Gendered baseline studies for targeted development interventions: lessons learned from goat value chains in Mozambique

Problem to address: Despite emerging public and donor attention on women and agriculture, relatively little quantitative sex-disaggregated data is currently available, particularly on women’s involvement in marketing of livestock products. However, collecting and analysing data in a gender-disaggregated fashion enables to identify specific constraints faced by women in rural communities, which can lead to tailored development projects that address the needs of women and other underprivileged social groups. For example, the imGoats project in Mozambique intended to diversify smallholders’ livelihood options by supporting goat products’ commercialization. A baseline study before the project started has identified gendered differences in goat asset ownership, in income control and in goat meat consumption patterns. These three elements constitute key indicators of potential change in livelihood capabilities. The summarized information below shows that sex-disaggregated baseline data form a crucial start to setting up well targeted livestock development projects.