across different GREAT sub-projects.
- Arrange survey locations and develop a survey plan for all three rounds.
- Recruit and train enumerators.
- Conduct data collection through both face-to-face interviews and phone surveys.
- Synthesize and analyze data, applying extrapolation methods to estimate baseline values of success indicators for selected projects.
- Finalize preliminary reports for each round and compile a comprehensive analysis report for all three survey rounds.
Photo: Huong Nguyen
