Understanding One Acre Fund's Impact on Women's Empowerment: A Mixed-Methods Study

Women constitute a vital part of Kenya’s agricultural sector, making up over half the labor force and a majority of clients for One Acre Fund (OAF), a non-profit social enterprise supporting smallholder farmers in achieving food security and prosperity. However, despite their pivotal role, women smallholders face persistent barriers to food security and prosperity, including limited access to financing, insecure land rights, and exclusion from key farming decisions. 

In partnership with OAF, the Columbia SIPA team conducted this study to identify channels for better supporting Kenyan women smallholders. Specifically, the team investigated the association between participation in OAF’s projects and gender-empowerment outcomes in the Kenyan context. The team applied an innovative mixed-methods approach, combining analysis of quantitative data from the Project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) survey with qualitative findings from focus group discussions, observational studies, and interviews with participating and non-participating smallholder households. 

The final report summarizes key findings across intrinsic, instrumental, and collective empowerment domains. The team’s recommendations include possible programmatic adjustments, such as the piloting of opportunities to upgrade women farmers’ participation in agricultural value chains. Additionally, the team produced tools and guidelines for OAF’s Monitoring and Evaluation Team to inform future mixed-methods studies.